1 min lesson
Questions to ask & red flags to avoid
Work through the cases in "Questions to ask & red flags to avoid", pairing each signal with the move that fits.
Step 1 of 3
Your questions are graded too. On a talent-dense team, what you choose to ask reveals how you think about the business and asking something the careers page already answered is a quiet fail.
Aim your questions at the parts of the PMM charter a thoughtful candidate would actually need to know to do this job well. Tailor them to who's in the room - hiring manager, cross-functional peer or founder.
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Advanced table
Reference table
Red flags the panel is watching for
- Red flag
- Hand-wavy metrics
- Why it sinks a Cursor PMM
- "Launches drive awareness" with no number reads as a coordinator, not an owner
- Red flag
- Brief-only identity
- Why it sinks a Cursor PMM
- Describing yourself as a brief-writer signals you won't ship the asset yourself
- Red flag
- Dismissing developers
- Why it sinks a Cursor PMM
- Treating the dev audience as marketing targets fails the credibility bar instantly
- Red flag
- Overclaiming in comparisons
- Why it sinks a Cursor PMM
- Any competitor claim a developer could disprove kills trust on a truth-seeking team
- Red flag
- Generic prep
- Why it sinks a Cursor PMM
- Not having used the product or asking what's on the careers page reads as low ownership
| Red flag | Why it sinks a Cursor PMM |
|---|---|
| Hand-wavy metrics | "Launches drive awareness" with no number reads as a coordinator, not an owner |
| Brief-only identity | Describing yourself as a brief-writer signals you won't ship the asset yourself |
| Dismissing developers | Treating the dev audience as marketing targets fails the credibility bar instantly |
| Overclaiming in comparisons | Any competitor claim a developer could disprove kills trust on a truth-seeking team |
| Generic prep | Not having used the product or asking what's on the careers page reads as low ownership |
Ask one question that proves you've used the product. "When developers already love Cursor in a team, what's the most common reason the messaging still doesn't convert the eng leader?" tells the panel you've thought about real friction, not just the pitch.
Skip anything answered on the careers page or in the job post - that the team is small, that it's AI, that they sell to developers. Asking those reads as no research on a curiosity-screening team. Save your questions for the texture you can't find online.
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Optional practice