Strategy question
If you were a product manager at Google, would you reinstate Orkut? Why?
- Twilio
- Strategy
- Hard
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What this question tests
Whether you can make a grounded strategic call on reviving a defunct product, weighing nostalgia against real market conditions.
How to approach it
- Acknowledge the real context: Orkut was popular in specific markets like India and Brazil before being shut down by Google in 2014 as social media consolidated around Facebook.
- Assess today's market: Facebook, Instagram, and newer platforms already dominate social networking, so reinstating Orkut faces a much higher bar than starting fresh once did.
- Identify what unique value, if any, Orkut could still offer, such as nostalgia-driven community features or a niche focus underserved by current platforms.
- Weigh the cost of reviving legacy infrastructure and rebuilding trust against the likely small addressable market of nostalgic former users.
- Conclude with a recommendation: likely not reinstating Orkut as-is, since network effects favor incumbents, but possibly reusing its brand for a genuinely different, niche product.
- Define what evidence would change the recommendation, such as strong demand signals in a specific underserved market segment.
What a strong answer includes
- Grounds the answer in Orkut's real history and why it was shut down, rather than treating the question abstractly.
- Explains network effects as the core reason reviving a defunct social network is much harder than launching new.
- Gives a clear recommendation rather than staying noncommittal, while acknowledging a narrow case where it could make sense.
- Proposes a specific alternative, reusing the brand for a niche product, rather than a binary yes or no.
Common mistakes
- Answering with pure nostalgia or brand sentiment without addressing the real network effect problem.
- Giving a vague it depends answer with no clear recommendation or supporting reasoning.
Likely follow-up questions
- What specific evidence would convince you there's real demand for this?
- Which market, if any, do you think is most likely to want this back?
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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