First step was a phone screen with a recruiter (from third party agency) and then a Zoom with hiring manager. Call went well enough and the hiring manager told me she was checking the C-suite calendar to pass me along for the next round only to tell the recruiter not even ten minutes later that I wasn't moving forward. I'm wondering if they're just interviewing and picking people's brains for ideas for their new CS team. At any rate, just be honest with people. This is a bad look and this market is already so difficult as it is. It costs you nothing to be upfront with people giving you their time.