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Fishwife CEO’s One Interview Question That Tests Self-Awareness

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Fishwife CEO’s One Interview Question That Tests Self-Awareness

2026-07-28 09:47 UTCBy AlphaScala Research DeskSource reporting: businessinsider.comEditorial standards

Fishwife CEO’s One Interview Question That Tests Self-Awareness

Fishwife CEO Becca Millstein asks every candidate what their superpower is. The answer reveals self-awareness, humility, and whether they fit a startup culture with no filler jobs.

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Becca Millstein, the 32-year-old cofounder and CEO of tinned seafood brand Fishwife, has a single question she asks every job candidate. “What’s your superpower?”

Millstein told Business Insider the question is a sharper version of the standard “What’s your greatest strength?” prompt. The difference, she said, is that the superpower framing cuts through rehearsed answers and forces candidates to name the one thing they do best.

“It cuts to the core of: What are you actually the best at?” Millstein said. “What is going to make you invaluable at our company?”

The question tests self-awareness, Millstein said. She called humility and self-awareness two of the strongest predictors of success for startup founders. Investors, she added, don’t back entrepreneurs who can’t see their own weaknesses.

“Your success is determined by your ability to spot gaps in yourself and then in your organization,” Millstein said.

At a startup, there are no filler jobs, she said. “Everyone has so much responsibility, so much autonomy, so much boundless room for creativity.”

Asked how she would answer her own question, Millstein said colleagues have told her her superpower is the ability to do both analytical and creative work. “I can go high-strategy, and I can get super, super in the weeds,” she said.

Millstein, a history major who worked in the music industry after college, founded Fishwife in 2020 after studying abroad in Spain, where she was inspired by the country’s tinned fish culture. The brand has grown quickly as high-protein diets have pushed sardines and other tinned fish into the American mainstream.

In 2024, Fishwife landed a deal on “Shark Tank” that valued the brand at roughly $5 million. Its packages are sold at Whole Foods, Costco, and smaller boutiques.

Millstein said the best founders can think strategically about where the business is headed years out while also diving into daily details. They talk to people across the company and are willing to do any job themselves.

“The taking-out-the-trash thing, as a CEO, is a real thing,” Millstein said.

The question does more than surface a candidate’s top skill. It reveals how they frame their own value. A candidate who says “I’m a great collaborator” but can’t give a concrete example may lack the self-awareness Millstein prizes. Someone who says “I build systems that make teams faster” and describes a specific process shows they understand their own impact.

For a startup with 20 or 30 employees, every hire has outsized influence. A bad hire wastes time and money, and a good hire multiplies the team’s output. The superpower question forces candidates to articulate why they are worth the bet.

Millstein’s own answer – analytical and creative – mirrors the dual demands of a CEO role. She must set a long-term strategy while managing day-to-day decisions about inventory, packaging, and distribution. The same tension applies to early employees, who often switch between high-level planning and grunt work.

“The taking-out-the-trash thing” is a concrete version of that. No one at a startup is above stocking shelves, replying to customer emails, or cleaning the break room. The superpower question indirectly tests whether a candidate understands that.

Fishwife’s growth since 2020 shows the value of Millstein’s approach. The brand has moved from a niche online seller to a shelf staple at two of the largest U.S. retailers. The Shark Tank valuation gave it a public benchmark. None of that happens without a team that can both zoom out and zoom in.

Millstein’s question is a small window into a larger hiring philosophy. Startups that hire for self-awareness and humility, she said, build teams that can adapt when the market shifts. The companies that skip that test often find themselves with leaders who can’t admit they’re wrong.

“Your success is determined by your ability to spot gaps in yourself,” she said. Then, in the organization.