In short
Senior engineers now ask about your runway, your customers and your next raise before they accept an offer. Answer plainly. Most of what they want to know is already findable, and an evasive answer mostly signals that you would rather they did not look.
A few years ago most engineering candidates asked about the stack, the team and the salary. The questions we hear from senior candidates now go further. How long can the company run on its current money? Who are the paying customers? What happens if the next raise is late? And, more pointedly than founders expect: has this company ever changed an offer after someone accepted it?
These are reasonable questions. A senior engineer is often leaving a stable role and taking a real risk on you. Founders who treat the questions as awkward lose candidates. Founders who expect them and answer well tend to close the people they want.
What they will ask
- Runway, in months. Not "we are well funded". A number, even a rough one.
- The last raise and the next one. When you last raised, and when you expect to need to again.
- Who pays you. Whether there are paying customers, and roughly how concentrated revenue is.
- The path forward. Whether the plan is profitability, another round, or something else, and what has to be true for it to work.
- Whether offers hold. Whether anyone has had an offer withdrawn or changed after accepting. This one is asked more than founders realise, because it happens.
- Where headcount is going. Whether the team is growing, holding or quietly shrinking.
Most of it is already findable
This is the part founders underestimate. A careful candidate can see a great deal without asking you anything: funding announcements and their dates, headcount trends on LinkedIn, which customer logos are on the website and whether they are still there, how often the same roles are re-advertised, and who left in the last six months.
So evasion protects very little, and it tells the candidate you would prefer they did not look. They look anyway. The founders who do best answer the question before the candidate has to go and find the answer.
Evading the runway question keeps nothing secret, and tells the candidate there is something about the number worth finding.
What a good answer sounds like
A good answer is specific, includes the uncomfortable part, and explains the plan. For example: we have around eighteen months at current spend; we are aiming to be close to break-even before we need to raise again; here are the three largest customers; if the raise is harder than expected, this is what we would cut first.
You do not need to share everything, and you are entitled to keep genuinely confidential numbers confidential. But "I cannot share the exact figure, but it is comfortably more than a year and here is how I think about it" lands very differently from a change of subject.
Never change an offer after acceptance
If money is tight, say so before the offer goes out, not after it is signed. An offer changed or withdrawn after acceptance does lasting damage, because the candidate may already have resigned. It also travels: engineers talk, and the story reaches your next candidate faster than your recruitment brand does.
If the honest position is that you cannot commit to a role for the length of time a senior engineer needs, it is better to say that and lose the candidate than to hire them and let them down.
Why we tell candidates to ask
We are paid when a candidate accepts, so it would be convenient for us if nobody asked these questions. We tell candidates to ask them anyway. A placement that falls apart after three months is worse for everyone, including us: every permanent search we run carries a 90-day replacement guarantee, so a hire that leaves because the company was not what they were told costs us a second search.
Before you make an offer, the offer acceptance check scores it against the reasons engineers actually decline, and names the one likely to cost you most. It runs in your browser and sends nothing to us.
FAQ
Why do candidates ask about a startup's runway?
Because a senior engineer is often leaving a stable role and taking a real risk. Runway, paying customers and the plan for the next raise tell them how long the role is likely to exist. It is a reasonable question, and candidates increasingly ask it before accepting an offer rather than after.
How should a founder answer questions about runway?
Specifically and honestly, including the uncomfortable part and the plan. A rough figure in months, the timing of the last and next raise, who the paying customers are, and what would be cut if a raise were harder than expected. Genuinely confidential figures can stay confidential, but an evasive answer usually costs more than it protects.
Can a candidate find out a startup's financial position without asking?
Much of it. Funding announcements, headcount trends on LinkedIn, the customer logos on the website, how often the same roles are re-advertised and who has left recently are all visible. Candidates who ask are usually checking whether the founder's answer matches what they can already see.
Is it acceptable to change a job offer after it has been accepted?
It does lasting damage, because the candidate may already have resigned, and the story travels among engineers. If money is tight, say so before the offer is made. If you cannot commit to the role for the time a senior engineer needs, it is better to say so and lose the candidate.