skills/cim-builder/assets/management_interview_guide.md

# Management Interview Guide for CIM Build

## CEO / founder

- What does the company do in one sentence?
- What customer problem is most painful and why?
- Why do customers choose the company over alternatives?
- What has changed in the market that makes now the right time?
- What are the 3-5 reasons the company should be valuable to buyers?
- What are the biggest diligence questions buyers will ask?
- What growth levers are most credible over the next 3-5 years?
- What would a strategic buyer be able to do that the company cannot do alone?
- What should not be disclosed until later-stage diligence?

## CFO

- What are the authoritative historical financials?
- How should LTM be defined?
- What are the key revenue and margin drivers?
- What are the most defensible add-backs?
- Which add-backs may be challenged?
- How does forecast build from pipeline, backlog, pricing, volume, and headcount?
- What is recurring vs. non-recurring revenue?
- What are working capital and capex requirements?
- What numbers are not yet final?

## CRO / sales leader

- What are the key customer segments?
- What is the sales cycle?
- What is current pipeline quality?
- What are win/loss patterns?
- What is customer retention and expansion?
- What are the main churn reasons?
- What is pricing power?
- Which customer examples are approved for use?

## COO / operations leader

- What capacity constraints matter?
- What drives gross margin?
- What are the main labor, vendor, facility, or supply chain risks?
- What operational improvements are underway?
- What scalability evidence exists?
- What quality, service, or compliance metrics matter?

## Product / technology leader

- What product capabilities are truly differentiated?
- What roadmap items are approved to disclose?
- What IP, data, security, or compliance assets matter?
- What integrations and implementation requirements matter?
- What technical debt or platform limitations should be considered?

## Customer interview extraction

- Why did the customer buy?
- What problem did the company solve?
- What alternatives were evaluated?
- What would cause churn?
- What is the ROI or operational impact?
- Where could the relationship expand?
- What quote or paraphrase is approved for use?