3rd round interview

So, my repeated, nagging, follow-up to the company I've interviewed with twice now finally resulted in a third interview. I met today with the controller and CEO, so I've met all the most important people except for the COO, who was supposed to be there today but was unavailable.

The interview went quite well. I spent a pleasant two hours discussing my background, the challenges facing the company, industry trends, etc. I felt pretty comfortable, like I could actually say what I thought and have substance to back it up and not have to blow smoke for two hours. Either I'm overconfident now or maybe, just maybe, I'm actually getting grown up enough that I have useful skills to contribute to running a small and growing operation.

The thought of working for a smaller company as general counsel has long appealed to me, so this is a great opportunity. And, if I had to guess, I'd wager that they'll offer me the job. I'm leaning towards accepting, although I have to see their financials and pro formas first. The risk is huge--their cash flow situation is still tenuous--but so is the reward. They could easily 5-10X the size of the company in the next 18 months. My reward in case of a sale or IPO in a couple of years would make the effort worth it, and more importantly, I'd be getting an interesting job and the chance to prove I could be part of the senior management team of a dynamic young company.

The other fly in the ointment is I still don't know the salary they will (hopefully) offer. I have a comfortable income and big-company security and benefits now; some of that would probably go away. In any case, I should know within the next few days, and then I'll have a decision to make. My gut is that I'll get an offer, but of course I don't really know, and I've historically not been great at predicting which interviews will lead to offers. Stay tuned, and thanks to those of you who have kept me in your thoughts and prayers.