Google · Product sense · Entry · 45 to 60 minutes

Who should use Google's smell API first?

Google is a technology company that builds internet products, software platforms, and advertising tools used by billions of people and businesses. Answer this product management case and get it graded line by line against a weighted rubric.

Segmentation
Prioritization
Product sense
Structured thinking
Tradeoff analysis

The situation

A Google product lead asks you to evaluate whether a new smell teleportation API should become an actual product offering. The underlying technology can encode and send smell signals to compatible endpoints, but it is still early and unusual. Leadership sees possible applications across advertising, commerce, food, entertainment, and accessibility, yet nobody agrees on who would pay first or what problem is important enough to justify product investment. Your job is not to design the science. It is to decide where Google should aim first if it productizes this capability as an API for external partners. Why now: the team must make a near term recommendation on where to run a pilot and what customer problem to test, before spending more time on developer tools, business development, and go to market planning. The hard part is separating novelty from value. A flashy demo may get attention, but the first use case needs a believable buyer, a clear user pain, and a path that fits Google's strengths.

What to produce

Write a 1 page product sense memo.

Your answer must

List at least 4 plausible customer segments or buyer types for a smell transmission API.
Choose 1 primary target segment and 1 initial use case, and explain why it should come first.
Describe the core user or buyer problem in that use case and how the API would solve it better than current alternatives.
Outline a simple MVP, including who integrates the API and the basic end to end experience.
Name at least 2 major risks or tradeoffs and explain how they affect your recommendation.
Define 2 success metrics and 1 pilot or experiment to test demand before broader investment.

Constraints

Recommend an API first, not a standalone consumer product.
Focus on one initial use case, not a full long term platform roadmap.
Assume smell output works only through compatible partner hardware and a limited smell library.
Keep the proposal consistent with Google's strengths in platforms, ads, and developer ecosystems.

Format

Use headings: segments, priority, user pain, MVP, risks, metrics.

How Google actually played it

A product sense case about an API that can transmit smells. The answer lists possible customers, prioritizes advertising effectiveness for its revenue potential, and discusses drive-through and retail examples.

List customer segments, then prioritize with a stated reason
Test a strange technology against real buyer problems
Keep a structured flow: users, pains, solution, tradeoffs

Built from Google PM Interview: The Smell Teleportation API Case by Ajitesh, Tough Tongue AI (PM Interview Prep Weekly).