The reviews posted here are spot on. Doing a case exercise before ever speaking to a person isn't normal. I believe they are collecting sales process information for evaluating for internal use. They are a growing startup and with startup you develop processes as you grow/scale. This seems to be bait and switch tactics to gain insight for free. My case study format was based on 1 used by the Largest Private Equity SaaS investment company (a proven format and overview). They want you to spend a couple hours of time to complete the exercise only to get a rejection email. Response (This isn't a professional process for a 1st step) Thanks so much for spending time putting the case exercise document together. We regrouped internally with everyone who's gotten a chance to read your write-up and after much discussion as a team, I think the role we have right now and the place where our company is right now may not be the best place to set you up to succeed. I know sometimes it'd be more helpful if we could be more specific in our feedback, but our thinking has as much to do with where we are as a company at this moment in time as anything else. We want everything to be set up for you to succeed, for your sake and ours. We just want to have a very high bar for setting folks up for success, and wouldn't feel good if a role wasn't the highest and best fit to set up folks for success. We know the document (not to mention getting to know us) took a bunch of time. I just wanted you to know that we don't take the time you've spent with us lightly. We've spent sufficient time on our end as well, reading, debating, and regrouping.