Fishwife’s CEO shares her favorite interview question — and how she would answer it

Many leaders committedness by a signature question and reply question, and Fishwife CEO Becca Millstein is nary exception.

The 32-year-old cofounder and CEO of Fishwife, a trendy tinned seafood brand, told Business Insider that her favorite mobility to inquire candidates is: What's your superpower?

It's another version of the accepted "What's your top strength?" question, which often prompts polished, rehearsed responses. Asking astir a candidate's superpower, she said, gets correct to the chase.

"It cuts to the halfway of: What are you really the champion at?" Millstein said. "What is going to make you invaluable astatine our company?"

Millstein said she likes to inquire that mobility because it encourages candidates to place the 1 point they do exceptionally well, whether that's collaborating aliases communicating. It prompts group to attraction connected what sets them apart.

"There are nary filler jobs astatine a startup," Millstein said, adding that, "everyone has truthful overmuch responsibility, truthful overmuch autonomy, truthful overmuch boundless room for creativity."

Millstein said the mobility besides reveals really candidates spot themselves and really self-aware they are. The CEO said she believes humility and self-awareness are 2 of the strongest predictors of occurrence for founders, particularly astatine a startup. She said investors don't want to backmost entrepreneurs who aren't alert of their ain weaknesses.

"Your occurrence is wished by your expertise to spot gaps successful yourself and past successful your organization," Millstein said.

When asked really she would reply the mobility herself, Millstein said others person told her that her superpower is her expertise to do some analytical and imaginative activity — which she referred to arsenic tapping into the near and correct sides of her brain.

"I tin spell high-strategy, and I tin get super, ace successful the weeds," Millstein said.

Millstein majored successful history and concisely worked successful the euphony manufacture aft assemblage earlier cofounding Fishwife, which has grown rapidly since launching successful 2020. As liking successful high-protein diets has grown, sardines and different tinned food person go some trendy and affordable staples for galore Americans.

Millstein recovered the inspiration for the marque while studying overseas successful Spain. During the pandemic, she said she craved tinned food arsenic a protein-rich nutrient pinch a agelong support life.

In 2024, Fishwife landed a woody connected "Shark Tank" that weighted the marque astatine astir $5 million. The colorfully illustrated packages tin beryllium recovered astatine unit giants for illustration Whole Foods and Costco, arsenic good arsenic smaller boutique shops.

Millstein said the champion founders tin deliberation strategically, zooming retired to spot wherever the business is headed years down the statement while besides diving into the details. They're consenting to talk to group crossed the institution and aren't supra doing immoderate occupation themselves, she said.

"The taking-out-the-trash thing, arsenic a CEO, is simply a existent thing," Millstein said.