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title: Intake question bank description: The seven intake sections, every question with its reason, the questions worth keeping if time runs out, the answers that signal a failing search, what first-time founders get wrong, and how to adapt the intake by seat.

Intake question bank

Ask in order, but follow the conversation. The reason column is there so the asker can explain any question that gets pushback. An intake is a conversation with a busy person, not a form.

If you only get five questions

Ranked. The first is the anchor. The rest catch the failures the anchor misses.

1. "What does this person have to deliver in the first twelve months for you to call it a great hire?" The answer becomes the brief, the scorecard, the pitch and the reference-check frame.
2. "Walk me through how your last five deals got done." Shows whether a repeatable motion exists and what kind of seller can run it. Essential for any first or early sales hire.
3. "Who else has to say yes, and do they agree with what you just told me?" Finds the hidden veto before the first shortlist.
4. "Why is this role open now, and what happens if it is still empty in six months?" Tests urgency, budget and whether everyone agrees on the purpose.
5. "What are you afraid of with this hire?" Surfaces the last mis-hire the team will over-correct for.

The seven sections

1. Business context

Question	Why ask it
What is driving this hire now?	The real driver (a funding round, a lost deal, a board target) sets the urgency and the pitch
New headcount or a backfill?	A backfill inherits whatever went wrong last time
If a backfill, why did the last person leave?	Two people leaving the same seat inside a year points at the role or the manager, not the candidate pool
What stage is the business at, in numbers?	Revenue, customers, team size and runway decide which candidates will take the risk
Why would someone good join now?	If nobody inside can answer, no candidate will either

2. The role

Question	Why ask it
Where does 80% of the first ninety days go?	Separates the real job from the title
How hands-on versus strategic is it?	A senior title with hands-on scope is a common mismatch
What do most candidates misunderstand about this role?	Becomes a screening question and a line in the pitch
What must they have versus what would be nice?	Feeds the three must-haves
What is missing in the team today?	The hire is often filling a gap nobody named

3. Reporting and stakeholders

Question	Why ask it
Who do they report to, and how does that person manage?	Candidates choose managers as much as companies
Which relationships make or break this role?	Tells the panel who should interview
Who else signs off the hire?	Every veto holder must agree the brief before sourcing starts

4. The person

Question	Why ask it
Which behaviours are non-negotiable?	Behaviours predict better than credentials
Who has not worked out here, and why?	The fastest route to the real deal-breakers
What would prove early that someone can deliver?	Becomes the work sample or the first-interview test
What red flags should be caught before a CV is sent?	Saves the hiring manager's time and the recruiter's credibility

5. Success

Question	Why ask it
What are the twelve-month outcomes, in numbers?	Ask again if the anchor question got skills instead of outcomes
What does a strong hire look like at day ninety?	Separates ramp from failure

6. The process

Question	Why ask it
What are the stages, and who owns each?	Unowned stages are where candidates stall
How fast will you give feedback at each stage?	Sets the feedback contract (see process-contract.md)
What is the start date, and is it real?	Notice periods for senior GTM roles often run one to three months
How flexible are you for an exceptional candidate?	Pay, title and location are where flexibility usually lives

7. Risk and culture

Question	Why ask it
Any internal politics or sensitivities?	Internal candidates and unhappy peers sink outside hires
Any past friction hiring this role?	Patterns repeat
What have I not asked that I should have?	The most useful answer often comes last

Answers that signal a failing search

Ranked by how often they decide the outcome. When you hear one, stop and fix it before writing the brief.

1. The team disagrees on why the role exists, or the real decider is not in the room. Different stakeholders will score against different briefs, and the late veto kills offers.
2. "We need someone to come in and build the playbook." In a first sales hire this usually means the founder has not yet sold repeatably, and the hire will be blamed for a problem the company has not solved.
3. The wish list. Enterprise and SMB, hunter and farmer, our industry, our stage, five years, all mandatory. Each one shrinks the pool sharply.
4. "I'll know them when I see them." No outcomes, only a job description. Every interviewer will invent their own.
5. "We want someone from a famous company." A brief built around a logo, not the selling motion this seat runs.

What first-time founders get wrong

A founder hiring into a function for the first time does not yet know what great looks like. Expect these, and handle them kindly.

1. Hiring before they have done the job. A first rep cannot repeat a process that lives only in the founder's head. Ask for the last five deals before briefing a seller.
2. Wanting a VP when they need someone who sells. A leader built for scale waits for a machine that does not exist yet. At an early stage the realistic hire is a hands-on seller or a hands-on head of sales.
3. Buying the logo, not the motion. Sellers from large brands are used to inbound demand, a known product and a support team. Brief for someone who has built pipeline from nothing.
4. Not knowing what great looks like, so the brief becomes a wish list. Suggest two or three short calls with people who are excellent in this role before the brief is final.
5. Pay, quota and ramp that don't match the market or the sales cycle. Pay below market only attracts the people the market passed over. Write the ramp down.

Adapting by seat

Seat	Add to the intake
SDR or BDR	Meetings or pipeline target, who they hand to, how long until promotion is realistic
Account executive	Average deal size, cycle length, self-sourced share of pipeline expected, quota as a multiple of OTE
Customer success or account management	Book size, renewal and expansion ownership, whether there is any commercial target
Marketing	Which job comes first: pipeline, positioning or brand. One person rarely does all three well
RevOps or GTM engineering	Systems they inherit, who they serve, build versus maintain split
Sales leadership	Is there a repeatable motion to scale yet, team size on day one versus month twelve, how much they still sell personally