#64: How top companies evaluate PM candidates in 2025 | Nickey Skarstad (Duolingo), Stephanie J. Neill (Stripe), and Chantal Cox (LTK)
Supra Insider
Evaluating Candidates: Signals of Exceptionalism in Hiring
The chapter focuses on the critical final evaluation phase of the hiring process, where the panel assesses candidates who have succeeded in prior stages. It stresses the importance of exceptional abilities, clear communication, and a user-focused perspective in determining suitability for offers.
If you’re navigating today’s brutally competitive PM job market and wondering what “good” looks like, this episode will become your playbook. In this episode, Ben moderates a candid panel with three veteran product hiring managers:
Nickey Skarstad – Director of Product, Duolingo (now leading Duolingo Math)
Stephanie J. Neill – Head of Product, Stripe Tax
Chantal Cox – Director of Product, LTK (LiketoKnow.it creator platform)
Together, they reverse-engineer every stage of their 2025 hiring funnels—from 30-second resume scans to offer debriefs—and spell out the signals that turn an applicant into a hire. You’ll hear why product-sense interviews have moved to earlier in the process, how AI prototypes are becoming table-stakes, and the red flags (LLM-generated answers, recycled stories etc.) that get instant no-hires. Whether you’re an aspiring PM or a manager revamping your own process, you’ll leave with concrete, immediately applicable tactics for landing—or giving—an offer.
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* Preparing for a PM interview with tech companies like Meta and Google? Check out Ben's course for Product Sense and Analytical Thinking PM interviews (selected by Lenny Rachitsky as a Top Course in Product on Maven 🔥) and his AI Copilot for interview practice. Supra Insider listeners get 10% off the course with promo code “suprainsider”. Enrollment is now open for the next cohort starting July 15th.
* Supra has teamed up with Maven to bring you something special – courses that our own community members have personally curated. And because you're part of the Supra family, you get $100 off any of these handpicked selections with code SUPRAxMAVEN.
In this episode, we covered the following topics:
* (01:40) Guest intros: Nickey (Duolingo), Stephanie (Stripe), Chantal (LTK).
* (08:00) Chantal details LTK’s funnel—recruiter screen, hiring-manager call, AI feature exercise, leadership loop.
* (11:30) Stephanie explains Stripe’s flow and why Product Sense now precedes the full loop.
* (13:20) Nickey walks through Duolingo’s four rounds and the new interactive prototype requirement.
* (17:50) What wins a résumé review: tight one-page metrics, LinkedIn consistency, warm referrals.
* (24:40) Hiring-manager screens: confirming skill fit, probing AI curiosity, expecting candidates to have used the product.
* (31:00) Offer debriefs—looking for “spikes” in key areas, guarding against bias, zero tolerance for failed rounds at Duolingo.
* (43:40) How candidates should and should not use Gen-AI; interview-prep bots, friction logs, lightweight prototypes.
* (50:20) Early-career advice: move internally, start in customer-facing roles, ship side-project AI apps, network before you need it.
* And more!
If you’d like to watch the video of our conversation, you can catch that on YouTube:
Links:
* Nickey Skarstad: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickeyskarstad/
* Stephanie J. Neill: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanieneill/
* Chantal Cox: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chantalcoxsf/
* Marc: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcbaselga/
* Ben: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benerez/
To support the podcast, please check out the links below:
* Supra has teamed up with Maven to bring you something special – courses that our own community members have personally curated. And because you're part of the Supra family, you get $100 off any of these handpicked selections with code SUPRAxMAVEN.
* Preparing for a PM interview with tech companies like Meta and Google? Check out Ben's course for Product Sense and Analytical Thinking PM interviews (selected by Lenny Rachitsky as a Top Course in Product on Maven 🔥) and his AI Copilot for interview practice. Supra Insider listeners get 10% off the course with promo code “suprainsider”. Enrollment is now open for the next cohort starting June 17th.
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