Interviewing for any job can be a trying process that leaves potential employees with mountains of questions for their would-be employer. While most new hires will enter a job with a clear idea about their salary, benefits and and vacation time, more are likely in the dark about less obvious aspects of their new workplace, like company culture, working style favored by their new colleagues and the future of the business. At startups, where growth and change can come on quickly, those concerns can have an even more pronounced effect on new hires than they would at established companies.

This is one reason why Lawrence Coburn, CEO of DoubleDutch, gave Mashable his list of seven questions to ask a startup CEO during the interview process. Coburn, who makes it a priority to interview all of his new hires and not just those at the management level, believes that you can learn a lot from asking questions geared specifically toward startup CEOs – and they can learn a lot about you by the types of questions you ask, as well.

Here are his recommendations to ask for anyone who is looking to get into a startup at the ground level.

1.) What is your vision for the company? “Most startups require all hands on deck, and the vision is what steers the ship,” says Coburn. If a CEO doesn’t have a clear idea of where the company is headed, it may not be the right place for you.

2.) What are your company values? “The people you work with and the values they live by have a tremendous impact on your work environment,” Coburn notes. “This stuff matters.”

3.) What are your plans for an exit or IPO and how fast are you growing? This question is a bit presumptuous, but in a business setting where growth is paramount in everyone’s mind, it’s good to know up front how that has been designed to pan out.

4.) What keeps you up at night? This may be the interviewee version of “what is your biggest flaw?” – a question that is easy to answer in a way that conveys very little practical information – but, if a CEO truly believes in transparency, asking it may give you some insight into potential trouble spots that can inform your employment decision.

5.) What are some of the characteristics of people who have been successful at your company? Asking this question “indicates an understanding of the importance that culture and values play in fitting in and succeeding at a company,” Coburn says, adding that it also “shows a hunger to excel and grow beyond your job description.”

6.) Who is your competition? As Coburn puts it, “Knowing who your competition is — and what sets your company apart — is often the difference between joining Friendster or Facebook.” A valuable distinction, for sure.

7.) If your company were a Hogwarts house, which one would it be? While we’re not sure we can endorse asking this question in particular, the reason Coburn liked it when a candidate posed it to him was for its “quantitative way of looking at culture.” So while asking a Harry Potter-related question has a high risk factor – depending on the CEO’s opinion about and knowledge of pop culture and fantasy fiction – asking a question that allows him or her to categorically define the way in which the startup is run can be a useful exercise in gleaning more information about your potential employer.

Visit Mashable for more on the topic from Coburn.