Strategy question
How would you increase the revenue of Google Maps?
- Strategy
- Medium
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What this question tests
Monetization strategy for a widely-used free product without alienating users.
How to approach it
- Clarify current revenue sources: local business ads and platform API fees for developers embedding the product.
- Break into levers: grow ad inventory, grow API or platform usage-based revenue, and premium consumer features.
- Pick 1 to 2 levers to prioritize, e.g. expanding local business promoted placements given high commercial-intent traffic.
- Flag the risk of over-monetizing ads and hurting the core navigation experience.
- Define success as ad revenue per session without a drop in navigation completion rate.
- Note the tradeoff between ad density and usability.
What a strong answer includes
- Names the product's actual revenue streams, local ads and a platform API, rather than guessing generically.
- Picks local business ads as the highest-leverage lever given strong commercial-intent traffic.
- Flags the tension between ad density and core usability as a real guardrail.
- Considers the B2B API and platform revenue line, often overlooked in a consumer-app framing.
Common mistakes
- Only thinking about consumer-facing ads and ignoring the platform API business.
- Proposing heavy ad load without any guardrail against degrading the core navigation experience.
Likely follow-up questions
- How would you balance ad revenue growth against user trust in navigation accuracy?
- Which lever would you bet on for the next year, ads or platform API revenue?
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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