General Atlantic interview questions

A first-round metric question that tests whether you can explain retention rather than merely define it.

What is net revenue retention, and why do growth equity investors care about it?

A foundational diligence question for software and subscription businesses.

A company reports $30m of ARR. What would you need to know before treating that figure as high-quality recurring revenue?

An opening screen question used to test whether you know what a growth fund is trying to own.

What makes a company an attractive growth equity investment?

A cash-efficiency follow-up common in later-stage software diligence.

What is burn multiple? A company burned $18m of cash to add $12m of net new ARR last year. What does that tell you?

A common software-investing shorthand that interviewers use to test judgement about growth and profitability.

Explain the Rule of 40. A SaaS company grows 32% and has an EBITDA margin of negative 12%: how would you use the result?

Growth investors use this to test whether a headline TAM can support the required underwriting period.

How would you build a bottom-up market size for a vertical software company selling to US dental practices?

A practical diligence test for an associate expected to turn customer conversations into an investment view.

You have five customer reference calls for a growth equity diligence. How do you select the customers and what do you need to learn?

A structuring question that is really a judgement question about incentives.

A founder wants $20m of the $80m round to be secondary. Cash to them personally rather than into the company. How do you think about it?

The framing question in every growth equity interview.

How does growth equity differ from buyout investing? What changes in how you underwrite?

A diligence question that distinguishes a real retention analysis from a blended KPI recital.

Management says retention is strong because company-wide NRR is 112%. How would you diligence that claim?

A cap-table maths question that tests whether you distinguish a valuation outcome from an investor's actual ownership outcome.

You invest $25m at a $75m pre-money valuation. The company later raises $50m at a $200m pre-money valuation, and you do not participate. What ownership do you have after each round, and why does this…

A final-round growth-equity case testing auction discipline, minority protections, and the willingness to walk away.

You are leading the final round of a growth-equity auction for a minority investment in Atlas Compliance, a vertical SaaS company. Bid as new information changes valuation, negotiate an exclusivity…

An investment-committee question that tests whether you can turn operating risks into an ownership and liquidity outcome.

How would you construct a downside case for a minority growth equity investment in a software company?

A growth-equity associate case testing whether a candidate can reset valuation and structure when the most important SaaS KPI deteriorates.

You are staffing final investment committee for a $55m minority investment in Meridian Workflow, vertical software for hospitals. A new cohort analysis changes the retention picture three days before…

Growth investors live or die on the terms, because they cannot control the outcome.

You're investing $80m for 25% of a founder-controlled company. What protections do you negotiate, and which matter most?

A growth-equity associate diligence exercise before an investment committee recommendation.

You are diligencing a vertical-software company for a growth-equity investment. The CIM, management model and raw billing export tell subtly different stories about recurring revenue, retention and…

A judgement-heavy diligence question for businesses whose valuation relies on long-term margin expansion.

A growth company says it has pricing power. How would you test whether that is true before underwriting margin expansion?

A source-reconciliation exercise testing whether the candidate trusts evidence by quality rather than convenience.

A software target claims accelerating growth and 118% net retention. Reconcile the CIM, operating model, billing export and customer interviews before recommending whether to proceed.

A growth-equity associate live case testing whether the investment view changes when customer data contradicts management's headline metrics.

You are preparing a final investment-committee recommendation for a minority investment in a vertical SaaS company. Work through new evidence as it arrives, make a decision at each checkpoint, then…

The attribution exercise a growth fund runs at investment committee.

You invest at 8.0x revenue in a company with $50m revenue growing 40% a year. You hold five years and exit at 6.0x revenue. What return do you make, and where does it come from?

Tests whether a candidate can interrogate the metrics in a SaaS growth-company dashboard.

Define ARR, bookings and recognised revenue. A company reports strong bookings but weak revenue growth. What would you ask next?

Used to test whether a growth investor can separate headline growth from capital efficiency.

A company burned $18m of cash over the last twelve months and increased ARR from $30m to $42m. Calculate its burn multiple. What would you investigate before using it to make an investment decision?

A first-round growth-investing question on the quality of recurring revenue.

A SaaS company begins the year with $10m of ARR from existing customers, loses $1m to churn and contraction, and gains $2m of expansion. Calculate gross revenue retention and net revenue retention.…

A first-round growth-investing question on how a financing changes the company versus its existing shareholders.

What is the difference between primary and secondary capital in a growth-stage financing? When might you support a secondary sale?

A simple calculation that reveals whether the candidate knows how to use a common growth-company heuristic.

A software company is growing revenue 32% year over year and has a -14% EBITDA margin. What is its Rule of 40 score? Does it pass the test?

A common opening question for candidates moving from early-stage venture into growth investing.

How does a growth-stage investor underwrite a company differently from a seed or Series A investor?

A modelling-screen exercise testing whether a candidate can distinguish top-line growth from the economics produced by that growth.

A software company grows revenue from $24m to $36m while gross margin rises from 60% to 70%. Calculate prior-year gross profit, current-year gross profit, and the incremental gross profit. Why is this…

A practical diligence case for assessing whether a management plan is fundable.

Management forecasts ARR to grow from $20m to $40m next year. How would you test whether the forecast is credible?

A growth-investing case asks the analyst to decide whether management's pipeline and revenue dashboards can support an investment-committee forecast.

Management says it can add $18m of new ARR next year and provides a CRM export showing $54m of pipeline. Outline the workflow you would use to decide whether the pipeline supports the plan.

Growth investors frequently see concentration hidden inside impressive enterprise ARR growth.

A company has $25m of ARR and its largest customer contributes $7m. The customer has a two-year contract but can terminate for material service failures. How do you underwrite the risk?

Tests whether a candidate can connect company quality, public-market evidence and an underwriting return.

How would you value a growth-stage software company with $30m of ARR, 60% growth and 115% NRR?

An investment-committee exercise for testing whether the candidate can make a growth thesis falsifiable.

You are recommending a growth investment in a vertical-software company. What does a useful downside case look like, and how would it change your cheque size or terms?

A partnership-level case that tests capital allocation discipline after an initial growth investment.

You own 8% of a portfolio company. It proposes a new round to fund international expansion, and you can invest pro rata to maintain ownership. How do you decide whether to follow on?

Growth equity and late-stage VC interviews centre on this analysis.

A SaaS company is growing revenue 80% year over year and burning $40m a year. What metrics do you need to know whether this is a good business, and what would make you pass?

Growth investors underwrite the go-to-market engine, not just the product.

A company spends $40m on sales and marketing and adds $25m of new ARR. Is that good? What else do you need to know?

The single most informative chart in growth-stage diligence.

A company shows you cohort retention curves. What are you looking for, and what would make you walk away?

Tests whether you understand that price and structure are substitutes.

A company last raised at a $1bn valuation. Metrics have deteriorated and comparable public companies have halved. The founder refuses a down round. What do you propose?

A late-round investing case tests whether the candidate sees how term-sheet economics change returns when the exit is below plan.

A new investor pays $25m for 25% of a company. In a $60m exit, compare its proceeds under (a) 1x non-participating preferred and (b) 1x participating preferred. What term and decision issues would you…

A growth-stage diligence simulation where asking low-value questions consumes scarce meeting time.

A vertical-software company reports 125% net retention and asks for a $600m valuation. You have only three management questions and three customer-reference questions. Spend them on evidence that can…

The workstream a VC analyst actually owns.

You have three weeks to diligence a Series B software company. What do you do?

A common partner-meeting exercise for a fund deciding whether to defend ownership.

Your fund owns 12% of a company. A new investor is leading a round at twice the prior valuation. What work do you do before deciding whether to take your pro rata?