This was probably the most unethical business interview experience I have ever had in over 20 years of experience. The only reason I am writing this is because this is the 3rd time, almost on a yearly basis, I have seen this job posted.
I applied online and within several days the HR Manager contacted me and we did a normal phone screen, Then, I was invited to their offices in Bridgeport. The only good thing about this location is that it is close to the Metro North station. I had a total of 3 face to face interviews there, with the Head of HR (no longer there), the CEO, his wife (who was then part of the BDR team) and the VP of Sales. For one thing, the CEO is a self-proclaimed "Visionary" and "eCommerce Guru" (his terms). They claim that this process, and the personality tests they give is to ensure a culture fit, but what it really is is a test to see how many hoops you are willing to jump through to get a job. I've worked for more than a couple of startups, and yes. cultural fit is important, but none made you do this.
These interviews took, in total, about4-5 hours and many were very repetitive, and mainly concerning compensation. At the end of the process, I did get an offer. I was asked to come to the office at 8 AM because the CEO was getting ready to travel to a trade show. When I got there, I was offered a junior level position, at half the salary we were discussing and at a lower level than I had been making. No mention was made during the process that this was the position being considered (and the emails continued to refer to the Director position). I wrote an email in response with some different salary and commission mixes that were more in line with my experience and was told quite bluntly that, "This is the role we feel would best fit you and the company and we do not negotiate over compensation", and "Based on this exchange, we are rescinding the offer". I have also had the opportunity to interview people who used to work there (BTW, they have recently re-branded are now called Pulse ECommerce) and they reported to me that they felt extremely micro-managed, there was no communication with Senior Management (aka the CEO) because he made it clear that it is his show, his way. The benefits are not up to par, the weekly lunches were an excuse to be harangued, the hours were long and favoritism was rampant (these are all corroborated by the negative reviews here on Glassdoor, BTW). They claim to be a growing company, but they have continuously have had about 15 employees on LinkedIn.
So, in summation, if you are truly desperate for a job in tech (and they do not have a bad product, it is a full suite with a lot of good functionality) or are looking for experience then go for it. If, however, you are a professional and are looking for advancement or for a truly rewarding experience, you may want to rethink this. They still call themselves a startup although they started 17 years ago (in a dorm room) and you need to ask why they are still in that phase. My takeaway is there are better, more rewarding companies to work for. I'm glad I did not fall into that trap.