Product design question
If Google were to enter the gas station business, what would be the product/service that you think Google should build? What would be the MVP for this product/service?
- Product design
- Hard
Practice this question out loud. An AI interviewer asks it, follows up like a real interviewer would, and scores your answer. Type or speak.
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What this question tests
0-to-1 product sense for an unconventional market entry, including MVP scoping.
How to approach it
- Clarify: physical fuel retail versus an EV-charging and energy angle more aligned with the company's strengths.
- Pick an EV-charging and amenities angle leveraging maps and local-business data rather than literal gasoline retail.
- Identify pain points: drivers don't know real-time charger availability or wait times, and stations lack integrated payment.
- Propose an MVP: a small network of branded EV charging hubs with real-time availability shown in maps and seamless payment.
- Prioritize the real-time availability and payment integration, since that's the unique data and software advantage.
- Define success as charger utilization rate and maps-driven traffic to the hub.
What a strong answer includes
- Reframes 'gas station' toward EV charging, a more strategically plausible angle given existing map and EV data assets.
- Names the real differentiator, real-time availability and integrated payment via maps, rather than competing on fuel pricing alone.
- Defines a scoped MVP, a small pilot hub network, rather than a nationwide rollout from day one.
- Picks utilization and maps-driven traffic as success metrics, tying the product to the core data advantage.
Common mistakes
- Designing a literal traditional gas station without leveraging any unique data or strategic rationale.
- Proposing a massive nationwide rollout instead of a scoped, testable MVP.
Likely follow-up questions
- How would you decide where to place the first pilot hubs?
- What would be the real competitive advantage over an established fuel or EV-charging company?
More product design questions
- Design a TV for a car.Google · Product design · Hard
- Design a refrigerator for the blind.Google · Product design · Hard
- How do you design a camera for the elderly?Google · Product design · Medium
- Redesign Twitter for eCommerce.Shopify · Product design · Hard
- How would you go about designing a new location sharing app for Google?Google · Product design · Medium
- How would you improve Google Home?Google · Product design · Easy
More questions from Google
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 7: AI UX and human oversight: design for a system that is wrong sometimes
- Chapter 14: Get the job: the AI PM interview loop