From Millions in Revenue to Staring Bankruptcy in the Face with Aline Lerner from Interviewing.io

Indie Hackers

Summary

Aline Lerner, founder of Interviewing.io, shares the harrowing experience of leading her company through the 2020 pandemic. Despite facing a sudden collapse in revenue, going from millions to near zero as employers paused hiring, she successfully pivoted the business model by testing paid services directly with job-seeking engineers. The conversation explores the intersection of founder psychology, the importance of quick, scrappy experimentation, and maintaining transparency with a team during times of crisis.

Chapters

  1. 0:00Early Business Hurdles
  2. 7:21Marketplace Dynamics
  3. 15:30Impact of COVID-19
  4. 33:31Interviewing Platform Experience
  5. 41:51Pivoting the Business Model
  6. 52:19Transitioning to Profitability
  7. 1:01:39Community Impact
  8. 1:07:15Final Advice for Founders

Topics covered

  • Founder Psychology
  • Business Pivot

+4 more topics (full content when you follow the channel)

Transcript excerpt

i think we did the episode in january or july of last year a lot happened after that um but the real stuff that happened was in 2020 uh do you remember when you first like as a human not as a founder but just as like an ordinary citizen started taking covid seriously i don't really want to admit this but i guess i will i mean i didn't take it seriously um actually i'll tell you i hope i don't regret this but um we were in this unenviable position where we had a new employee starting literally on the day that san francisco went into quarantine and uh you know he emailed he's like hey did you guys know this is happening like what should we do um and i remember thinking we should just ignore this this is [ __ ] right let's just have him everybody should be at work make me money peons [Laughter] didn't actually really think that but thought it for a second and then uh you know i i intervened…