Google Product Manager interview with ex-Google Senior PM (shows you how to answer)

0:05Hi, I'm G. I'm a principal product

0:07manager. I work at Google, Microsoft, a

0:09few other companies. Um, during my

0:11career, I've conducted nearly 200

0:14interviews, most of them at Google. I

0:16also coach candidates prepar preparing

0:18for interviews and today I'm going to

0:20demonstrate how how I might answer

0:21classic product design or product sense

0:24question. Before we start just a few

0:26words about what exactly is being

0:27assessed in in this type of questions. I

0:30want to emphasize two things. I mean

0:31there are a lot of things but two

0:33things. Number one handling ambiguity.

0:36Product design questions are

0:37intentionally intentionally ambiguous

0:40and they offer you the chance to to

0:42demonstrate how you fearlessly um handle

0:45that ambiguity with a clear and

0:48structured approach. Number two is

0:51thinking about the user. The user should

0:53constantly be kept in mind. And I I

0:55don't want to say that behind every

0:56decision, but it should be the driving

0:58force behind most of your decisions

1:00because eventually it's very simple. A

1:02good product is one the users love and

1:04use. Um okay, so let's dive in. Um the

1:09question we're going to tackle today is

1:11how would you improve Google Maps for

1:14advertisers?

1:21Now I would always start by asking a few

1:24clarifying questions.

1:31So um I will start. The first thing I

1:34would want to know is what we mean by

1:36improve. Is it an experience

1:38improvement, revenue optimization?

1:40Anything else? At this point the

1:42interviewer might say that it is up to

1:45me to decide. We just want them happier.

1:46This is a common answer for um

1:48interviewers. It's up to you to decide.

1:50Um then I will ask about the surface.

1:52Are we focused only on ads that appear

1:54in Google maps or also on maps results

1:57that are embedded within Google search?

2:00Um here the interviewer might say let's

2:02focus on Google maps only. Okay. Then I

2:05will ask how quickly do we want to

2:07launch? Um a normal answer would be as

2:10long as you need. Sometimes the answer

2:11would be three months. Here let's say

2:12that the answer is as long as you need.

2:13And I will be assuming US only. Now the

2:16goal of these questions that I've just

2:18asked these clarifying question is to

2:20somehow start narrowing down the

2:23problem. So I already know it's only ads

2:25Google maps ads that appear on Google

2:27maps. Um I have as much time as I want

2:30to work on it and we're focused on us

2:32only. Um okay now the way I'm going to

2:36approach solving this um this question

2:39is I'll start by defining the mission.

2:42Um from there I will continue to define

2:45um the goals which stem from the mission

2:47then the the users and segmentation. Um

2:50I will focus probably on one user

2:52segment and highlight its pain points.

2:54Then from these I will choose a few pain

2:56points and from there we will brainstorm

2:57a few solutions and lastly I will

3:00discuss some metrics briefly. So let's

3:04start with the mission.

3:11Now the mission um let's start with

3:14Google's mission. Google's mission is to

3:15organize the world's information and

3:16make it universally accessible and

3:18useful. Google maps mission is similar

3:22to that but it focuses on geographic

3:24information. So organize the world's

3:26geographic information and make it

3:27universally accessible and useful. Now

3:31when we talk about ads what's

3:32interesting is Google has actually

3:34revolution revolutionized the

3:35advertisement business. Um I mean it

3:38offered targeting and measurement tools

3:41never before seen before um this type of

3:44online ads existed and Google Google ads

3:47and maps ads on top of this location and

3:50intent. Um this is gold for advertisers

3:54with the classic example being

3:56restaurants near me. I mean Google

3:57actually knows I'm a restaurant owner

3:59and Google actually knows that there was

4:00someone right now hungry 50 meters away

4:03from my restaurant.

4:05So the mission for our product would

4:08probably be to drive foot traffic and

4:10instore visits um which is something

4:13unique to Google Maps ads. The goals

4:16here would be um to get more businesses

4:20and more revenue per business.

4:24Um next let's continue to um talk about

4:28the users.

4:35I mean Google Maps is huge. Um I don't

4:38know the exact number but but I would

4:39assume that um the number of businesses

4:42in the US on Google maps is in the order

4:44of 100 million something like this. Um

4:47we need to think of some way to segment

4:49this. Um I think a good way to go would

4:51be by business size. Um

4:55so let's start about let's start talking

4:58about the smaller businesses. um what we

4:59call SMBs, small and medium businesses.

5:02I think this is a large part of of

5:04Google Maps advertisers. But I would

5:06want to um further segment this. It's

5:09interesting because many of them are not

5:11yet advertising on Google Maps. So we

5:13have SMBs that are already advertising

5:14on Google Maps. We have SMBs that do not

5:17yet use Google Maps ads. These are two

5:19important segments. The next segments

5:22would be enterprises or multi storere

5:25chains. Um we can think of McDonald's as

5:29an example um that um uses advertises

5:33heavily on Google maps. Um

5:37lastly I want to think about ad

5:39agencies. Any of these segments might

5:41use ad agencies. We could segment

5:43further but I think um ad agencies are

5:45enough. We don't need to segment these

5:46two local agencies and national

5:48agencies. So I have these four segments.

5:50SMBs that are already advertising on

5:51Google Maps. SMBs that do not yet use

5:54Google Maps ads. enterprises and ad

5:56agencies. Um

6:00now in order to um prioritize these I

6:03would want to think about reach and

6:05impact.

6:07Um now I I believe that SMBs would be

6:11the largest um the largest part of these

6:15100 million businesses. So um the two

6:18first segments of SMBs have very high

6:20reach. Now, as for the impact, if we

6:23look at SMBs that are already

6:25advertising on Google Maps, um, Google

6:29Ads and Google Ads and Maps is arguably

6:31the most optimized product in human

6:33history. So, I would assume that the

6:36we're limited in the amount of

6:37optimization that we can add here. So, I

6:39would say the impact here would be

6:40medium. If we look at SMBs that do not

6:42yet use Google Maps ads here, I think

6:44the impact is very high. It's probably

6:46dramatic. Um there are numerous stories

6:50of life changing um of of Google maps

6:53changing the lives of small businesses.

6:56Um then enterprises enterprises reaches

7:01probably lower in the medium high. As

7:03for the impact I think it would be

7:05medium to low. They probably have um a

7:08lot of other advertisement channels. I

7:10mean McDonald's does not rely on Google

7:12Maps ads. Obviously they have

7:14billboards. They have Super Bowl ads. Um

7:17so impact here would be minimal

7:20and ad agencies the reach is probably

7:24very low and we could have high impact

7:26but these are professionals and we need

7:28to put a lot of effort to have um impact

7:31there. So I think it kind of stands out

7:32that we want to focus on SMBs that do

7:34not yet use Google maps ads because we

7:38have very high reach and very high

7:40impact here. Okay. Now a few words about

7:42how I segment. Um three to four segments

7:45are ideal. two is too little. Five or

7:47six is already too much. When we start

7:49to prioritize segmentation, it's common

7:52to say that segmentation should be

7:53should be mey like mutually exclusive

7:55and collectively exhaustive. I think

7:58it's a bit overrated. I mean I mean um

8:01we sometimes need to overlap our

8:03segments. We don't have to be mutually

8:05exclusive and neither do we have to be

8:07100% collectively exhausted. For

8:09instance, now I talked about ad

8:10agencies. I did not mention solo

8:13advisors. I could have gone further if I

8:15wanted really to be collectively

8:16exhausted. We aim to be mey but not

8:19100%. Um, so segmentation is important

8:22to have deep segmentation to set you up

8:24for the next steps. So we are focusing

8:27on SMBs that do not yet use Google Maps

8:30ads. Let's move on to discuss the pain

8:33points for these businesses.

8:41um since they do not yet even use Google

8:43Maps ads, I assume that the first and

8:46biggest pain point is how do I even

8:48start? They have they haven't a clue on

8:50what is the first step. Um next, let's

8:53say they talked to someone and they told

8:54them what they need to do. They need to

8:55create a business profile. So, how do I

8:57create a business profile? How do I

8:59create a Google Ads account? Once I have

9:01a Google Ads account, how do I get my

9:03ads to show up on Google Maps? All these

9:05starter questions. Um, next,

9:11let's assume I set all this up. Um,

9:12which Google Maps format is right for

9:14me? Search results, promoted pins, other

9:18formats. I don't there are a few

9:19formats. I don't need to know all of

9:20them. But, um, as a small business

9:23owner, I have no idea how to start

9:24there. Um, targeting. How do I target

9:27only the users that matter to me? I'm a

9:30Chinese vegan restaurant. I'm a I'm a

9:32steakhouse. I do not want to target

9:34vegans. um is a is a classic example. Um

9:39another pain point, I'm a busy business

9:41owner. I just don't have time to spend

9:43on managing all this Google ads thing.

9:46Um

9:47what else? Maybe um uh no money. I'm a

9:50small business. I have very little money

9:52to spend on ads. I want to understand

9:54how I can control my monthly ad spend.

9:57Um another thing I closed on weekends. I

10:01don't want to have I want to know how to

10:03turn off ads in non-b businessiness

10:04hours.

10:06Um

10:07and

10:09maybe lastly I would discuss

10:10measurement. How can I even know that

10:12I'm getting any return on my investment

10:14or what we call an ads ras return on ad

10:16spend. How can I know that?

10:19Now we have quite a few I think over

10:22more than 10 pain points. Now I need to

10:24prioritize them. Um so I want to the

10:28most important thing I think for

10:29prioritizing here would be um the depth

10:31of the problem. How how painful is this

10:34painoint? And of course the reach um I

10:37think in this specific question um reach

10:39is very high for almost all of the pain

10:41points that we discussed. The starter

10:43issues how to choose the right format.

10:46How to target maybe the time and money

10:49um issues have lower lower reach. So I

10:51would remove these now and focus on on

10:53the others not not the time and money

10:54ones. So um the impact I think the

10:57impact of of getting even started would

11:00be super high of course because um

11:02unless you start then you're just not on

11:04Google ads. Um which format is right? I

11:08would also prioritize this in targeting.

11:11Now I'm choosing these three pain

11:13points. How do I start? How do I choose

11:15the format? And how do I target users?

11:18Because another thing that I tried to do

11:20here is I chose these three three pain

11:21points that tie together into a a

11:24coherent story of the things. It's like

11:26a checklist of the most important

11:27things. This would get me started. Now,

11:29we're not start trying to get users from

11:31zero to 100. We're just trying to get

11:32them from zero to one. And these pain

11:34points are exactly um exactly do this.

11:37So, um you need to choose a few pain

11:40points. A lot of pain points is a good

11:42thing. Um not too many because it's then

11:45hard to prioritize. Um but it's really

11:48important to choose good pain points.

11:50Don't underestimate the the importance

11:52of this phase because I think the

11:53greatest the greatest PMs always focus

11:56on the problem. The solution then can

11:58always follow naturally. So um pain

12:01points don't underestimate the

12:03importance of pain points.

12:05Okay, let's move on to solutions.

12:14So, we're talking about how to start

12:16choosing the right format and targeting.

12:18Okay. So, I'm thinking about an email or

12:21a notification, reaching out to current

12:24business owners. A one-click

12:26notification. I receive a notification.

12:28There is a button. Start advertising on

12:30Google Maps now. Um, and actually it

12:33would have three buttons like with $50

12:37budget per month, $250 per month or

12:39custom amount. I click and somehow

12:42magically um my ads start appearing on

12:45Google Maps. Um I think this really sol

12:47solves the start the start issue. Um it

12:50might really help um businesses that are

12:53intimidated of starting even to create

12:55their profile and creating an ads

12:57account and all that.

12:59Um,

13:00another solution a bit on the opposite

13:03side, the opposite of the black box is

13:05we might have an end to- end preview,

13:07similar notification but with an end to-

13:09end preview that includes the targeting,

13:10the content, the the text, images,

13:12pricing, everything. Um, like for

13:14instance, in my restaurant, I'm a

13:16restaurant owner and I receive what I

13:18see as um targeting. We will be

13:20targeting

13:21Google already knows my menu. They know

13:23what I have. So, we'll be targeting

13:25vegans, pescatarians, and spicy food

13:27lovers.

13:29Then um you can see the type of ad, the

13:32preview of the ad that each of these

13:34will see. And then you say you in the

13:36bottom it says for $200 a month um we

13:39expect to bring you um three vegans, two

13:41pescatarians and five spicy food lovers

13:43and then you can once you click on it

13:45you can start drag and drop and

13:47customize it.

13:49Okay. Um another solution might be um

13:53Google now offers a lot of um automated

13:56fully automated Google ads offer offers

13:58fully automated solutions AI solutions

14:01um which are kind of too blackboxy for

14:04some people they want to know what's

14:05happening so maybe we can offer

14:07interactive AI instead of doing all the

14:09actions for me it will not do the

14:10actions it will act as an adviser um so

14:13it's an AI adviser that will say

14:15something like um yesterday we saw that

14:17promoted bins brought you a significant

14:19amount of traffic. We suggest diverting

14:21some of your spend from map search ads

14:23to promoted pins. What do you think with

14:26a button? Um, how much I want to divert?

14:29Um, so we have three solutions here.

14:32Let's try to um choose between them. Um,

14:35okay. The first one, the email

14:37notification, the oneclick button. The

14:40oneclick button. Um,

14:43on the one hand, it solves all the

14:45problems. On the other hand, I'm not

14:46100% sure it's feasible to do all that

14:49magic with one button. And since we're

14:51talking about users who are afraid to

14:53start, this still might be intimidating.

14:55I'm not sure what happens when I click

14:58that button. All of this is solved, I

15:00think, in the the second solution of the

15:01end to end preview. It's easy. It's kind

15:03of easy, but it gives me more

15:05information. It shows me um what I can

15:08do. Um so, it's very little work. It's

15:12not zero work. It's very little work,

15:13but it's much more knowledge. Then the

15:16third one, um the interactive AI, it

15:20sounds like it's it's a good solution,

15:22which I really can imagine Google ads um

15:25specifically Google Ads for maps

15:27launching, but I think this is a bit

15:29more on the advanced side. I'm not sure

15:31that this correctly targets the the

15:33audience that we're talking about here.

15:36Um SMBs that do not even use um Google

15:39Maps ads. Um so I think the best would

15:42be to focus on the end to end preview

15:44including targeting content pricing and

15:46everything. The second solution that I

15:48mentioned

15:50now a few things about solutions.

15:51Solutions can be big or small. They

15:53don't have to be moonshots. An important

15:55thing um I asked in the beginning how

15:57long do I have to launch? This helps me

16:00in the solution part to know am I aiming

16:02for a small simple solution or a big

16:04solution. had I had the interviewer said

16:07that you have three months and I

16:08wouldn't choose this engine because it's

16:09a very elaborate solution. The solutions

16:11can be big or small depending on where

16:13you are and um they need to be focused

16:16on the pain points that you have chosen.

16:18You can come up with a really good

16:19solution at this stage but it's for a

16:21different painoint. So um just need to

16:24um leave it alone at this part and focus

16:25on the pain point that you chose in the

16:27previous um step.

16:30Okay. Lastly I want to talk about

16:33metrics.

16:39Um now um there are numerous metrics

16:42that that we we can choose here. So in

16:45order to narrow down I want to remember

16:46that we're focusing on SMBs that do not

16:48yet use Google Maps ads. So we want to

16:52get them to use Google Maps ads. So this

16:54action would we're talking about

16:56acquisition. So this would very simply

16:58be measured by number of new businesses

17:00per month. This would probably be my

17:02northstar metric here. um this

17:04acquisition and um the other side to

17:06complement I would never do only

17:08acquisition in real life because it's

17:09very easy to acquire users and then

17:11immediately use it lose them. So I would

17:12complement this with some retention

17:14metric. So I would add 30-day retention

17:16rate. So I have a number of new

17:18businesses per month and 30-day

17:19retention rate. In order to complete the

17:22picture, I would um also measure measure

17:24average monthly ad spend because if I

17:26multiply the number of businesses by the

17:28monthly ad spend, I get um how much

17:31money I'm making. So this completes the

17:33picture. Now for metrics um this is not

17:36an analytical thinking interview.

17:38Metrics should just be briefly discussed

17:41to show that you understand exactly um

17:45exactly what needs to be measured, what

17:47needle you are moving and how it

17:48connects to the goal that you um

17:50discussed in the beginning. Um and

17:54that's it. I think metrics um concludes

17:56our um answer to this question.

17:59Um I would just like to end with with

18:02one final tip and the different parts

18:05and we had a few parts in the answer.

18:06The different parts need to be

18:08connected. They need to communicate with

18:10each other. They need to actually be be

18:12intertwined into a single coherent story

18:15with an example. Now when I start

18:17discussing metrics I said let's remember

18:19that we focused I went back to the

18:20segmentation in order to choose the

18:22right metric. I want to remember we

18:24focused on SMBs that do not yet use

18:26Google maps ads. this pointed me to the

18:29right metrics. Um, so, um, that's it.

18:34Thank you.

18:34>> If you want to do a mock interview with

18:36a coach who's worked at your target

18:37company, just go to I got an offer.com.