Perhaps the most common ‘case’ question goes something like this: “Tell me 3 products you love, and why. Now, pick one and tell me how you would improve it.”

Of course there are variations on the favorite product prompt, both positive and negative. If you read any of the aforementioned links, you know I advise you pick something a little more niche that the interviewer is less likely to know, and so will not have biased opinions about. But we have started seeing an increase in specific asked added, like: “with at least a million users.” So you need both niche and larger products ready to comment on.

Whenever I am actively interviewing, I like to remind myself what are my current favorites, and they practice my answers to get back into the swing of things and so I am not blindsided by an easy question. (I once had a DoorDash interview where the interviewer asked this as a ‘warm-up’ question after the recruiter told me to practice something else. They added: “with at least a million users”, so I was a bit caught off guard. A reminder than you always need to be prepared for all kinds of twists and turns.

My Updated List

1. OpenSnow - I love to ski, it will be hard to beat this one for me. I use it every day from November to April/May. And then again in June-September to monitor lightening and wildfire smoke.

2. Oura Ring - It now has 1M+ users, so it is safe, but not common enough that everyone thinks they know it.

3. Poised - It helps me monitor how fast I am speaking in real time and over time. It monitors other things, and

4. Moment Skis - They are called Hot Mess. I love the look and how they ski, as well as the brand promise and sense of belonging to a community when you ski them.

Before breaking each one down, let me share the framework I like to use. I judge great products on three factors:

1. Solve a Problem

2. Great Design

3. Innovative

All my favorite products excel on all three factors.

Let’s dive in:

1. OpenSnow

   • problem-solving - Accurate weather for the mountains, making planning for actual snow easier.

     • "Weather forecasting for the mountains takes extra focus, analysis, and precision, which is exactly what OpenSnow provides." - Cody Townsend, Pro Skier

   • design - Clear and concise data. They consistently use colors and pick simple but universal icons. They know how to make data easy to consume. For a lot of data you can get both horizontal and vertical views. Bar charts show how much snow to expect and make finding historicals (week, month, season, year) easy as well as the granular, hour and day views with high and lows. They show not just temp, but also wind speed and gusts. They make consumption of detailed data easy and digestible.

   • innovation - Every 3 months or so they delight me with yet a new view on the weather that matters for those who spend their time in the mountains. The most recent was snow : water ratio. That indicates fluffy vs. wet and heavy snow. This matters for both driving and skiing in the mountains. They seem to be slowly knocking off items on my wishlist, even though I don’t share my wants. In short: they know what their users need and want and provide it and innovate to improve it.

   • suggested improvement - Problem: Spring Skiing Variability - Predictions and alerts on spring skiing conditions, freeze melt cycle data (which swing wildly during spring) as well as snow quality in words (corn vs. mash potatoes - if you have ever skiied it, you will know what I mean)

2. Oura Ring

   • problem-solving - Helping insomniacs get better control of their sleep/wake cycles using data.

   • design - Both the physical device and the app are well-designed. The physical device is light weight and looks like a regular ring, there is a flat edge to help you know how to position it, particularly in the dark. The app works with a lot of data in an easy-to-digest manner. They present absolute facts like time in bed, sleep time, REM sleep time, etc. But they also provide ratios and scores that while not perfect, help you understand how you compare to goals and norms. This makes consuming and leveraging the data easier.

   • innovation - The design of the ring, and ability to measure vitals in such a small form factor is their biggest innovation. But they continue to innovate as they increase measurement accuracy over time.

   • suggested improvement - Problem: Battery doesn’t last very long, so I lose data. (1) allow for different settings if only the evenings matter, have it only measure then/prioritize batter usage (2) Two rings, swap out every time you need to charge (3) warning to charge when you wake in the morning not just before it is low.

3. Poised

   • problem-solving - Helping people communicate more effectively. In my case, helping me know I am speaking too fast, using too many filler words and generally needing to improve my clarity of thought.

   • design - There are two views I love: real-time measures of speed and then the dashboard that let’s me know how I am trending personally and where I stand against most users.

   • innovation - To my knowledge, they were one of the first companies to provide accurate counts of speaking pace. I had been looking for years, almost a decade before they came along.

   • suggested improvement - Problem: I miss data (because the interface sometimes interfere with my view so I ignore or don’t turn on). (1) integrate the stat(s) that matter to be most within Zoom (or video conference software of choice). (2) Send email after each session/end of day with data and graphs for the communication problem of choice (3) change prompting mechanism so it doesn’t keep opening a new browser or seem to be taking over my zoom and re-launching - basic usability improvments

4. Moment Skis

   • problem-solving - Skiing in variable snow in the Sierras.

   • design - There are two elements of the design (1) the top sheet of the skis, they are basically unique art each season. and (2) the design of the ski base which they innovate blending keeping it light and forgiving while having enough weight to be great in terrible conditions.

   • innovation - They are constantly improving the design of the skis from a performance standpoint. Each year they change based on feedback, and will occasionally go back after a change based on feedback.

   • suggested improvement - Problem: Love my skis soo much I am afraid to damage them (1) rental rock skis — borrow skis that you can destroy (2) custom ordered/repeat limited runs for top sheets

The Complete Job Search Series