Strategy: Competitors & Weaknesses
A number of different product management interview case questions require you to identify competitors and weaknesses. They include:
Design
Metrics
Strategy
Rules of Thumb for Competition
For Design, don’t overdo it. Keep it simple.
For Metrics, you can get a little more into the competition but keep the discussion focused on why that matters to your measurement decision.
i.e. Reels is the TikTok competitor, so my high-level motivation is likely more around acquisition or retention than connection.
For Strategy, this is where you need to make sure you can speak to the competition. Few strategy questions can be answered without at least touching on the competitor.
Now for Weaknesses
This mostly comes into play for strategy questions, but most senior candidates can hint at weaknesses in most prompt types.
Most people are afraid to discuss a company’s weaknesses, for fear of offending. So this is where you can shine.
For example:
Google’s strengths are in search not in social. They have tried and failed many times at highly social products. YouTube Shorts might be the exception but others might argue it struggles for just that reason.
Don’t be afraid of telling your interviewer that you would make X strategic decision over Y because it aligns more with our strengths.
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Grading Advice No. 5: Strategy
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