Why do so many strong candidates make it deep into an interview process and then quietly lose it on the take-home?

In this episode of Supra Insider, Marc Baselga and Ben Erez record one of the morning writing blocks they usually have off the record. Ben has been coaching people through take-homes and noticed almost everyone approaches them the same way: clear the calendar, disappear into a cave, submit. He walks through what he sees when people send him the assignments that didn’t pass, and the two distinct problems those submissions tend to have.

They explore how much you can plan before the prompt even arrives, why you often have more say over the timeline than you realize, and the support system Ben now tells people to build in advance, with one person checking whether the story lands and another qualified to judge whether the ideas are any good. Marc pushes on when to act on which kind of feedback, and Ben makes the case that nobody can evaluate an idea they can’t find.

If you have a take-home coming up, you’re coaching someone who does, or you’re a hiring manager wondering what separates the submissions that stand out, this episode is for you.

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In this episode, we covered the following topics:

* (01:25) Marc breaks down the different flavors of take-home assignment

* (04:40) Why take-homes are the least predictable vector in an interview loop

* (06:46) The default approach: treating it as a heads-down solo assignment

* (09:20) Plan day by day, and use the agency you have over when the clock starts

* (10:14) The spectrum of candidate calendars, and why everyone still gets the same five days

* (14:04) The two reasons submissions fail: legibility and weak substance

* (16:53) Why the bar has moved, and how AI raised both the floor and the ceiling

* (21:24) Recruit one or two people to help before the prompt arrives

* (22:08) The 30-minute session to chew on the prompt together

* (25:42) The two reviewer roles: legibility and subject matter expertise

* (34:28) Why none of this guarantees a pass, and why it’s still worth doing

* (39:38) The story is the packaging, and why nobody can judge ideas they can’t find

* (44:31) Why a strong artifact has the longest shelf life in any interview loop

* And more!

Links:

* Insider Loops: https://www.insiderloops.com/

* Marc: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcbaselga/

* Ben: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benerez/

If you’re a new subscriber, we encourage you to check out some of the recent episodes you might have missed:

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This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit suprainsider.substack.com

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