Getting Hired at an Indian Startup: 16 Ways to Stand Out (And Why Most People Won't Try Them)

There is one clear path to increase your odds of being hired by a startup: try much harder than anyone else who applied.

This sounds obvious. Yet practically nobody does it.

That's because trying harder than any other applicant is, by default, NOT EASY.

It's going to take some work. But the payoff is that you get to take more control over the future of your career and life, and we think that's worth it.

This is the 2nd blog in this 5-part series called “Getting hired at an Indian Startup”, to Read Part 1 — Getting Hired at an Indian Startup

The Reality Check: Why Normal Applications Don't Cut It

Let's paint a picture of what most hiring managers at Indian startups are dealing with. Take a typical product manager role at a growing fintech company in Bangalore. They post the job on Monday morning. By Wednesday, they've received 1847 applications. By Friday, that number had crossed 2,600.

Now, here's the kicker: 90% of those applications look exactly the same. Same format. Same generic cover letter with "I am writing to express my interest in the PM role at your esteemed organization." Same bullet points about "driving growth" and "leveraging synergies."

The hiring manager, probably a founder who's already working 12-hour days, has maybe 30 minutes to scan through these. What do you think happens to application #347 that looks identical to applications #1346?

It gets lost in the noise.

The 10x Principle: Going Beyond the Obvious

Consider the base case: most people just apply to jobs by sending their resume (and maybe a cover letter).

If you really want the job, we suggest you try 10x harder than those people. That's not an exaggerated number, we mean 10x.

Trying only 2x harder, for example, might mean you just send a short cold email to the founder when you apply, letting them know that you applied and that you're interested. That's okay. But you can do a lot better.

The math is simple: if everyone else is putting in 1 unit of effort, and you put in 10 units, you're not just 10% better – you're in a completely different category. You become memorable. You become the person they talk about in team meetings. You become the candidate they actually want to meet.

Why This Works in the Indian Startup Ecosystem

The Indian startup scene has its own unique dynamics. Unlike Silicon Valley where product sense is assumed and competition is fierce on execution, Indian startups are often still figuring out their product-market fit. They're hungry for people who understand their market, their customers, and their challenges.

This creates an opportunity. While candidates in the US might be competing with people who have Stanford MBAs and Amazon experience, in India, you're often competing with people who are just sending resumes.

The bar for standing out is surprisingly achievable only if you're willing to do the work.

16 Tactics That Actually Work

To get you started, we wrote a list of things you can use as inspiration. These are things that have worked to land people interviews (or to get them hired) at Indian startups.

Don't just copy this list! Put in way more effort.

Our goal here is to give you tactics and inspiration, which you can run with and modify based on your individual situation.

Customer-Focused Approaches

1. Talk to their customers, collect learnings, and summarize those learnings for them.

This is gold. Most startups, especially early-stage ones, don't have robust customer research processes. If you can talk to 5-10 of their customers and come back with genuine insights about pain points or feature requests, you've just done work that would have taken them weeks to prioritize.

We've personally coached three mentees on this approach, and all three successfully engaged with their target companies. Previously, their cold emails, resumes, and generic messages had been overlooked.

2. Sign up as a customer and build your own "friction log" for them.

Go through their entire user journey. Sign up, onboard, use the core features, try to accomplish typical user goals. Document every friction point with screenshots. This shows you understand user experience and you're detail-oriented.

3. Get them customers through your network.

This is particularly powerful in India where relationships matter enormously. If you can introduce them to potential customers or partners, you're immediately providing value before you even join.

Product Strategy & Analysis

4. Make a list of product improvement ideas that would help the company generate more revenue or improve user engagement.

Don't just suggest features. Think like a PM. How would this feature drive business metrics? What would be the implementation complexity? How would you measure success?Confused on how to go about this? It should ideally come naturally to you, that’s why it’s called “Product Sense” and we help you master that by practicising live cases on our platform

5. Write a short PRD (Product Requirements Document) or memo analyzing their competitors.

Show them you understand the competitive landscape. Who are their direct and indirect competitors? What are they doing well? Where are the gaps your target company could exploit?

6. Ask them about their biggest product challenges and then come up with solutions.

This works best if you can get a brief conversation with someone on their team first. Once you understand their real challenges, you can come back with thoughtful solutions.

Creative Demonstrations

7. Record a Loom video explaining your product strategy for their business.

Videos are personal and show communication skills. Plus, they're more likely to be watched than a long document.

8. Make a creative slide deck about why you're the right pick for their PM role.

Think beyond the typical "About Me" slides. Show your thinking process, your frameworks, your approach to problems they're actually facing.

Process & Communication Excellence

9. If you have an interview, send a great thank you afterwards with additional product insights.

Most people send generic thank you emails. Send insights that came to you after reflecting on your conversation. This shows you're still thinking about their problems.

10. Give them feedback on their interview process and suggest improvements.

This is bold but can work well if done thoughtfully. Most startups are still figuring out their hiring process. But don’t be rude while doing it, be kind and humble. It's feedback, you don’t want to burn bridges.

11. Ask interesting product strategy questions that actually push the interviewer.

Turn the interview into a strategic conversation. Show you're thinking at their level.

The Unconventional Approaches

12. Offer to work for them as a contractor for a few months before going full-time.

This reduces their risk and lets you prove yourself. It's particularly effective for career changers or people without traditional PM backgrounds.

13. Do some product work for them for free - like a feature analysis or user research.

We're not advocating for working for free in general, but a small, bounded project can be a powerful way to demonstrate capability.

14. Create a mini-feature mock-up or wireframe for an existing pain point.

If you have design skills (even basic ones), take one of their existing features and show how you'd improve it visually. This demonstrates both product thinking and execution capability.

15. Find a public problem or bug with their product and proactively suggest a fix.

Many startups have minor bugs or UX issues that are low priority but still impact users. Identifying one and suggesting a concrete, actionable fix shows initiative and attention to detail.

16. Write a short blog post or LinkedIn article about their company, showcasing your insights.

This is a public demonstration of your interest and understanding. Tag them in the post (thoughtfully, not spammy), and it serves as a powerful signal of your engagement and your ability to generate thought leadership around their space.

The Psychology Behind Why This Works

Here's what most people miss: hiring at startups isn't just about skills. It's about finding people who genuinely care about the mission and understand the business.

When you do customer research or competitive analysis, you're not just showing that you can execute these tasks. You're showing that you're already thinking like someone on their team. You're demonstrating genuine interest in their success, not just your career advancement.

The differentiation of this approach is that you are leading with value. A lot of people who want to work at Indian startups reach out via email or LinkedIn saying they'll do anything, or that they'd like to help however they can. That's less useful because then someone has to figure out what you should do, and that takes work. Those kinds of messages we find get far less replies.

The Challenges You'll Face (And How to Overcome Them)

Let's be honest: this approach isn't easy. You'll face several challenges:

Time Investment: Each application might take 5-10 hours instead of 5-10 minutes. But you'll probably apply to fewer companies and have a much higher success rate.

Fear of Rejection: What if you do all this work and still don't get the job? That's possible. But you'll have learned a ton about the company and the industry, which makes you a stronger candidate for the next opportunity. Don’t burn the bridges, you may never know.

Impostor Syndrome: You might feel like you don't know enough to give product advice. Remember: you're not claiming to be an expert. You're showing your thinking process and demonstrating that you can learn quickly.

Making It Practical

Start with one or two tactics that feel most natural to you. If you're good at analysis, start with competitive research or user journey mapping. If you're a people person, start with customer interviews.

The key is to be thoughtful about which company deserves this level of effort. Don't try to do this for every application. Pick 2-3 companies you're genuinely excited about and go deep.

Not sure which companies to pick and how? Let us help you on this approach and guide you step by step on how to do it correctly, so it lands well.

The Bottom Line

Most people won't try these approaches because they require effort. That's exactly why they work.

In a market where everyone is sending the same resume to hundreds of companies, being the person who actually understands the business and shows up with value is your competitive advantage.

The Indian startup ecosystem is hungry for people who can think strategically and execute tactically. Show them you're one of those people, and you won't just get hired – you'll get hired for the right reasons, setting yourself up for success in the role.

Remember: you're not just trying to get any job. You're trying to get the right job at a company where you can make a real impact. These tactics help ensure that when you do get hired, it's because there's genuine alignment between what you can offer and what they need.

That's the kind of career move that changes everything.