I have their email addresses. I offered to do free mock up interviews for them, but no one was interested. It could be that they didn't need the service and were looking to use it once it became available.
You are right. Since its an automated system, you can't get follow up questions. You can only practice by replying to a script. I believe this is the biggest drawback with my approach. I was thinking of it as a way to build your confidence by actually hearing yourself on the phone after the interview.
I like the idea of having developers interview each other. Thanks!
I sent an email to around 30 people. I have been following the lean startup advice of getting feedback from users to develop the product. I was about to abandon developing since I couldn't even get them to talk to me for about 20 minutes.
This post hit a nerve! This is exactly what got me working on http://www.phoneinterviewme.com/ to help fellow developers prepare better for their phone interviews.
Here is how it works. You get a call at a time you pick on your phone line. You are asked some automated questions related to the interview you expect. Once you are done, you can go back and listen to your session to see how you did. I was hoping this would help developers practice and get over the fear during an actual interview. Would this help you be better prepared?
I am curious why you decided to quit job to work on your startup? Were you getting a lot of traction?
I have done something similar and learnt a great deal. The biggest lesson I learnt is to sell before you build. If you can't get enough people excited to buy your product don't build.