One screening interview, one panel interview, interview with CEO (hiring manager), take-home assignment, cognitive assessment (seriously).
The interview process was fairly standard in terms of the interviews and even the take-home assignment. The cognitive assessment was condescending, but fine. My biggest problem with the entire process was that after I jumped through all of their hoops, (apparently successfully, as I continued to be moved forward) and after I spent considerable time and energy to do so, they couldn't even be bothered to send me a note telling me they went with another candidate. It does, however, give me a little more insight into why they've struggled to fill a role that has been empty for some time.
The interview process was certainly enlightening, clearly providing me with as much information about the company and the CEO as they were getting from me. I learned that the role is very demanding especially from a time perspective. The demands on one's time gave me pause. They involved a daily check-in call with the CEO, likely at 6:00am, and involved being closely attuned with his schedule, which often ended at, or after, 8:00pm. While everyone I spoke with emphasized that I would not be expected to be available that entire 14 hour span, I wasn't given a great deal of detail on how that would work. In fact, I was told explicitly that this was the reason the last EA had left. So, again, reason for pause.
None of which were dealbreakers until I went back and re-read the job posting. I remembered that the job was listed as 80-100K with bonus and equity; when I re-read the description, I realized that the job is up to 100K INCLUSIVE of bonus and equity. In other words, the base would be considerably lower than that amount.
So, I guess in the end, it doesn't matter that they didn't send me a note letting me know they were going with someone else because there is no way I would've been able to accept a job requiring that amount of my time for what is definitely on the lower end of salary packages for similar roles.