Getting Hired at an Indian Startup: Why the Old Rules Don't Apply

Blog 1: Getting Hired at an Indian Startup: Why the Old Rules Don't Apply

A straightforward strategy for landing a product management job at a startup.

Below is an approach to getting hired at an Indian startup that I've now seen dozens of people use successfully.

There's no magic, it's just a simple strategy that, if taken seriously, could actually change your life. Hope it helps!

Sometime during the real doldrums of engineering college back in 2014, our placement officer sat us all down and whipped out a 72-page PowerPoint presentation that was, at the time, the most boring thing I had seen in my entire life.

It was about how to get hired, and all of the advice was irrelevant for the kinds of people who would go on to work at startups. Fast forward to 10 years later, I’m building my own startup at the moment, trying to figure out new problems, new solutions, old solutions that don’t work and hire somebody to help fix and rebuild those pieces (or build new pieces) to this puzzle.

And I’m honestly frustrated. The kinds of responses I have gotten, the efforts that I have seen by these candidates, are nothing short of disappointment.

So I’m putting together this guide to solve my own problem and also share what works and what doesn’t, especially from what we’ve done with our 110+ mentees in last 4 months

This essay is going to be a hopefully less boring and more useful guide to getting hired at an Indian startup, particularly in product management roles, regardless of your career stage.

The advice may work outside of the startup world too, but we're keeping it narrow to be as useful as possible.

Before we dive in, a few disclaimers:

• Beware of fully outsourcing this decision (you should work on whatever you want!).
• Most startups aren't very good at most things.
• Working at a startup is probably not your easiest path to becoming wealthy.

With that out of the way, here's our best advice for getting a PM job at an Indian startup.

The Problem with Traditional Advice

That 72-page PowerPoint from 2014? It was filled with gems like "maintain eye contact during interviews," "wear formal attire," and "prepare a list of your strengths and weaknesses."

Classic stuff that would help you nail an interview at Wipro or TCS maybe, but completely useless if you wanted to work at a scrappy 15-person fintech startup in Bangalore.

The problem isn't that this advice is wrong, it's that it's designed for a completely different game. Traditional corporate hiring is like playing chess: there are established rules, predictable moves, and everyone knows what a good candidate looks like.

Startup hiring is more like jazz improvisation: it's messy, unpredictable, and the best performers often break all the conventional rules.

Here's what's actually happening in Indian startup hiring today: founders are drowning in generic applications from people who clearly haven't spent more than five minutes thinking about their specific company or problem.

I've received cover letters that start with "Dear Hiring Manager" where I personally read every application.

I've seen resumes with zero mention of why someone wants to work in our specific industry, let alone our specific company.

The disconnect is staggering. While placement officers and product bootcamps are still teaching students to memorize STAR method answers, startup founders are desperately looking for people who can think on their feet, understand ambiguous problems, and show genuine curiosity about building something from scratch.

The Core Principle: Try Much Harder Than Anyone Else

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

I know this sounds stupidly simple, but bear with me. In my experience hiring for PM roles, roughly 80% of applications are what I call "spray and pray" attempts.

These candidates have sent the same resume and cover letter to fifty companies in a day, hoping something sticks.

They've done zero research, shown zero genuine interest, and frankly, they deserve zero consideration.

The remaining 20% have done some basic homework. Maybe they mentioned our company name correctly and visited our website.

But only about 2-3% of applicants go significantly beyond the bare minimum. And here's the thing: those 2-3% get almost all the interviews.

Why is this so effective? Because effort is a strong signal for several qualities that startups desperately need: resourcefulness, genuine interest, ability to go beyond instructions, and willingness to do unglamorous work.

When someone spends serious time understanding our business before they even get hired, it's a pretty good predictor that they'll bring that same thoroughness to the actual job.

The beautiful irony is that most people won't do this because it's harder than just sending resumes en masse. Which means the bar for standing out is actually quite low and you just need to be willing to do what 97% of other candidates won't.

Beyond the Resume: The 10x Effort Approach

So what does "trying much harder" actually look like in practice?

The base case, what most people do, is find a job posting, tailor their resume slightly, write a generic cover letter, and hit submit.

Total time investment: maybe 30 minutes per application.

The 10x approach starts with genuine research and curiosity. Before you even think about applying, spend 3-4 hours really understanding the company.

• Read their blog posts.
• Follow their founders on Twitter, Linkedin.
• Understand their product deeply.
• Identify their main competitors.
• Form opinions about their strategy and challenges.

Then, instead of just telling them about your past experience, show them how you think about their current problems.

Write a brief analysis of their product, suggest improvements, or share thoughts on their market position.

Don't make it a 20-page consulting report—nobody has time for that—but give them a taste of how your brain works when applied to their specific challenges.

Example: Instead of writing "I have experience in fintech and would love to join your payments startup," try something like:

"I've been using your app for the past month and noticed that the onboarding flow drops off significantly at the PAN card verification step. I analyzed the user flow and have a few hypotheses about why this might be happening. Would love to discuss how product changes might improve conversion rates."

The first approach tells them about you. The second approach shows them the value you could create.

This isn't about being pushy or presumptuous, it's about demonstrating the kind of thinking they'd actually want from a PM once you're hired. And if a founder thinks your analysis is completely off-base, that's valuable information too. Better to find out during the application process whether you're aligned on product thinking than six months into the job.

“The 10x approach is harder, takes more time, and means you can apply to fewer companies. But it works because it mirrors the actual work you'd be doing as a PM: understanding complex problems, forming hypotheses, and communicating insights clearly.”

Most people won't do this because it's uncomfortable and uncertain. But that's exactly why it works.

In the next blog in this 5-part series, we'll explore 16 specific ways to stand out and take this approach even further.

One of the major pillars to improve your odds of getting hired is to develop strong product thinking and communication skills. If you'd like to sharpen these skills (which will increase your probability of getting hired!), consider checking out resources from PM Interview Prep Club, where you can practice case studies, learn frameworks, and get feedback from experienced PMs.