Strategy question
How would you grow Ramp adoption among enterprises using incumbents like Concur and Amex?
- Ramp
- Strategy
- Hard
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What this question tests
Tests enterprise go to market strategy for displacing entrenched incumbents with deep existing relationships and switching cost.
How to approach it
- Identify why enterprises stay with Concur and Amex today: deep integration into existing finance systems, established relationships, and the real switching cost of migrating years of process and data.
- Identify Ramp's advantage: a modern, faster user experience, AI driven automation Concur was not built for, and typically stronger unit economics through card revenue.
- Propose a low risk entry point: target a specific pain point, like slow expense reporting or manual reconciliation, where Ramp can prove clear ROI without requiring a full system replacement immediately.
- Propose reducing switching cost directly: dedicated migration support, data import tooling, and running in parallel with the incumbent briefly to prove value before a full cutover.
- Propose targeting the right buyer: often IT and finance leadership frustrated with Concur's reputation for poor user experience, giving Ramp an internal champion to drive the switch.
What a strong answer includes
- Directly addresses switching cost with concrete tooling, migration support and parallel running, rather than assuming a better product alone overcomes enterprise inertia.
- Identifies frustrated finance and IT leadership as the internal champion, correctly recognizing that displacing an incumbent requires an advocate willing to push for change.
- Proposes proving value on a specific pain point first rather than requiring a full system replacement as the initial ask, lowering the barrier to a first yes.
Common mistakes
- Assuming a better product experience alone is enough to overcome real switching cost and existing enterprise relationships.
- No specific migration or transition plan, ignoring the real operational cost of switching finance systems.
Likely follow-up questions
- How would you handle an enterprise deeply integrated with Concur across many internal systems?
- What would you offer to reduce the risk of a full switch for a cautious CFO?
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More questions from Ramp
Learn the skill behind it
Chapters of the AI PM course that teach what this question tests.
- Chapter 4: Discovery and strategy for AI products
- Chapter 9: Prove it paid off: outcomes, economics, and pricing
- Chapter 14: Get the job: the AI PM interview loop