[danielweber]

I remember one particular job I interviewed for after leaving a start-up, and got asked various questions like "why did you fail?" and "working for that little money? That's stupid!"

I always think of them as the perfect example of "the interview is for you to learn about the company and the company to learn about you."

[mseebach]

So, if someone calls you stupid to your face in an interview, that's probably not a good place to work - so I'm guessing that was slightly a hyperbolic recollection.

That said, both questions can be turned around to your advantage: The first, show that you have learned from your mistakes and that's you're cool and focused in the face of adversity. The second, that you're not just a day labourer, but you're focused on and motivated by the long haul: "yes, it was a long shot, but if we'd succeeded, we'd change the way the world thinks about X".

[danielweber]

No, they really said "stupid." I must have blanched -- I've worked with difficult people and can tolerate a lot -- because he immediately tried to back away from it.

But, yeah, bad place to work. They went bankrupt and got delisted from the exchange about 2 years later. I will admit to feeling some schadenfreude at that.