I applied online. The process took 3 weeks. I interviewed at Prosper.com (San Francisco, CA) in June 2015
Interview
Overall, very prompt, streamlined and professional.
Several days after applying online, I heard back from a recruiter and had phone screens with both her and the hiring manager a couple days later. The hiring manager also handed off to a colleague who asked technical questions.
A half day interview was scheduled for about two weeks later (delay due to my vacation). I spoke with ~eight individuals, starting with a tour of the office (attractively set up open plan space) and finishing with the HR rep who walked me through benefits and made next steps clear. Those I spoke with included several from the hiring manager's team, her director and partners from Finance and Marketing. Questions I was asked were pretty typical and I was given plenty of opportunity to ask my own. Great effort was made in communicating the extremely fast pace of the working environment as well as expectations for an intense next 6-8 months, after which things would calm down.
I was told to expect to hear a decision within a week and a half, so when I got a call the following day, I figured it couldn't be good news. It wasn't, and the HR rep very courteously let me know that they wouldn't be making me an offer. She gave me helpful feedback that they were looking for someone with stronger SQL skills and more forecasting experience and that they had doubts on whether I'd thrive in their extremely fast-paced startup culture. I can't argue with any of that and I also found it refreshing to hear back so promptly and get the reasons for their decision. Once I understood more about the company and the role, and had time to think about the decision, I realized I'd have been a very poor fit, as I thrive in a more moderately-paced environment that allows more time to dive deep in answering business questions, and provides intellectual challenge as a by-product. This would have felt like constant fire-fighting with winds shifting and priorities changing constantly.
The only part of the process I'd fault a little bit was the screening. While I do consider my time in their office a valuable experience, I do think they could've done a bit more to establish whether my SQL and forecasting skills/experience were sufficient up front, in the screening calls. Oh, and offering to validate my parking would have been nice too.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
What data would you look at and how would you use it to create a more accurate forecast of XYZ? [Not exact wording and I can't remember what they were looking to forecast]