Estimation Interview Questions

Review this list of 144 estimation interview questions and answers verified by hiring managers and candidates.
  • Google logoAsked at Google 
    Video answer for 'Estimate the number of restaurants in San Francisco.'
    +56

    "Candidate: Before we go ahead I have a few clarifying questions, I’d like to ask. Interviewer: Sure. Candidate: What is the exact definition of a restaurant, are we counting coffee shops, bars, street food trolleys, homemade food shops that only has delivery to customers’ place and etc... kinds of a restaurant as well? Interviewer: let’s assume that we only mean restaurants that people can go inside, order some food and eat. Let’s not consider bars and coffee shops and so"

    Jasmin R. - "Candidate: Before we go ahead I have a few clarifying questions, I’d like to ask. Interviewer: Sure. Candidate: What is the exact definition of a restaurant, are we counting coffee shops, bars, street food trolleys, homemade food shops that only has delivery to customers’ place and etc... kinds of a restaurant as well? Interviewer: let’s assume that we only mean restaurants that people can go inside, order some food and eat. Let’s not consider bars and coffee shops and so"See full answer

    Product Manager
    Estimation
  • +1

    "Assumptions: We're looking only at a single large dealership in San Jose, per the question, not all large car dealerships New cars already come with tires; the dealer does not have to purchase them separately A couple of different ways I might approach this: Approach 1: Estimate based on # cars serviced per day Dealer intakes 10 cars for servicing per hour (based on anecdotal observation) 100 cars serviced per day (assuming service dept. open 10 hours per day) Cars that need onl"

    Andrew B. - "Assumptions: We're looking only at a single large dealership in San Jose, per the question, not all large car dealerships New cars already come with tires; the dealer does not have to purchase them separately A couple of different ways I might approach this: Approach 1: Estimate based on # cars serviced per day Dealer intakes 10 cars for servicing per hour (based on anecdotal observation) 100 cars serviced per day (assuming service dept. open 10 hours per day) Cars that need onl"See full answer

    Product Manager
    Estimation
  • +39

    "Clarifying Questions: Assume US Audience or Worldwide? US Only Assume short form content or long form content ? Assume all Premium or Ads Support ? All Solution: US Population 300M Will remove 70 ages as not relevant audience or not have access to YouTube = 60m Leaving 240M. Adoption of YouTube with remaining Population = 60% (including overlap and exclusion with other services e.g. Netflix) Total Audience that watches YouTube daily = 144m (about half of US Populat"

    Sumeet R. - "Clarifying Questions: Assume US Audience or Worldwide? US Only Assume short form content or long form content ? Assume all Premium or Ads Support ? All Solution: US Population 300M Will remove 70 ages as not relevant audience or not have access to YouTube = 60m Leaving 240M. Adoption of YouTube with remaining Population = 60% (including overlap and exclusion with other services e.g. Netflix) Total Audience that watches YouTube daily = 144m (about half of US Populat"See full answer

    Estimation
  • +3

    "Prompt - annual cost of managing Google photos (note - I believe Google doesn't ask estimation question anymore, not sure who/here/how this was asked) We will go over what Google photos is, its users, how they use photos, what costs are incurred, estimation - base case then scale it out, gut check the answers, and arrive at an estimate Google photos is a photo and video storage service. Its users are Content creators/users Google (hosting) Other service providers that provide value-add"

    Glados - "Prompt - annual cost of managing Google photos (note - I believe Google doesn't ask estimation question anymore, not sure who/here/how this was asked) We will go over what Google photos is, its users, how they use photos, what costs are incurred, estimation - base case then scale it out, gut check the answers, and arrive at an estimate Google photos is a photo and video storage service. Its users are Content creators/users Google (hosting) Other service providers that provide value-add"See full answer

    Product Manager
    Estimation
  • Google logoAsked at Google 
    +1

    "Clarifying questions : I would like to confirm what type of parking spots we are talking about, should we assume cars ? Assumption : Cars Is it referring to only parking spots in non-residential complexes or public places or does it include residential too ?Assumption : both Assumptions : Places where we could see parking spots Shopping malls Parking in the park Residence spots Legal parking spots Variables in play Population = assuming a family of 4 => population / 4 (nu"

    Karthik T. - "Clarifying questions : I would like to confirm what type of parking spots we are talking about, should we assume cars ? Assumption : Cars Is it referring to only parking spots in non-residential complexes or public places or does it include residential too ?Assumption : both Assumptions : Places where we could see parking spots Shopping malls Parking in the park Residence spots Legal parking spots Variables in play Population = assuming a family of 4 => population / 4 (nu"See full answer

    Product Manager
    Estimation
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  • Dropbox logoAsked at Dropbox 
    +5

    "This is my first attempt at an estimation question, any feedback is appreciated. I'd like to clarify if AirBNB's core services would include user reservations on its web/mobile platform on a per night basis. I'd also assume if we would to estimate the topline revenue (or gross merchandise sales) without factoring operational expenses and taxes. I'd also clarify if basing my estimation on revenue from its largest marketplace, US, is reasonable. Population of US - 350 MM Avg Household size - 2.5"

    Saleel P. - "This is my first attempt at an estimation question, any feedback is appreciated. I'd like to clarify if AirBNB's core services would include user reservations on its web/mobile platform on a per night basis. I'd also assume if we would to estimate the topline revenue (or gross merchandise sales) without factoring operational expenses and taxes. I'd also clarify if basing my estimation on revenue from its largest marketplace, US, is reasonable. Population of US - 350 MM Avg Household size - 2.5"See full answer

    Product Manager
    Estimation
  • "Answering only estimation portion for practice (for some reason after submitting the formatting is unorganized) clarification and assumptions can I assume this grocery store location is called Greens can I assume that self-checkout means that customers checks out without assistance? can I assume that cashier checkout means that cashier assists customers with checkout? can I assume that ratio means how man self-checkouts should be place at this grocery store compare"

    Ama M. - "Answering only estimation portion for practice (for some reason after submitting the formatting is unorganized) clarification and assumptions can I assume this grocery store location is called Greens can I assume that self-checkout means that customers checks out without assistance? can I assume that cashier checkout means that cashier assists customers with checkout? can I assume that ratio means how man self-checkouts should be place at this grocery store compare"See full answer

    Product Manager
    Estimation
    +1 more
  • Google logoAsked at Google 
    +14

    "Questions: Should we consider US or Global? Is there any existing market insights/research around driverless cars adoption? Can we assume that driverless car technology is production / public ready by 2025? Is this focus on commercial or consumer use? Assumption: Let's look at US to start for our estimation since Driverless car regulation and adoption trend will probably differ per country Let's also assume we want to estimate market size for driverless cars in 2025 for consume"

    Mark - "Questions: Should we consider US or Global? Is there any existing market insights/research around driverless cars adoption? Can we assume that driverless car technology is production / public ready by 2025? Is this focus on commercial or consumer use? Assumption: Let's look at US to start for our estimation since Driverless car regulation and adoption trend will probably differ per country Let's also assume we want to estimate market size for driverless cars in 2025 for consume"See full answer

    Estimation
    Data Analysis
  • Google logoAsked at Google 
    +8

    "Clarifying questions: What city/ country are we talking about? Indian metro. What all counts as a grocery store? Do have to cover dark stores as well which are not open to public? Only consider all grocery stores where public pick up is allowed. Do we have to include hyper markets/ super markets as well or only smaller stores? Include both. Okay, so I would be considering the Indian metro of Bangalore here. The overall equation is , **total number of grocery stores = Number of small grocer"

    Kartikeya N. - "Clarifying questions: What city/ country are we talking about? Indian metro. What all counts as a grocery store? Do have to cover dark stores as well which are not open to public? Only consider all grocery stores where public pick up is allowed. Do we have to include hyper markets/ super markets as well or only smaller stores? Include both. Okay, so I would be considering the Indian metro of Bangalore here. The overall equation is , **total number of grocery stores = Number of small grocer"See full answer

    Product Manager
    Estimation
  • Revolut logoAsked at Revolut 

    "My stab at this (feedback welcome): Total distance for last car 500 meters: Assuming mostly standard cars, average car length + gap = 5 meters. Acceleration time total 505 seconds: first car reacts slowest, accelerate in 10 seconds. Every other car needs 5 seconds (can see ahead). Takes 90 seconds to cover 500m: to cover 500m that means 90 seconds (20kph = 10km in 30min = 1km in 3min = 500m in 1.5m) A bit under 10 minutes = 90s + 505s. Probably a bit less as last car"

    Gabe M. - "My stab at this (feedback welcome): Total distance for last car 500 meters: Assuming mostly standard cars, average car length + gap = 5 meters. Acceleration time total 505 seconds: first car reacts slowest, accelerate in 10 seconds. Every other car needs 5 seconds (can see ahead). Takes 90 seconds to cover 500m: to cover 500m that means 90 seconds (20kph = 10km in 30min = 1km in 3min = 500m in 1.5m) A bit under 10 minutes = 90s + 505s. Probably a bit less as last car"See full answer

    BizOps & Strategy
    Estimation
    +1 more
  • Google logoAsked at Google 
    +5

    "Clarifying questions: Can I assume the timeframe to be today, ie Dec 2024? : Yes What country are we targeting? Lets say it is India. When we say "Use google search to find a new job" do we mean to say that they use Google search in their job search process or also convert and actually find a job? : The former. I am assuming we are only considering when someone directly searches jobs on Google and not searches for some job search portal on google: Yes. How long should the search"

    Kartikeya N. - "Clarifying questions: Can I assume the timeframe to be today, ie Dec 2024? : Yes What country are we targeting? Lets say it is India. When we say "Use google search to find a new job" do we mean to say that they use Google search in their job search process or also convert and actually find a job? : The former. I am assuming we are only considering when someone directly searches jobs on Google and not searches for some job search portal on google: Yes. How long should the search"See full answer

    Product Manager
    Estimation
  • +11

    "Population of Bangalore - 1.4 cr On an average 4 people live in 1 householde=> 1.4cr/4 => ~35L HouseHolds Out of the 35L Household, 30% household fall below poverty line are not interested in ordering online due to their own personal reasons prefers to visit to the hotel directly and eat instead of ordering online => Thus remaining is ~25L households out of the 25L households, assuming at least 20% of the households place one order on average on any given day will lead to 5L orders"

    Volderdore - "Population of Bangalore - 1.4 cr On an average 4 people live in 1 householde=> 1.4cr/4 => ~35L HouseHolds Out of the 35L Household, 30% household fall below poverty line are not interested in ordering online due to their own personal reasons prefers to visit to the hotel directly and eat instead of ordering online => Thus remaining is ~25L households out of the 25L households, assuming at least 20% of the households place one order on average on any given day will lead to 5L orders"See full answer

    Product Manager
    Estimation
  • Asked at Park+ 
    +6

    "So we need to only consider Delhi within city limits? Yes And will we consider the big trees and not bushes? Yes Now inside Delhi total size is 1484 sq km means 2000000 sq km In this, there are 2% area which is lake or water so remove that will be (2000000-( 2000000 km*2%) )= 1960000 sq km In this area in Delhi, we have 20 % area where it is a park that means ( 1960000- (1960000*20%)) = 1568000 km area nonpark and 392000 km is a park area Obviously, in the park area, the density will b"

    Indranil G. - "So we need to only consider Delhi within city limits? Yes And will we consider the big trees and not bushes? Yes Now inside Delhi total size is 1484 sq km means 2000000 sq km In this, there are 2% area which is lake or water so remove that will be (2000000-( 2000000 km*2%) )= 1960000 sq km In this area in Delhi, we have 20 % area where it is a park that means ( 1960000- (1960000*20%)) = 1568000 km area nonpark and 392000 km is a park area Obviously, in the park area, the density will b"See full answer

    Product Manager
    Estimation
  • +3

    "Two clarification questions first! When we say quarters, are we assuming the quarters are stacked on top of each other, or are we measuring across the diameter? let's say they are stacked. And second question, is the height of the building just from the ground floor to the top of the building? yes. Okay, the key numbers we need to find then are the height of the building in feet, and the # of quarters that fit into a foot. First for the height of the building, the key numbers are heigh"

    Helen Z. - "Two clarification questions first! When we say quarters, are we assuming the quarters are stacked on top of each other, or are we measuring across the diameter? let's say they are stacked. And second question, is the height of the building just from the ground floor to the top of the building? yes. Okay, the key numbers we need to find then are the height of the building in feet, and the # of quarters that fit into a foot. First for the height of the building, the key numbers are heigh"See full answer

    Estimation
  • Google logoAsked at Google 
    Video answer for 'How much money does the Play Store make in a year?'
    +54

    "50% of users spending money on play store at a global level sounds off I would factor this to maybe 20% of play store users I'd go about solving for it as follows: Play store revenue has multiple revenue sources and in my view all are significant contributors, they are as follows: Ads Subscription revenue from app In app purchases I'll start with TAM(user count) for google play store = (population x internet penetration rate x smart phone share of internet users MINUS china user ba"

    Rahul G. - "50% of users spending money on play store at a global level sounds off I would factor this to maybe 20% of play store users I'd go about solving for it as follows: Play store revenue has multiple revenue sources and in my view all are significant contributors, they are as follows: Ads Subscription revenue from app In app purchases I'll start with TAM(user count) for google play store = (population x internet penetration rate x smart phone share of internet users MINUS china user ba"See full answer

    Estimation
  • +4

    "Clarification Questions : Do all 10000 persons need Email access, or is 10000 people the colony's size? : Yes, 10000 people will use emails. As I am a PM for Gmail, I assume we are focusing just on email as a form of communication: Yes. Are there any requirements on the size of attachments allowable in the emails? : I will leave it up to you. Understand the user behavior -> Identify key metrics -> Make quantitative estimation -> Understand plans -> Propose network bandwidth. User b"

    Navin T. - "Clarification Questions : Do all 10000 persons need Email access, or is 10000 people the colony's size? : Yes, 10000 people will use emails. As I am a PM for Gmail, I assume we are focusing just on email as a form of communication: Yes. Are there any requirements on the size of attachments allowable in the emails? : I will leave it up to you. Understand the user behavior -> Identify key metrics -> Make quantitative estimation -> Understand plans -> Propose network bandwidth. User b"See full answer

    Product Manager
    Estimation
  • Meta (Facebook) logoAsked at Meta (Facebook) 
    +5

    "The opening of people spending a lot time on Facebook is way too long. Almost half time of the video. The analysis of Facebook business model should be very brief. People know Facebook business model. Maximize the ads display while balancing the user experience is the key. She can drive to this point much faster. Segmentation of user group feels irrelevant to the question. I would answer the question in a different way. Ads revenue is the single most revenue stream for Facebook. So we c"

    Zhi C. - "The opening of people spending a lot time on Facebook is way too long. Almost half time of the video. The analysis of Facebook business model should be very brief. People know Facebook business model. Maximize the ads display while balancing the user experience is the key. She can drive to this point much faster. Segmentation of user group feels irrelevant to the question. I would answer the question in a different way. Ads revenue is the single most revenue stream for Facebook. So we c"See full answer

    Estimation
    Product Design
  • +3

    "First I will set up the formula, second I will calculate each of the components then adding them up. Finally, I will talk about corner cases if any. 1, To begin with, I want to think broadly what could go into the equation. Bandwidth depends on number of devices at a time, so if a student use both laptop and phone at the same time then we have 2. Beside, grad students need internet for various reasons, such as checking email, searching on Google for information, watching lectures... Different a"

    Darren L. - "First I will set up the formula, second I will calculate each of the components then adding them up. Finally, I will talk about corner cases if any. 1, To begin with, I want to think broadly what could go into the equation. Bandwidth depends on number of devices at a time, so if a student use both laptop and phone at the same time then we have 2. Beside, grad students need internet for various reasons, such as checking email, searching on Google for information, watching lectures... Different a"See full answer

    Product Manager
    Estimation
  • Meta (Facebook) logoAsked at Meta (Facebook) 
    Video answer for 'Determine the right number of photos to show in Facebook's Newsfeed.'
    +9

    "The question is about the decision to show the right # of photos in Facebook. Clarifying questions : Is this specific to Consumers or Business users ? Is there an drop or impact to the current metrics in terms of user engagement or the time spent on the post Are there any pain points to solve in terms of technical details like page loads etc.? Let's start with the users. There are 2 categories of users - Creators and Consumers. This can be further classified to say creators - Indiv"

    Vasanth M. - "The question is about the decision to show the right # of photos in Facebook. Clarifying questions : Is this specific to Consumers or Business users ? Is there an drop or impact to the current metrics in terms of user engagement or the time spent on the post Are there any pain points to solve in terms of technical details like page loads etc.? Let's start with the users. There are 2 categories of users - Creators and Consumers. This can be further classified to say creators - Indiv"See full answer

    Estimation
    Analytical
    +1 more
  • Dropbox logoAsked at Dropbox 
    +1

    "No of Cars in 1 year = [ Total Road Length] / [Distance Covered by 1 Self Drive Car in One Year] Clarifying Question - How does Mapping work? I assume the car has a bunch of cameras and the car needs to go via a road each once to do the mapping for Google Street view. Is that correct? Assumption Google Street view required cars to go via road once and then use camera for mapping Assumption for average speed of the car - This can vary if the car is on the highway Assumption of Area of"

    Raul K. - "No of Cars in 1 year = [ Total Road Length] / [Distance Covered by 1 Self Drive Car in One Year] Clarifying Question - How does Mapping work? I assume the car has a bunch of cameras and the car needs to go via a road each once to do the mapping for Google Street view. Is that correct? Assumption Google Street view required cars to go via road once and then use camera for mapping Assumption for average speed of the car - This can vary if the car is on the highway Assumption of Area of"See full answer

    Product Manager
    Estimation
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