How a Bad Google Interview Turned Into a Startup (And a Great Story)

I get pitched all the time. What made this one different?

This is a story about a startup and a job interview. But it’s also about why the whole thing got my attention (and thus why I wrote about it).

About 18 months ago, Andrew Burton, a product designer in London, interviewed at Google. 

He really wanted the job, and it was a pretty intense process: an introductory interview, followed by a technical phone interview, and then a full day with four interviews scheduled back to back.

During that last day, Burton was supposed to talk his way through a brand-new product that he'd designed at Google's behest, specifically mapping out the design and building a partial prototype for a "fitness class leader board."

As he explained afterward:

The bane of all product designers' lives is the dreaded "interview task." We all know the drill: You have "4-6 hours" to design a slick product, with a memorable brand and cohesive working method.

No one acknowledges the fact that in reality, you're about to dedicate up to five working days on this task, with the pote…