Recent Product Manager Interview Questions

Sachin P. - "My approach to open ended prompts is to gather as much information as possible to: A) Clarify the issue -> b) Identify various possible root causes -> C) Narrow down on the most likely cause ->D) Set up a recommendation and how to track whether the proposed solution will work. A) CLARIFY 1) Clarify the metric Ensure that we fully understand this metric. Does uploads refer specifically to the individual files that someone uploads to their account? Does it include both manual uploads whe"See full answer

Exponent - "This is another Diagnosis problem. To answer this question, we suggest you use our framework (along with the TROPIC method) to be as thorough as possible. The framework is as follows: Ask clarifying questions List potential high level reasons Gather Context (TROPIC)Time Region Other features / products (internal) Platform Industry / Competition Cannibalization Establish a theory of probable cause Test theories Propose solutions Summarize "See full answer

Exponent - "This is a classic Favorite Product question with a constrained product type. For this, we want to make sure it's a SaaS product. Let's go over the Favorite Product formula before diving in: Choose a product and briefly explain what it is Who are the users? What are their pain points? How did competitors solve it in the past? How does this product address these pain points differently and better? How would you improve it/make it better? **Summarize"See full answer

Exponent - "This is a Technical question. It tests your ability to understand high level technical concepts. Even though your job won't have any coding involved, you'll still need to understand these concepts. Being able to cover all these topics with clarity communicates confidence in your interviewer. Unfortunately, there's no formula for technical questions, but some general tips are: Use analogies when you can Break your solution into clear, bite-size steps Don't be afraid to use examples to b"See full answer

Exponent - "This is another Fermi problem — an estimation or approximation problem with limited information and back-of-the-envelope calculations. There's no right answer: interviewers want to understand how you think and how well you can explain your reasoning, rather than what you already know. Recall the formula for Fermi problems: Ask clarifying questions Catalog what you know Make equation(s) Think about edge cases to add to equation **Breakdown components of your"See full answer

Exponent - "This is a Design a Product question. For this, we'll want to follow the formula for success: Ask clarifying questions Identify user types, behaviors, and pain points State the goal and use cases List current solutions Improvements / net new solutions Evaluate and select solutions Measure Success Summarize Ask clarifying questions It's important to get clarity on anything if things are unclear. Since this ask is quite straightforward"See full answer

Exponent - "This is a Design a Product question. For this, we'll want to follow the formula for success: Ask clarifying questions Identify user types, behaviors, and pain points State the goal and use cases List current solutions Improvements / net new solutions Evaluate and select solutions Measure Success Summarize Ask clarifying questions It's important to get clarity on anything if things are unclear. Since this ask is quite straightforward"See full answer

Exponent - "You should be able to easily identify this as a Measure Success question. These kinds of questions are used to test your analytical skills, as well as your ability to track project progress post-launch. Here's the strategy for tackling these: Ask clarifying questions State the goal of the feature / product Behavior Mapping / UX Flow Mapping Provide criteria to prioritize metrics Prioritize metrics Summarize Without further ado, let's dive in! Ask"See full answer

Exponent - "This is another Fermi problem — an estimation or approximation problem with limited information and back-of-the-envelope calculations. There's no right answer: interviewers want to understand how you think and how well you can explain your reasoning, rather than what you already know. Recall the formula for Fermi problems: Ask clarifying questions Catalog what you know Make equation(s) Think about edge cases to add to equation **Breakdown components of your"See full answer

Exponent - "This is a Fermi problem — an estimation or approximation problem with limited information and back-of-the-envelope calculations. There's no right answer: interviewers want to understand how you think and how well you can explain your reasoning, rather than what you already know. Recall the formula for Fermi problems: Ask clarifying questions Catalog what you know Make equation(s) Think about edge cases to add to equation **Breakdown components of your equat"See full answer

Exponent - "This was a fun question asked recently by Amazon. Let's get to it! This is a Design Question so let's follow the formula: Ask Clarifying Questions Identify user behaviors, types, and pain points State the goal and use cases List current solutions Brainstorm new solutions Evaluate and select solution Measure success Summarize Ask clarifying questions Here we want to clarify scope and make sure we are on the same page as the interview"See full answer

Exponent - "First, it's important to recognize this type of question as a Fermi question in disguise. We need to estimate the total market size of Dropbox for small and medium-sized businesses, which involves approximating things like the number of SMBs as well as the average revenue per SMB to get to our answer. Luckily, we have a playbook for these kinds of questions. Here's our formula for tackling Fermi questions: Ask clarifying questions Catalog what you know **Make equation(s)"See full answer

Exponent - "This is a classic Strategy Question, which asks you to justify high-level business decisions and strategy. With many acquisition strategy questions, we can first look at core competencies and synergies before offering more complex reasoning. > WeWork had one of the most disastrous IPOs in recent history in 2019. Some reasons why it failed were:A flawed business model > Poor leadership > Poor space optimization > I'll go into detail about each. Feel free to let me know if you want me to dive"See full answer

Exponent - "One technique we like to use when explaining technical concepts to non-technical people is to use analogies to help with memory retention. For this type of question, we'll use the Restaurant example: > Imagine you're at a restaurant with a variety of waiters - each waiter will only take your order for one specific item (i.e. one waiter for pizza, one waiter for pasta, etc.). An API is like a waiter in this example as it will only perform a specific order. An SDK on the other hand is like having"See full answer

Exponent - "Let's first identify the type of problem we're solving. This is an Improve a product question. Let's go over the Improve a Product formula once more: Ask clarifying questions Identify users, behaviors, and pain points State product goal Brainstorm small improvements Brainstorm bolder improvements Measure success Summarize Okay great. Now that we have the formula, it's time to execute on it! Ask clarifying questions Before we start iden"See full answer

Exponent - "This is a Technical question. It tests your ability to understand high level technical concepts. Even though your job won't have any coding involved, you'll still need to understand these concepts. Being able to cover all these topics with clarity communicates confidence in your interviewer. Unfortunately, there's no formula for technical questions, but some general tips are: Use analogies when you can Break your solution into clear, bite-size steps Don't be afraid to use examples to b"See full answer

Exponent - "You should be able to easily identify this as a Measure Success question. These kinds of questions are used to test your analytical skills, as well as your ability to track project progress post-launch. It also provides the interviewer confidence in your ability to think about analytics pre-emptively. Recall the strategy for tackling them methodically and thoroughly: Ask clarifying questions State the goal of the feature / product Behavior Mapping / UX Flow Mapping **"See full answer

Exponent - "This is a Diagnosis Question. The goal of Diagnosis questions is to test whether the interviewee is organized and logical in their product approach. It also tests whether the PM is exhaustive in causes for decreases and whether they provides realistic solutions to the problem. Let's follow the Diagnosis Question formula: Ask clarifying questions Propose high level reasons for a drop Gather context (TROPIC) Establish a theory of probable cause Test theories "See full answer

Exponent - "You should be able to identify this as a Strategy Question, which asks you to justify high-level business decisions and strategy. Here are some ideas for risks to Airbnb: Regulation > I believe the biggest risk to Airbnb is regulation, both from local and foreign governments. Already, Airbnb is subject to onerous laws in foreign countries. For example, homes in London can only be booked for a total of 90 days in London, and in Japan hosts must apply and register their listing with the gov"See full answer

Exponent - "This question is quite straightforward. The key to this is to be concise and specific. > An endpoint is essentially the destination of an API call. The endpoint returns specific data depending on which endpoint was called. An example of a POST request is when a user signs up or logs in. Some data is posted and validated on the server (like a login email and password). An example of a GET request is when viewing another user's page. There's likely an endpoint that gets data like the person's name"See full answer