What it tests

Strategic ownership and product instinct — whether the candidate can diagnose a community's state, prioritize high-leverage channels, and defend a concrete growth plan rather than a list of generic tactics.

Format

1Candidate is given access to the company's public developer community (Discord, GitHub, forum) and asked to assess its current state over 2–3 hours
2Candidate prepares a short presentation (8–10 slides or equivalent): current diagnosis, top 3 growth levers, and a proposed 90-day plan with specific success metrics
3Presentation delivered to the hiring manager and one community or product team member, followed by 15 minutes of challenge questions

What to look for

Depth of diagnosis: did they actually look at the community, or recite generic best practices
Prioritization logic — can they explain why they chose these 3 levers over the other 10 obvious options
Metrics fluency: do they define success with numbers, or with vibes ('increase engagement')
Response to challenge: when the interviewer says 'we tried that and it failed,' does the candidate adapt or defend

Adaptation guide

For companies without a public community, provide a sanitized snapshot of community data (post frequency, top questions, active user counts). Adjust the scope to your actual growth stage — a 90-day plan for a 50-person community is very different from one for 50,000 members.

Full description

Format:

Candidate is given access to the company's public developer community (Discord, GitHub, forum) and asked to assess its current state over 2–3 hours
Candidate prepares a short presentation (8–10 slides or equivalent): current diagnosis, top 3 growth levers, and a proposed 90-day plan with specific success metrics
Presentation delivered to the hiring manager and one community or product team member, followed by 15 minutes of challenge questions

Time: 3–4 hours prep + 30-minute presentation

What to look for:

Depth of diagnosis: did they actually look at the community, or recite generic best practices
Prioritization logic — can they explain why they chose these 3 levers over the other 10 obvious options
Metrics fluency: do they define success with numbers, or with vibes ('increase engagement')
Response to challenge: when the interviewer says 'we tried that and it failed,' does the candidate adapt or defend

Adaptation: For companies without a public community, provide a sanitized snapshot of community data (post frequency, top questions, active user counts). Adjust the scope to your actual growth stage — a 90-day plan for a 50-person community is very different from one for 50,000 members.