This sets your apart as a candidate
To stand out in interviews just work experience isn't enough—how well you know the product, user and market is the key differentiator.
Cheatsheets for the interview day prep
Cracking roles in this market is harder than ever. To add fuel to the fire– a busy work schedule means you need something that will get you high impact in a short period. That’s exactly what we solve with Cheatsheets.
With Cheatsheets
– You can prep on-the-go
– Revise easily with visual frameworks
– Get in-depth with industry-specific case studies
– Brush up frameworks with easy-to-implement examples.
Cheatsheets will help you crack roles across B2B, B2C & D2C companies. This is across Product, Growth and Marketing functions.
Launched with 14 roles i.e. APM, PM1, PM2, SPM, Product owner, growth marketing, growth lead, product marketing manager, marketing lead, brand manager and more.
Now, coming to today’s edition.
Ever wondered what separates a great candidate from an average one? It’s their preparation—especially when it comes to researching the product, category, users, and market. When you walk into an interview with deep insights, you are entering with leverage. Not just the skills but with your ability to think from the company’s perspective.
This newsletter will guide you through how to gather the right information and use it effectively in interviews. Think of it like assembling the pieces of a puzzle, where the more you research, the clearer the bigger picture becomes.
Ready? Let’s break it down.
1/ Why does this product exist?
Understanding the product's core use case not only improves your interview responses but also builds trust with the interviewer. They can see you “get” what they’re working toward.
Step 1 → Understand the problem
This step will help you decode the problem statement of the product for which you’re interviewing.
What problem is it solving?
What is its core use case?
What will this help you achieve?
Cracking the DNA of the company.
Learning motivations within the company.
Let’s break it down with a couple of examples.
Uber? It solves the problem of getting someone from point A to point B in a convenient, affordable way.
Freshdesk? Helping businesses manage and resolve support tickets at scale.
Step 2 → Now, how to use it in the interview?
Once you understand the problem, you can anchor all your responses to it.
Let’s say you’re interviewing at Facebook and the interviewer asks, "Tell me about a time you used data to conclude." You could mention how your data analysis helped you identify inefficiencies in a system—and then relate it to the problem Facebook is solving, like connecting people in meaningful ways.
The deeper you go into understanding the problem, the better you'll connect your experience to what the company is solving for.
Understanding the product & category
This will help you distil what the product & competition does in depth. This will show that you're thinking about the market landscape and the product’s place in it.
Step 1 → Understand the product and its competition
Ask yourself:
Is this product part of a new category? Or does it fit into an existing one?
What other solutions are out there to solve the same problem?
What’s the good, bad, and ugly with these alternatives?
Take Uber again. In terms of alternatives, you might consider public transport or private cars. What are the good, bad, and ugly parts of these? Public transport might be cheap, but it’s often unreliable. Private cars offer flexibility, but they’re expensive and need maintenance. Uber bridges the gap by providing an affordable, reliable middle ground.
Also, consider global markets—how are similar products faring in regions like the U.S., Europe, or China? Looking at these comparisons will help you see the whitespace and how the product could innovate or improve in your local market.
What will this help you achieve?
Whitespace v/s the competition
Landscape knowledge for this domain
Potential improvements in the product
Step 2 → How to use it in the interview?
Your answers should be tailored to the context of the product, landscape & domain. For example, if asked how you would improve Uber, talk about:
What does Uber do well?
Where alternatives like public transport fall short.
Potential improvements Uber could make based on user needs and gaps in the competition.
This approach shows the interviewer that you understand not only the product but also the competitive landscape it operates in.
Quick pause.
Take out your notes and start writing this down for a company you have an upcoming interview with.
2/ Researching the users
This section will help you anchor all your answers from a user’s POV. Every product is built for a specific group of people. The better you understand them, the stronger your interview answers will be.
User research, documented insights and proposed strategies/ features = Chance to highlight your intent, effort and skills.
Step 1 → Understanding ICPs (Ideal Customer Profiles)
Answer the following in depth.
Think about the core users of the product. Who are they? What do they care about? For example:
Demographics: What’s their age, job title, and income level? Are they single, married, parents?
Interests: What brands do they love? What apps are on their phone’s home screen? What do they follow on Instagram, LinkedIn, or Twitter?
Pain points: What problems do they face that this product solves? Maybe they want a flexible rental vehicle (Zoomcar), or temporary furniture in a new city (Furlenco).
Values: How do they spend their time and money?
Watch the concept note to identify and prioritize ICPs here.
Getting specific about these details helps you empathize with the user and understand their needs more clearly. For example, users of a service like Swiggy Instamart might be young professionals who value convenience and time-saving solutions. They likely spend a lot of time on social media and expect things fast. Knowing this makes your interview responses much more targeted and relevant.
Step 2 → About using it in the interview
If the interviewer asks how you’d attract more users to Swiggy Instamart, you can draw from your ICP research:
Marketing pitch: Tailor your marketing efforts based on insights from user behaviour.
Channel selection: Use what you know about where your users spend their time (e.g., Instagram, YouTube) to inform your channel strategy.
Showing that you know the users and how to connect with them will set you apart in every round of interviews
Pause again.
Write this down and make a plan to reachout to the relevant users. Post on your socials, WA groups, communities to get a chat set with the ICP for this product.
3/ Understanding the market: calculating TAM
Now, let’s talk about the market.
This section will help you understand the depth of the market for this product.
Step 1 → Calculating TAM (Total Addressable Market)
Start by listing out the ICPs and estimating the market pull. Look at data like:
Google search volumes for product-related terms.
YouTube video views for use-case-related content.
Blog readership for articles covering product-related topics.
Next, assess the frequency of the problem the product solves and how many people need it. When Uber launched, they looked at premium black taxis as the existing solution in California. Though premium, there was enough volume to suggest demand for a new kind of ride-hailing service.
Finally, try to estimate how many of your ICPs exist in the target region. For example, if Uber is focusing on outstation travellers, you could calculate the number of people who fit this ICP in a city or state.
How to calculate TAM? Visit the concept video here
Step 2 → Using it in the interview
If you are asked - how would you grow the user base? back up your answer with market research. If you're discussing Uber’s growth strategy, explain the potential TAM based on your research, then suggest expansion strategies rooted in data.
This kind of analysis not only shows that you’ve done your homework but also your ability to think strategically for the business’s future.
Putting it all together
The best interview preparation comes from understanding the product, its competition, the users, and the market.
Once you have all of these insights, your interview answers will be more thoughtful, data-driven, and relevant to the company’s goals. This builds trust with your interviewer and positions you as someone who not only fits the role but can help the company scale.Every bit of research you do helps you get one step closer to landing that role. There’s no downside to doing this, it builds you convinction in building for this category, if nothing.
Celebration fam-wins ✨
Dhruvish Thakkar (GrowthX member since 2024) joined Swiggy Dineout as the AVP for Revenue & Growth.
Featured roles this week ✨
Product manager at Kazam, this role is ideal for a detail-oriented Product Manager with a passion for scaling products in the EV sector.
Marketing manager at Mariana AI. You will get to work on our core business levers - acquisition and engagement. Also, have a key role in brand building with a focus on improving discovery and building trust.
Senior growth marketer at Bright Money. For the right person, this is an opportunity to grow into or enter the leadership level at a fast-growing innovative FinTech.
Curated resources for you 🚀
How to become a CMO? Learn from Jaimit Doshi [Global Marketing Head & CEO, Lenskart.com (Hustlr)]
[Discussion] How long should be your resume? find out
Top conversations this week in the community are here, to help you stay on top of your game when searching for roles/ interviewing.
Exploring roles in the EV Sector? Learn about the ecosystem here.
Overview from the recent online session - Shipping B2B Products.
That’s all from my end for this week!
Reply back with what are you focusing on to solve this week in your job search process, I will help you out with the right resources.
See you next week.
Interview preps are overwhelming, this is super helpful in making it structured!
A great read! Helps nail down the depth of research needed for interviews.