 Hey there, my name is Emmanuel Abang and welcome to product school Today, I will be talking about cracking the FANG PM interview Now most of you know that FANG is an acronym for the big five tech companies But this is not specific to those top companies, but general PM interview Practice Just a quick intro myself Emmanuel, a PM lead currently at Meta And I would be trashing on into product leadership role of the new company I have been involved in products for over a decade now And I'm very passionate about mentoring and helping people break into product management And I guess this is why I'm taking this topic today Now before we go further, I would want to Kind of let us know what this presentation is about and what is not First of all, this is basically geared towards giving junior PMs And for people who are planning to break into product management A guide on how to prepare for PM interviews Basically, this is not meant to be like a comprehensive and know it all approach to cracking PM interviews It's basically also to provide a framework for winning the huddle over PM interviews It's also a guide on how to build the skills that will make you successful in your interviews And like they say, practice makes delivery easy Following the guidelines in this presentation will set you up for success And I hope that was, you know, helpful just to set expectations as we go further Um, I just want to give a personal prep journey of myself Because as you begin to get ready for interviews or as you start interviewing You're going to get lots of like rejections. You're going to get a lot of setbacks And I just want to encourage you not to give up because I feel like that's where many people find themselves As they apply for jobs at, you know, PM in for product manager roles Um, they get rejected and they kind of just stop in between and they don't push further Um, so my personal story is, you know, before joining meta, I applied to over 100 plus companies, believe it or not And I think number, um, is very important by, you know, it's a numbers game So the more companies you apply, you, you know, basically improve your chances. So this basic stats Um, and I got over 90 rejections some at interview stages email reject And I literally didn't even hear back from some of them And in my prep, they are selling books that really helped me in preparing and I would share that probably in the link below Or, you know, as we go further in the slide Um, especially for Louis Lynn and cracking the PM interview by Gail McDowell I also completed over 40 to 50 plus mocks And I think mocks are so important because basically they help frame, you know, your your structural thinking Capacity, but also it builds that confidence that you need going into a PM interview That is so so important as well Then I had to watch over 100 hours of youtube videos from different Um, you know platforms like prior exponent product alliance product gym Even product school as well And also having lots of brainstorm sessions and I will go for that to explain some of these things as we go further Basically for PM interviews product management interviews. What do interviewers look like? Look for sorry in a candidate Um, me being an interviewee an interviewer Um, I would say this is not like I said a comprehensive List, but I think these are basic, you know things and skills that every interviewer is looking for One is your ability to communicate your idea in a clear and very structured manner Sometimes as PMs or as individuals when we get into this interview we begin to panic and And sometimes we begin to dish out ideas that are very Awesome, but in a very unstructured manner. We are kind of all over the place And sometimes that could be like a red flag for an interviewer So you want to make sure that the ideas that you're coming up with you're able to communicate them in a clear and And a constructive manner because these are part of the skills that will require you to be successful as a PM in your career The other thing that they look out for is structural thinking Which is like what I highlighted in the first point as well Being able to have a framework on how you tackle problems and solve issues The set the top thing would be user empathy You know for every product interview There's always going to be that opportunity to show how you can empathize With users and user segments by understanding their pain points and The listening out very clearly And being able to also apply trade-offs and prioritize So for example, you would have cases where you would have to mention Like three to four pain points of a user probably using a product for example Uber Right, and then how do you come up with the trade-offs and how would you prioritize based on setting criteria like impact Like complexity to build like confidence and things like that Then they will also be looking for how you can think of great solutions to solve the user needs I think that's something that's very important as well Then of course your collaboration skills and this is mostly centered around you know behavioral types and scenario based types of questions now high-level they are all categories of interviews, you know formats for pms generally and the first is product design and product strategy And basically just like the image is showing you It's a combination of creativity and empathy And as we go further on the slide, you would get a full picture of what this is all about The second type is execution Which is basically understanding how you would measure success of a product or a product launch You know, how you would experiment and come up with you know, very important trade-offs as you make product decisions the third type of PM interviews are estimation questions and I think this is particularly, you know, selling companies, you know, um Love this type of question. So for example questions like How many people played soccer yesterday? or How many restaurants are in san francisco? Then the last type of question, which is you know, generally in every interview is the behavioral question type which basically is company value based and usually companies will be looking To see those qualities and those values that they prioritize for example, you know amazon has about maybe 15 to 20 Values that they prioritize some of which are customer obsessed, you know Getting things done, you know being a team player And I think in every of your answers you have to kind of, you know Highlights some of these values as you present your answer through the star method And of course, we all know what the star method is the s stands for situation t for tax a For action and r was the result So, um Next is, you know, we're going to be going into um The product design and sense now because of more if to be more effective and do more productive in the Session, I wouldn't be able to touch on all the types and formats of pm interviews Just because time wouldn't let us and I feel I wouldn't be able to deliver the most value So for the day, I will be focusing on product design and product sense First of all, what is product sense? And I think there's no better way to describe it like the um A formal colleague of mine and someone who is a product Genius and someone that I look up to as well Who is julia's you which is the former vp of product design at facebook? And she said first what is product thinking? She said my definition is simple Do you have instincts about what makes a good product useful and well loved by people more than that? Could you design towards that outcome? I think this definition is really important, especially for those who are planning to break into pm roles for the first time and you're wondering if pm Or being a product manager is the right role for you. So I think simple you need to ask yourselves these two questions Do I have the instincts about what makes a product useful and well loved by people? And can I design towards that outcome? Now in product sense interviews, there are basically five things I would I would suggest that you begin to develop as you prepare for interviews one is user empathy Now user empathy is the ability to you know understand and be in the customer shoe And feel the product from their perspective For example uber When uber was was you know built I think basically it was to solve the transportation problem and having empathy for drivers Who could taxi drivers who could drive for money till evening and don't get a customer? Because probably they're not going through the routes where the users are and for users They don't know how to get a taxi Especially for people who live in maybe sub-uberant areas So that was you know identifying a pain point and having empathy for the users Two is you have to build a sense of curiosity You must be very curious as a product manager or as someone who's trying to come into product management to Ask question as to why you know setting things walk the way they walk Why other things are not so successful as they say they should be and kind of understand fully You know those setting basic requirement that makes every product very successful Number three is to be very observant Um as you go in your daily life as you engage with different apps or websites and products Try to observe, you know, um things like new product launches new features And why those features were being built and how they've made those products very successful as well You would want to take a study of various products like facebook apple Google as some of these top brands that have been very successful over the years and kind of understand what has made them very successful as well Then the fourth skill is being very reflective And five would be thinking outside the box Sometimes as we you know come up with ideas and solutions. It seems like there is You know a cognitive fix weakness that makes us only think within a setting scope And in this interview you're required to think outside the box Google would call it moonshot ideas. So to think of ideas that are, you know, not conventional And that actually solves user pain point So i'm going to go into frameworks now Um before we get into frameworks, I want to just say this as well Frameworks are only a guide and a tool to help with structured thinking and not the solutions in themselves Many times people get so caught up with frameworks that you know once the interview You know or the interviewer asks them a question that doesn't naturally follow the pattern, you know of a framework They kind of get disorganized and you know Um begin to bamboo the awards So frameworks are basically only a guide and they help you to structure your thinking But they're not a solution in themselves and like someone said They are like a map guiding you to the destination and not the destinations in themselves So basically um product sense questions basically um are basically, you know Build to kind of help the interviewer understand your your design skills your user empathy How you can empathize with users identify their pain points and come up with solutions that can solve for them as well And we know a couple of examples could be how would you build a grocery experience for the elderly and your ability to empathize and come up with Solutions that actually solve those pain points would be things that they'll be looking out for as well We would go into products and steps of questions later on Now as a framework when you're in front of the interviewer and you ask the question like How would you improve a certain product or build a certain product for a certain company? The first thing you want to do is to ask clarifying questions You don't want to rush and just start solving the problem because by asking clarifying question It shows that you're a structured thinker It also shows that you are also trying to consider different constraints And also resources as you go into building this product. So for example one clarifying question could be Is this new feature going to be an app? Or would it be as a web version or a hardware or a software? Or you can also ask things like in what location or geography do we want to launch this at their You know resource constraints in terms of budgets and things like that and this goes to show your interviewer That you're actually thinking like a p.m Now the next step in The product sense I would as an approach and a framework is to always give your interviewer an overview of your approach So instead of just going into some of the problem You want to give like a preview of how you're going to approach the problem. So an example could be Now that i've gotten clarity on you know various aspects after you've asked the clarifying questions You could say here is how i'm going to approach the question First I will think about the mission of the company And why this product will be important to them Secondly, I want to think about the users and understand the various segments Among the users and prioritize and pick one then of course based on these users that I've picked I would you know highlight a few of your pain points and Pick one explicit pain point that I think is the most important to solve for as an mvp Then I would come up with two or three solutions to solve for this problem And you know if time allows us I would be able to measure the success of this product Now what this does is that it gives the interviewer Like a preview of how you want to approach the question And what it does for you also is that it systematically allows you to you know articulate your answers in a very structured manner This also goes to show that you're a structured thinker and that you're organized in your thoughts Then the third would be always connect the product idea to the company's mission and vision And as a tip while preparing for pm interviews, especially if you are told there's going to be a product sense you know is to always like um study the vision and mission statements of various You know top companies in the world so that in case you're giving an idea to solve for you can always connect the idea To the mission. So for example Facebook's mission is to give people the power to build community and bring the world closer together. So if you were giving uh A hypothetical question to say, you know, how would you build movies for facebook? Right, you'll find a way to connect the idea movies You know I'm part of our lives and you know people connect through movies And I see why facebook would want to invest in this product that could be you know an answer in itself Then go ahead to state the product's mission and objectives And clearly state your goals for the product upfront and by goals. I mean, what would you be Optimizing for would it be engagement? Do you want to drive adoption? That is get new users to get to adopt the product activation or retention and in some cases monetization as well Always good to stay that upfront to show the interviewer that you have the right process in view The next would be Stating the competitive landscape of a product that gives you an idea of how you can be more Advantages over the other markets So if you're building a grocery app, for example in an interview You want you to be good to mention things like instagram cards uber uber eats uber deliveries So that the interviewer knows that you understand the competitive landscape And that whatever solution that you're coming of which will definitely You know have an edge over the existing products in the market Then for users segment always mention the user segments. For example, if it's a Three-sided marketplace or a two-sided marketplace like uber it will always be helpful to say Um, I'm aware that there are two sides here the drivers and the riders But I would like to you know for the sake of the interviewer for the sake of time I want to prioritize the riders and you should always give a reason why The next would be to list three to four pain points associated with this segment And down the line in this presentation, I would you know help us identify how we can build empathy for customers and users Then you would want to also brainstorm a couple of solutions that solve the most explicit pain points And you know, you clearly peak and prioritize one pain point so far Then clearly communicate the design and user journey of the solution that you are Beauty to solve that pain point then if you have time during the interview You don't want to measure success Based on the goals that you set in the beginning of the in the interview So this is kind of a framework of answering products and questions and like I said before this is not Annoyed all our full comprehensive approach, but I feel like every product says interviews Can be approached with this framework to be very successful So what are the examples of products and questions because sometimes you may be saying well Okay, I'm ready. How do I know if a question is a product sense or something else? Right. So these are a few examples And usually product sense is usually either building a new product for a company or improving on an existing product Or probably stating why you love your favorite product or why you dislike your worst product And some examples could be hey build a dating feature for tiktok build an event feature for lift Facebook wants to go into movies. What would you build? Should Airbnb go into the furniture business? How and why? These are all product sense and sometimes strategy questions to understand how you think how you you know Consider the market the users their pain points and of course coming up with brilliant solutions to solve those problems Now, I know some of you might be asking. Well, this thing seems really difficult How can I build a product sense? Skill and people ask this a lot, you know, when I mentor and coach people and I say Everyone in my opinion could be a product manager. Why? Because every product that is being built today is for the users And if you're a user, definitely you can think like a p.m So first I would say one of the ways you can build your products and skills is to pick a product Whether it's an app or a service or websites It could also be a hardware and ask yourself critical questions Like why do I love this product and why do I or why do I hate it? For example, my favorite product is linkedin and why do I love linkedin? For the next would be what makes the product unique and why is all And why is it worse for you? Then you could compare it with similar products in the market and understand the different the difference between both product and you can do You can compare apples to apples. For example, you could say What is the difference between gmail and outlook and you could kind of have Both products in front of you and play around them and see, you know, why you prefer setting products over the other then Kind of write down also who are the different users and personas that would benefit from this product Then also think of how you can improve it Now write down your thoughts in a very articulate manner share with senior folks and accept feedback and trust me maybe the first 10 or 15 times you do this You would actually not do so good like in my myself. I remember writing um You know my first I would call it product development on a product and it was totally I would say crap And I accepted the feedback and that motivated me to do better So I think this would be one way you can build your products and skills But I think what is very important is ensure that you're sharing with senior pms or senior folks And be very open and have a thick skin for the feedback that you get Now I get this a lot while I mentor people, you know You know trying to break into product management or people who are prepping for p.m. Rose And they say well, how long should he take to prepare for a p.m. Interview? I would say p.m. Interviews are not a marathon But our marathon sorry and not a sprint So I think this is kind of a 30 60 90 day plan And it is not like I said all comprehensive and this is how it worked for me and I just want to share So the first 30 days you should spend it, you know identifying Target companies that you want to you know, um apply to and work for you know Then get a referral and build your network circle Um, and if you're watching this video, this is a great step, you know being part of the product school community as well Then do the pick a product exercise at least 10 times So we just talked about it in the previous slide where you pick a product. It could be uber. It could be lived It could be linkedin. What's up whatever product you decide and go through all of those Questions then get feedback from your peers and senior folks to get a sense of where you are mentally Because that shows like how ready you are to go into the interview process Now based on the feedback You get that would kind of inform how you move next steps But usually I would say use the framework that was given earlier to practice on your own for at least one to two hours every day So pick a product and use that framework ask line frying questions Give a high level preview of how you want to solve it and you know go from there as well Watch live and recorded mock sessions just like this one. Um, and there are various, you know, um Resources you can go to like try exponents product school product gym Etc and I would say watch at least 50 videos in my in my case I said I watched at least a hundred hours of live videos and mock interview sessions on various platform Then after you've done this within the first 30 days, you've kind of built a sense around the, you know The high level expectations for our product sense interview and kind of the frameworks and approaches and the different styles In which the questions may come Then I would feel like the next 30 days after that Would be to start trying out mocks now the reason why I didn't start with mocks is that sometimes When you begin to practice, you know and get ready for interviews if you start with mocks And you don't do so well sometimes it could be very discouraging and it might end up making you quit So I feel like get a sense of it build some setting skills before you start trying out mocks Now do a lot of mocks at least have 30 mocks in the bag Very important and what mocks does for you. It basically does three things one It helps you build the skills and the confidence required It helps you, you know have a framework for structural thinking and basically it just helps you have a lot of ideas That you're getting ready to you know exhibit during the interview Now apply to non-target companies apply to as many companies as you can and get those practices in I remember doing so many interviews before Um, you know facebook, you know cash up and other companies I was applying to at the time and this would kind of get you in the in the groove like they say practice makes perfect Now Start attending interviews and learn from them Find a brainstorm body to talk about product ideas strategy and this is different from Mock interviews so as you begin to practice find, you know Very senior folks or people who have been in product and kind of you know, brainstorm around different ideas Pick a product and just dissect it for hours if you have the time Because what this does that it gives you an arsenal of product ideas to get into your interview as well Now as you prepare for the pm interviews, there are various resources that will be very helpful, especially for those who Are planning to break into product role one book. I would recommend highly is cracking the pm interview by Gail Madoa And I think you can get it on amazon or various bookstores Join a product management community Um, and you know the one I would really highlight is product school. Um, very important and of course try to explain to which is basically Platform that helps specifically for preparing for interviews And I think those two platforms really helped me as I got ready for cracking meta interview then There are other pm interview prep platform that's basically a tailor towards helping you crack pm interviews So one is trysponent.com. The other is carriers consult groups.com product alliance and product gym And there are many out there, but these are the ones I would highly recommend Now there's thoughts I didn't cover Touched initiative view one is product execution estimation questions product analytics and behavioral question And like I said because of time we couldn't cover everything But um, I believe in the next section that I hope to be speaking I will cover at least two of these other types of questions Um an interview format for product managers Now you feel free to reach me on linkedin. I believe the description would be or the link would be in the description below And also at um instagram at my instagram of carriers consult groups as well Thank you everyone for listening and once again, my name is Emmanuel and um, I'm really happy that I'm here and thank you all for listening. Bye. Bye