Pros: The interviews with HR, the CRO, and the CFO all went well. I felt a strong connection with each of them. Another long, grueling interview process. Interview Timeline: Interview 1: HR Interview 2: CRO (new to the company) Interview 3: CFO (also new to the company) Interview 4: A 1099 contractor who handles many of the day‑to‑day operations The first three interviews were positive and aligned well with my background. The fourth interview is where things fell apart. The contractor joined a few minutes late and seemed to be searching for my résumé at the start. The tone and style of the conversation were noticeably different from the earlier interviews — more informal and less structured. During the discussion, she asked about Zoho dashboards and mentioned they were difficult to work with. I explained that dashboards can always be enhanced using tools like Power Query or Power BI. The conversation then shifted to compensation plans. I described the three levels of plans I’ve worked with, and her response was something along the lines of, “The comp plans you’ve worked with are much simpler than ours.” The comment felt dismissive, and the overall interaction felt rushed and distracted. A few days later, I received a rejection email. The feedback was based entirely on the contractor’s assessment. Given how well things went with the CRO and CFO, it was disappointing to learn that a contractor had the deciding influence on the outcome.