← PlanetScale
PlanetScale role-play cheat sheet
For the mock cold call at the end of most SDR interviews.
What they sell, in one line
A managed cloud database service for running fast, scalable MySQL (Vitess) and Postgres databases.
Who you'd be calling
CTOs, VPs of Engineering, engineering managers, and platform or database leads at software companies.
Your opener
“Hi [Name], this is [You] from PlanetScale. I know engineers hate cold calls, so I'll be quick. Can I ask one question about how your team runs its database today?”
Problems you solve for them
- Databases that slow down or break as traffic grows
- Engineers spending time on database upkeep instead of product
- Risky, slow schema changes and downtime
Discovery questions to ask
- Which databases is your team running in production today?
- What happens to your database when traffic spikes?
- How much engineering time goes into managing, scaling, or migrating the database?
Objections they'll throw at you
“I'm busy right now.”
→ Understood, I'll let you go. Is there a better time this week for a two-minute chat about your database setup?
“I'm not interested.”
→ No worries. Is your database running smoothly right now, or are there any scaling headaches on your roadmap?
“We already use something for this.”
→ Makes sense, lots of teams are on a managed database already. Which one are you on, and how's it holding up as you grow?
“Just send me an email.”
→ Happy to. What database are you on, so I send something that actually applies to you?
Competitors worth knowing
Amazon Aurora (AWS RDS), Neon, Supabase, CockroachDB
Interview tips for this company
- Learn the basics: what a database is, what 'scaling' means, and the difference between MySQL and Postgres.
- Talk like a peer to engineers: be direct, skip the buzzwords, and keep it short.
Written from public information about PlanetScale to help you practice. Ask an insider what their role play looked like; it's the best prep there is.