Common Pitfalls: Product vs. Growth
A lot of candidates gravitate towards a Growth practitioner's mindset by default when talking goals and metrics in case interviews. Sometimes that is helpful, for example, in strategy prompts.
But for Design and Execution questions, proceed with caution. I see a lot of candidates saying the goal of a design question is “acquisition”. Of course, a new startup wants to acquire customers, but its goal is about solving a user need, not the abstract category of measures we call acquisition measures.
As a goal-related problem, I see it happening in execution answers as well as design/product sense. In your strategic setup, it is okay to acknowledge a startup will focus on acquisition. Still, the goal and metrics need to be more focused on solving a user problem or pain point than acquisition for acquisition's sake.
If you solve a user problem, you are setting yourself up to acquire customers.
If you are applying for a Growth-specific roll, you want to show both growth and product approach.
To learn more, read my article on product vs growth mindset.
