Facebook Product Manager Metrics Interview: Facebook Marketplace

Summary

In this product management mock interview, Neri discusses setting metrics for Facebook Marketplace. The conversation centers around understanding the platform's mission, identifying key user groups, and selecting metrics that reflect engagement and value for both buyers and sellers. Neri suggests focusing on weekly active users, transaction estimations, and distribution analysis to ensure the platform aligns with Facebook's broader goals and provides equitable opportunities for all users. The interview also touches on the importance of not just measuring engagement but also considering the quality of user experiences.

Takeaways

• 😀 The interviewee, Neri, shares their background including a product management internship at Apple and an upcoming role at Facebook, highlighting the importance of community in product management.
• 🎓 Neri emphasizes the value of the Exponent program in preparing for interviews and the significance of community in interview prep spaces.
• 🛍️ Facebook Marketplace is described as a two-sided platform facilitating transactions between everyday buyers and sellers, with a focus on local community engagement.
• 🔍 The interview question revolves around setting metrics for Facebook Marketplace, considering its role within Facebook's broader commerce ecosystem.
• 📈 The thought process for setting metrics includes understanding the product's mission, identifying key user groups, and prioritizing key driving metrics.
• 🤔 Neri discusses the importance of defining 'active' for both buyers and sellers, suggesting that active users could be those who click on at least one post within a week.
• 💬 The interview explores the challenge of tracking actual transactions, suggesting proxies like the number of back-and-forth messages between buyers and sellers.
• 📊 The discussion includes metrics for engagement, such as time spent on the platform and distribution of purchases and sales to understand user behavior.
• 🔄 Neri mentions the importance of retention metrics like 28-day retention for sellers and buyers to gauge repeat behavior and platform stickiness.
• 💡 The interviewee suggests focusing on a limited number of core metrics rather than an extensive list, to avoid overwhelming the analysis and maintain clarity.
• 🚀 The interview concludes with self-reflection from Neri on the importance of articulating risks and focusing on a 'north star' metric to guide product strategy.

Q & A

What is the main focus of the interview in the script?

The main focus of the interview is to discuss how to set metrics for Facebook Marketplace, a platform that allows users to buy and sell items within their local communities.

What is Neri's background according to the script?

Neri has a background in consulting and recently completed a product management internship at Apple. Post-graduation, Neri will be joining Facebook as a product manager.

What does the interviewee suggest as the first step in setting metrics for Facebook Marketplace?

The interviewee suggests starting by understanding Facebook's overall mission and how Marketplace aligns with that mission, which is to empower people to create community and bring the world closer together.

Why does the interviewee choose a weekly active user metric over a daily one for Facebook Marketplace?

The interviewee chooses a weekly active user metric because commerce activities like buying and selling are not typically done on a daily basis, and a weekly cadence can help smooth out fluctuations such as increased activity on weekends.

What does the interviewee consider as an indicator of an active buyer on Facebook Marketplace?

An active buyer is considered to be someone who has clicked on at least one post within a week's time span.

How does the interviewee propose to estimate the occurrence of transactions on Facebook Marketplace?

The interviewee suggests using proxy metrics such as the percentage of listings that have at least six back and forth messages, indicating a potential sale, or when a seller removes an item or marks it as sold.

What distribution-related metric does the interviewee want to track to ensure Facebook Marketplace is serving everyday buyers and sellers?

The interviewee wants to track the distribution of purchases per buyer per week and sales per seller per week to ensure the platform is accessible and beneficial to everyday users, not just high-volume sellers.

Why does the interviewee consider time spent on the platform as a metric for Facebook Marketplace?

Time spent on the platform is considered as it indicates the value users find in the product. However, the interviewee also acknowledges the potential risk of users spending too much time without finding what they are looking for.

What retention metrics does the interviewee discuss for Facebook Marketplace?

The interviewee discusses 28-day retention for both buyers and sellers, as well as the ratio of weekly active users to monthly active users to gauge the stickiness of the platform.

What are the interviewee's concerns regarding focusing solely on engagement and retention metrics?

The interviewee is concerned that focusing only on engagement and retention metrics might overlook users who are not actively using the product, missing out on potential issues with awareness, acquisition, and the overall health of the platform's user base.

Why does the interviewee believe it's important to consider the ecosystem when setting metrics for Facebook Marketplace?

The interviewee believes it's important to consider the ecosystem because Marketplace is part of Facebook's broader commerce objectives, and metrics should align with the company's goals without cannibalizing other commerce initiatives.

Outlines

00:00

📚 Introduction to the Facebook Marketplace Interview

The video script begins with an introduction to a mock product management interview focusing on Facebook Marketplace. The interviewee, Steven, shares his background, including his experience at Stanford GSB, a product management internship at Apple, and an upcoming role at Facebook. The Exponent program is acknowledged for its contribution to his interview preparation. The host expresses gratitude for Steven's return to help others in the community, emphasizing the importance of community engagement in interview preparation.

05:00

🛍️ Understanding Facebook Marketplace's Core Dynamics

In this paragraph, the discussion centers on clarifying the workings of Facebook Marketplace, a two-sided platform for buyers and sellers. The platform's unique selling proposition is highlighted, emphasizing its accessibility to everyday individuals to list and sell items without the need for a storefront. The conversation also touches on the importance of local community ties and the geographical aspect of the marketplace. The interviewee suggests metrics for evaluating the platform's success, focusing on engagement and the user experience, rather than just user acquisition.

10:02

📈 Establishing Metrics for User Engagement and Transaction Success

The script outlines the thought process for setting metrics for Facebook Marketplace, starting with defining what constitutes an 'active user' for both buyers and sellers, with a focus on weekly activity. The importance of understanding user behavior that leads to long-term engagement is discussed. A proxy metric for successful transactions is proposed, based on the number of back-and-forth messages between buyers and sellers. The paragraph also explores methods to estimate the occurrence of sales, such as the removal of listed items by sellers or marking them as sold.

15:04

📊 Analyzing User Distribution and Platform Monetization

This section delves into the analysis of user distribution to ensure the platform serves everyday buyers and sellers equitably. Concerns about professional sellers dominating the platform are raised, and metrics to measure the spread of purchases and sales are suggested. Time spent on the platform as an indicator of user engagement is discussed, with caution advised to ensure it does not indicate frustration in finding items. Retention metrics, such as 28-day retention for buyers and sellers, are considered to gauge repeat usage and platform stickiness.

20:05

🤔 Reflecting on the Risks and Trade-offs of Chosen Metrics

The interviewee contemplates the risks associated with an overemphasis on engagement and retention metrics, noting the potential neglect of users not actively using the platform. The importance of awareness, acquisition, and monetization metrics is suggested to gain a holistic view of the platform's performance. The rationale for not prioritizing monetization metrics is explained, with the argument that a strong engagement foundation must be laid before monetization strategies can be effectively implemented.

🌟 Final Thoughts and Interviewee Self-Reflection

In the concluding part of the script, the interviewee reflects on the interview process, emphasizing the importance of focusing on a few key metrics rather than listing numerous ones. The discussion includes the importance of preemptively addressing potential issues with chosen metrics and the need for clarity in defining north star metrics. The host provides feedback, commending the interviewee's approach and engagement throughout the interview, and offers advice for aspiring product managers on practicing metric-based questions.

Keywords

💡Product Management

Product Management is the process of guiding a product from its original concept to its delivery to the end user. It involves strategic planning, market research, product design, and lifecycle management. In the video, the interviewee, Neri, discusses his experience in product management, including his internship at Apple and his future role at Facebook, highlighting the importance of this role in driving product success.

💡Facebook Marketplace

Facebook Marketplace is a feature on the Facebook platform that allows users to buy and sell items within their local communities. It is a two-sided marketplace connecting buyers and sellers. The script discusses setting metrics for this platform, emphasizing its role in facilitating local commerce and community interaction.

💡Metrics

Metrics in the context of product management refer to the quantitative measures used to assess the performance of a product or service. The video focuses on how to set these metrics for Facebook Marketplace, discussing various types of metrics such as engagement, retention, and quality that can help gauge user interaction and value extraction from the platform.

💡Engagement

Engagement metrics are used to measure how users interact with a product. In the video, engagement is identified as a key focus area, with the interviewee discussing the importance of understanding how users are actively using Facebook Marketplace and the types of behaviors that indicate long-term engagement, such as clicking on listings and messaging sellers.

💡Two-Sided Platform

A two-sided platform, as mentioned in the script, refers to a marketplace that facilitates interactions between two distinct groups, typically buyers and sellers. Facebook Marketplace is an example of this, providing a platform for individual sellers to list items and for buyers to discover and purchase them.

💡Weekly Active Users (WAU)

Weekly Active Users is a metric used to measure the number of unique users who have interacted with a platform within a week. In the context of the video, the interviewee suggests using WAU as a metric for both buyers and sellers on Facebook Marketplace to understand the frequency of user participation.

💡Transactions

Transactions refer to the actual buying and selling activities that occur on a platform. The script discusses the importance of estimating transactions as a proxy metric for user value on Facebook Marketplace, suggesting that a high number of back-and-forth messages between buyers and sellers could indicate a completed sale.

💡Retention

Retention metrics measure the ability of a product to keep users coming back over time. The video mentions 28-day retention for sellers and buyers as a way to understand the frequency of repeat usage on Facebook Marketplace, indicating a healthy and engaging user experience.

💡Monetization

Monetization refers to the process of generating revenue from a product or service. While the interviewee decides not to focus heavily on monetization metrics for Facebook Marketplace in the video, they acknowledge the importance of considering how engagement can eventually lead to monetization strategies such as targeted advertising or transaction fees.

💡North Star Metric

A North Star Metric is a single, high-level metric that reflects the core value a product provides to its users and guides strategic decision-making. The video discusses the importance of identifying such a metric for Facebook Marketplace, with the interviewee suggesting a proxy metric for the number of transactions as a potential North Star Metric.

Highlights

Introduction of the interviewee Neri, who will be joining Facebook as a product manager post-graduation from Stanford GSB.

The importance of Exponent's community in interview preparation and the interviewee's experience with the program.

The interview question focuses on setting metrics for Facebook Marketplace, emphasizing the platform's role in community and commerce.

Marketplace is described as a two-sided platform for everyday individuals to buy and sell items, distinct from other commerce platforms.

The interviewee outlines a structured approach to problem-solving, starting with Facebook's mission and considering user types and metrics.

Engagement metrics are identified as a key focus area for Marketplace, with an emphasis on understanding how users derive value from the platform.

The concept of 'active users' is discussed, with a proposal to measure activity based on user interactions with listings.

The challenge of tracking transactions on Facebook Marketplace is addressed, with suggestions to estimate sales through message history.

The importance of distribution metrics is highlighted to ensure the platform serves everyday buyers and sellers equitably.

Time spent on the platform as an engagement metric is proposed, with considerations for its potential drawbacks.

Retention metrics, such as 28-day retention for sellers and buyers, are discussed to gauge repeat behavior and platform stickiness.

The interviewee reflects on the importance of not just focusing on engaged users but also considering those not using the product.

Monetization metrics are considered secondary to engagement, with the rationale that a valuable user experience precedes monetization.

The interviewee suggests considering the broader ecosystem and the potential for cannibalization within Facebook's commerce initiatives.

The importance of measuring negative experiences, such as blocked items or reported sellers, to ensure platform quality.

Self-reflection by the interviewee on the interview process, emphasizing clarity, focus, and the rationale behind chosen metrics.

The interviewer provides feedback, commending the interviewee's approach and discussing potential areas for improvement.

General advice for aspiring product managers on practicing metric-based questions and applying theoretical concepts to real-world products.

Transcripts

how would you set metrics for facebook

marketplace

hey everyone i'm super excited to be

here today with neri

to do a product management mock

interview in today's interview we're

going to be focusing on a question

related to facebook marketplace

but before we get into the pmock

interview and eric could you share a

little bit more about yourself

yeah definitely thanks for having me

steven i'm just steven and i know each

other as classmates at stanford gsb

um before the gsb i worked in consulting

and this past summer

i just finished a product management

internship at apple um and after

graduation

i'll be joining facebook as a product

manager and the exponent program was

incredibly helpful for me as i was

prepping both the videos and the course

component

itself so um yeah it's great to be back

full circle

totally um and it's always awesome at

exponent we believe strongly

and community and uh bringing community

to the interview prep space so it's

always awesome to have people who've

been through the experience come back to

help others

um so thanks so much neri for taking the

time and congrats again on your

successes

in getting the facebook offer um

well without further ado i'd love to

jump into the actual interview question

today

um and so the interview question i'd

love to ask you is

how would you set metrics for facebook

marketplace

so i've used marketplace before as a

buyer and seller but just want to make

sure that i fully understand the product

before i get into cutting metrics

and so marketplace is a marketplace it's

two-sided

there's buyers and sellers and

essentially it's a platform

for buyers to be able to discover and

browse through items and then for

sellers like an everyday person to be

able to

list items and actually attract buyers

and

and and sell the items does that have a

good understanding of it

yep that's right okay and um

i think the one of the kind of key

components of marketplace is that

it's you know facebook has a large

commerce platform there's buy sell

groups there's

now facebook and instagram shops and so

i think what makes marketplace different

in terms of why this product like this

is it allows anyone to be a seller so

you don't need to have actually a

storefront it's

you know if i'm moving and i want to

sell all the furniture in my house i'm

able to kind of quickly

create a listing and then attract an

audience um and then also i think it

like ties to your local community so

it's

like area like geography based um is

there anything else that i'm missing

that you think would be

important to call out for studying

metrics

that seems like a good list for now and

we can always revisit it and come back

to it if we need to

okay great um so just to kind of share

my thought process of how i'm going to

think through this problem

first i just want to thank overall why

do we have marketplace where does it

kind of operate within facebook's

broader goals

um and then i'll kind of start thinking

about the different users and what are

the types of things that we should be

measuring

um and then from there we can kind of

talk about what are the metrics we

should be prioritizing because obviously

there's thousands of things we can

measure but

there's probably a few metrics that can

help drive our team towards a success so

i want to really focus on what those

key driving metrics are does that sound

like a good approach

yeah let's do it okay great so um

so first just kind of facebook's mission

overall is to give people

the power to create community and bring

the world closer together

and marketplace really does that by i

think the technology really kind of

leans into that community aspect and it

gives people that power

with free and accessible tools and

technology to

to to discover items to buy items and

sell

um so i think there's a lot of alignment

with with the mission and i think the

fact that it's accessible to everyone um

is kind of a key component that really

stays true to the mission

um so i think that the main goal of

marketplace

is to allow people

um to empower buyers and sellers with

technology that

allows them to uh buy and sell products

does that um so i think and and we can

obviously hone in what does it actually

mean and be a little bit more tactical

but as

kind of an overarching goal does that

kind of sound like the direction that

captures uh

what the product is really about totally

and i love um for folks watching like an

area starting with the mission here

which is really really effective

and kind of like bubbling down from that

and i yeah that sounds great let's let's

jump into it we can talk more about

um how we'd go about that awesome and

then in terms of like

the focus of the metrics i really want

to focus on engagement

i'm just given the maturity of

marketplace i think it's been around for

i've i've been aware of it for the last

three years but i think it's been around

for um

at least a few years now and so um i

think that right now the goal isn't

really about getting more people to use

it but it's more about

what what are the ways in which they do

use it and how are they actually getting

value

out of it um is there anything else i

should keep in mind for the goal

um i think that sounds good i'd love to

at the end of this conversation have a

discussion around trade-offs or how we

think

about this goal as it relates to some of

our other goals like secondary goals and

maybe how they may conflict or how we

might navigate that

awesome okay great yeah so i will um

just be clear

focus really on engagement now but then

as we talk about trade-offs

i'm really gonna tie in other aspects of

what might we be missing when we focus

only on engagement and on other aspects

sounds good okay great so i'm gonna just

take um a few minutes to structure

my thoughts and just to kind of as i'm

structuring it

the main questions i'm going to be

thinking about are when our product is

wildly successful like what does that

actually look like because we want to

set metrics that help us drive towards

that

and then also like how are users

actually getting um value through and so

i'm going to kind of use those as

filters

to help me think through what are the

main metrics we should be tracking

great okay

great so um there's i came up with a few

metrics i want to just kind of talk

through them

and there's a few buckets of the metrics

the first are really just

kind of those core engagement metrics

that would be important to track and

um we'll just talk a lot through my

thoughts on that and then the second

bucket are just kind of thinking about

the ecosystem at large um how

marketplace kind of plays in with the

other commerce initiatives at facebook

and then kind of the third is maybe what

are

some of those quality metrics that we

need to look at make sure that we're not

providing a bad experience for our

buyers and sellers um so i'm going to

start with the first one um and really

focus the metrics around the buyers and

the sellers these are two main user

groups

um so the first metric that i am

thinking about is some sort of

active user metric um and so i want to

kind of think about

what does active mean and what is like

the cadence and so

i think that with with buyers and

sellers a weekly cadence is um

what is probably most helpful to measure

i think that there would be a lot of

fluctuation

if we look at like a daily active user

metric because maybe people shop more on

weekends or list items more on weekends

um and so i think and i think it's just

not commerce is an activity that people

do on a daily basis so i think a weekly

active user

metric um would be really helpful for

both buyers and sellers

got it um go ahead yeah

i think with that the other thing i just

want to make sure that we really get

right

is what is what does active mean and

what is like the type of behavior we

want to be tracking and

i think for example on the buyer side

there's a lot of things we can track

such as are they just viewing are they

spending 30 seconds on marketplace are

they clicking on for post or are they

clicking on four posts and then pressing

message to the seller and so

i really want to work with our data

scientists team to understand what are

the types of behaviors that really drive

uh like long-term engagement um but i

think that

right now i'm leading towards maybe

active is you've put um

on at least one post um so you're

viewing marketplace and you click like

details

on at least one post for the buyer's

side so weekly active users

got it so to summarize a weekly active

user is someone who's clicked on a post

at least one post within a week's time

span

yeah and then i think weekly active

sellers as well um and

to be an active seller maybe you've

actually posted a listing

um and yeah with kind of the caveat

would want to really flush out

if that activity maybe if 90 of people

actually do that maybe that's not

actually a metric that's helpful to

track and

maybe it's the second step of actually

pressing message seller um because

you're interested in that item

totally that makes a lot of sense great

um

so that's kind of the first area the

second one is um

just i actually have a few clarifying

questions of how marketplace works so i

understand that there's a lot of items

that are listed

if you're interested in it you can

message seller do we actually know

if the transaction occurs or how do we

track that

yeah that's a great question um so there

are some ways that we can know that or

guess at that information based on

message

uh history and things like that but we

can never know for certain since it's an

in-person interaction right

yeah so i think that makes it really

tricky but when i think about that

question of how do users get value

it really comes when that transaction

happens when the sale happens because

i can look through like five or six

items per day and you know that might

show

i'm an active user but if i don't

actually prove just that sofa and

especially

the seller if they're not actually

selling that sofa they don't get

value from marketplace um so i do think

it would be important to try and

understand how do we estimate

um those uh those sales or those

transactions and so i think a potential

proxy

metric is you know maybe percentage of

or

maybe listings that have at least six

back and forth

messages um where there's at least you

know one message on each side and so

kind of the way that i imagine it's

going is i'm interested in the sofa

i message is this still available you

respond yes maybe there's some

bargaining of price and then you give me

the address and pick up instructions and

so i think six is just

kind of a number i'll throw out for now

but maybe if there's six messages we're

really we're highly confident that a

sale has actually taken place

got it that makes sense um just to push

you a little further are there other

ways on the seller side that we might be

able to know if

a sale has been made or other guesses

that we can make

when we come up with this model yeah

definitely i think

um if the seller removes the item um or

marks it is sold we

have good confidence that it's been sold

especially if we ask them has this been

sold i think one

risk with that is if they're removing

items because they might have sold it on

craigslist or on ebay or they might just

be frustrated that they're not getting

enough interest or traction

and so i think that maybe having a few

of these different ways to track it and

maybe benchmark them against each other

and see

how accurate is our like prediction and

being able to tell whether an item has

been

on awesome yeah that's a great point

well um i think that's the thing so i

mean we have a good sense of how many

people are on our platform

whether the transaction happens but i

want to know how concentrated it is is

that you know

one buyer that's selling thousands of

things per day and then every you know

every other person is

is not selling anything so i'd want to

maybe look at like a

a distribution of a buyers and sellers

to see like number of

purchases per buyer per week a number of

sales per seller per week

um and potentially even get like a

like a p25 to 50 to 90 so understanding

you know the bottom 25 percent of users

what's that average at the median and

then like

our super super active buyers and

sellers what is their average

um and understand that distribution

totally that's a great uh thoughtful

point like what are you

worried about in that case can you tell

me a little bit more about why you're

looking at the distribution

yeah i think what like the main

motivation for this metric is to make

sure that

we actually have it it is like kind of

hits our mission that it's in every a

tool for everyday buyers and everyday

sellers to use and my concern is

that you have you know professional

shops maybe using this as

like selling like new furniture and then

like someone like me who's

you know moving out of my house and

wants to sell my furniture just i'm kind

of like

the buyer that really loses in this and

i think we really want to make sure that

we have like a pretty like even

distribution

throughout and i think that shows that

our product is hitting our mission and

that we are attracting the right types

of buyers and sellers

and i also think it would help like

later on with like cohort analysis to

understand where

um where our buyers and sellers fall and

maybe we can target these buyers and

sellers um

for different like advertising or

different kind of new product releases

based off of

the cadence of their purchases

got it fine awesome i think the other

metric that comes to mind for engagement

and i know for a lot of our other

products that facebook we use

um is is time spent on the platform so

like time spent per user

um i think that it it kind of shows the

value that we are bringing into the

product if people are

interacting with it a lot and spending a

lot of time but i think the potential

risk is maybe they're spending a lot of

time and they're not actually finding

anything so they're like searching for

that perfect

lamp and they're like spending a lot of

time and changing their area a lot but

um can't actually find it so i think

it's like an interesting thing to

monitor but

maybe it's not a metric we want to

maximize but just

really want to have it so that we are

understanding if people are actually

using

our platform and for how long cool

sounds good

so i think those are the main engagement

ones i think that the other kind of two

retention ones that might be important

are maybe just like a 28 day retention

for sellers and buyers to understand

kind of the average time between

purchases um for each listing um and

then maybe some sort of like stickiness

that also falls under retention so

potentially weekly active users over

monthly active users

for both buyers and sellers to just get

a sense that the content is

really like evergreen that people kind

of keep coming back for more content and

they're finding more and more value

um i think that would give us a good

sense is like is this kind of

hitting that one-time need or are we

actually cultivating um

like repeat behavior from our buyers and

sellers

got it yeah that's that's really helpful

um well it sounds like we've come to

a set of metrics that we feel sort of

good about i would love to go back to

some of that earlier question around you

know we're focusing a lot of engagement

retention

what are we concerned about or what are

the risks here with the metrics that

we've picked

yeah i think the the risk is is we're

focusing on people who are using our

product

and how they use it but we're not

thinking about people who aren't using

our product and

um my hypothesis is that marketplace

might do very well in certain areas so

if you have like a lot of

people around like a city like you know

geographically dense area

um but maybe that there's some regions

or some areas that it's not

that it's not as popular and so we're

not really capturing that with these

metrics um so in that case i would think

about

um some awareness um some acquisition

uh metrics um adoption and then i think

that's kind of earlier in the funnel and

then

kind of later in the final because this

is a product that is really mature

it might be good to also kind of track

some monetization metrics

um to make sure that we are kind of

utilizing the user base

to be able to like you know target

really relevant um

ads and how that behavior uh works

totally um and you know one more

follow-up question

sort of towards the end of the interview

and feel free to add anything that you

wanted to share that we may have missed

too

but why why didn't we include

monetization metrics as part of this

set like what was your reasoning and not

including those

yeah i think um my rationale is that if

we really can get

engagement right which means that we're

showing that not only are users using

our product but that they're finding

value in it

but i think monetization comes after and

so if we can really create this like

really engaging experience for them

then we're able to kind of think about

how we bring ads into the mix or how we

can potentially maybe charge a fee for

the purchases

um but if that engagement part is broken

then there's no point to get into

monetization so that's kind of the first

rationale

um for that totally it makes a lot of

sense

um an area this is awesome like is there

anything else we want you want to add

here

in the interviewee mode before we talk a

little bit about how this interview was

and feedback and things like that

yeah i think just the um the two things

i'd want to touch on those are kind of

the core metrics but um

first is like the ecosystem so you know

marketplace plays a role within

facebook's overall commerce objectives

and so

there are shops and um you know buy sell

groups and a lot of different places

even through ads where people can buy

products and so i want to

make sure that you know we're not

cannibalizing it farther than

um are kind of aligned with the

company's overall goal so i want to kind

of look at a few like cohort metrics for

cannibalization

um and then the second thing is i'd also

want to track like when it's a super

super bad experience and so things like

you know the seller is searching

something and there's no results found

or

looking at items that are like blocked

or you know sellers that are reported

because of like quality issues or like

you know threats or harassment so um i

think there's a few buckets that you

know

if i were the pm for this would kind of

spend more time kind of thinking through

but

um just want to share that that is also

as important to measure as it is kind of

those good value experiences totally

totally

um awesome well an area this is so

fantastic

um it was so great to see your interview

skills like to everyone and honestly you

you crushed it um would love to hear

your own i

wrote a bunch of notes about what i

thought you did really effectively but

would love to hear your own thoughts

like what do you think went well with

this interview or

any self-reflection about it yeah um

cool well thank you i i thought that it

went

pretty well i think something i've been

working on was like less is more

sometimes and it's probably more

interesting to have a discussion on

like five or six metrics than to list

out 20 or 30 metrics um so that's

something that i

tried to do but would love to get your

feedback on how that works versus

being more comprehensive and just

listing out there's a ton of things

you can list out in the funnel um i

think one thing i

maybe could have done better has been

more explicit on like fire versus seller

they are the kind of the two users and

been more explicit about what are the

actions they take and how

what are the metrics we should measure

for each um

and then i think maybe like being more

clear about that north star metric

i think the one i would have decided on

is that proxy for a number of

transactions of

like the number of listings that have at

least six back and forth messages

um and maybe just giving more like

rationale why

should we be focusing on that i think it

like focuses on both the buyer and

seller it kind of

measures a ton of things but i think

just being more clear and explicit with

um the rationale for that um rather than

just like laying out six or seven would

have been helpful

totally um those are all great points

let me first jump into what i thought

you

did really well and i can talk a little

bit about what you also just mentioned

um first of all i thought you you did an

excellent job of checking in with me

throughout the interview like i was

engaged as an interviewer one of the

biggest mistakes people make is they

think their interviewer is always paying

attention which is

unfortunately not always the case and so

you did a great job of engaging me and

making me a part of it um you as i

mentioned during the interview you

brought

in the mission really early on this is

so important and you know

whether it's facebook or any company i

recommend everyone

read about the mission and watch a

keynote from the company before you

interview so you can bring that into

your answers so that was really really

effective i thought

um i liked the the discussion on the

engagement was really smart like you had

a lot of thoughts and

you know there were points where you

called out i'm going to decide weekly

because of this

or i'm going to explain and you kind of

explain your thought processes

throughout which is really really

effective

and i thought we came to a set of

metrics that did really make sense

um the one that felt the hardest to me

was the time spent one

just because there's like this ongoing

trend of facebook you know sucking up

all our time

versus you know that clearly is a useful

metric sometimes but

marketplace maybe is a more

action-oriented or intent-oriented

experience and so it might not be good

that people are spending too much time

searching for a product or experience um

and you know i if we had a little bit

more time i might have pushed you more

on that and we might have had a really

thoughtful discussion um but i did what

i did really like that you did is you

called it out during

bringing it up you you sort of said this

is my metric you know i'm a little

unsure about some of this or you know

this is

maybe something you want to watch out

for and it did help

me ease my nerves and that's almost why

i didn't ask that follow-up question is

because i was like okay an area already

seems like she

kind of has a sense of what's going on

here um

i i thought the buyer versus seller

comment that you made about yourself

would be effective you know segmenting

those out and thinking about those

this is just such a clear marketplace

thing that it's nice to kind of like

segment them

um i think you know i loved the focus

like i definitely don't think you should

have mentioned more metrics and

i actually liked that you mentioned more

but you're like you know i'd focus on

these

i think focus for the metrics questions

are always so important because it is

really easy to just talk about

all the metrics in the world you know

like you can just keep talking about

different

cool metrics that you can measure so i

really like that

i think um if i yeah and i

agree generally it does help to pick one

north star metric or one or two north

star metrics we had four which are

a little bit pushing it like um it was

good overall and i got a sense from you

about which ones are important but

um yeah like for those who are watching

north star metrics are kind of like your

primary metric or the metric that you

would focus on um

so overall but overall an area this is

awesome you crushed it like this is such

a great

crisp example of an interview for the

metrics based questions which can be

very intimidating to a lot of product

managers or aspiring product managers

because it you have to kind of figure

out like how you think about these

metrics how you talk about them

um and it really helps to have a lot of

practice and it it shows that you did a

lot of practice so that's awesome

i want to leave some space an area if

you had any reactions thoughts comments

or any tips for folks watching before we

wrap the video

awesome yeah thanks steven that was

really helpful i do think that

um and i think i can be more clear with

articulating the risks

and preempting it so i think i like

touched on it but being more clear

with maybe even like i think it's an

interesting and engaging conversation to

be like

broader do we even want to have a metric

that is going to suck up people

people's time and what's happening right

now in society of people kind of

questioning that time

i think that would have been an

interesting discussion so maybe opening

the door for some of those

um and i think uh yeah so i mean i think

the feedback

it all makes a lot of sense um and

definitely honing on one

north star metric i i highly recommend

and and

think that that's really important um i

think in terms of general tips

i think that there there becomes a point

when you're kind of like studying where

you

like you kind of understand the concepts

um like you like you know that there's

all these concepts that are available

and then when you really understand them

and truly understand how they relate and

so

um what's been really helpful for me is

really just like look at any product

that you interact with whether it be

digital or physical

and really think about like what would

an awareness metric look like for this

what would an acquisition metric look

like what are the engagement metrics um

and really when you can take those like

textbook concepts that exponent does a

really great job of explaining and then

bring it to your real world

um i think that it starts to like sink

in um and

then you kind of get this like new level

of understanding so

that is my awesome everyone yeah well

thanks denary

for the kind words um folks watching uh

definitely leave comments below if you

want to have any questions about this

interview

or for me ordinary we're here to help

um and thank you again so much and area

for being on the show

for folks watching good luck on your

upcoming interview

good luck bye thanks so much for

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