Strategy question
Was Google Glass a good product? Why?
- Strategy
- Medium
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What this question tests
Tests product judgment on a well-known failed launch, requiring the candidate to separate the technology's merit from the product and go-to-market execution.
How to approach it
- Separate the question into two parts: was the underlying technology valuable, and was Google Glass, as launched, a good product.
- State what's well known: Glass targeted a broad consumer audience with a $1,500 price point and an always-on camera, raising privacy concerns in public settings.
- Identify the core product-market fit failure: it solved an unclear problem for consumers while creating a real social friction (being recorded without consent).
- Note Glass's later pivot to enterprise use cases (like hands-free workflows in manufacturing and healthcare), where the same technology found real product-market fit.
- Conclude that the technology had merit but the initial consumer product and launch strategy were premature and mismatched to the audience.
- Draw the reusable lesson: powerful technology still needs a specific, validated user problem and audience before a broad launch.
What a strong answer includes
- Separates technology merit from product execution, which is the key insight the question is testing for.
- Uses the well-known privacy backlash and price point as concrete, factual grounding rather than vague criticism.
- Cites Glass's real pivot to enterprise as evidence the technology found genuine fit once targeted correctly.
- Extracts a reusable strategic lesson instead of just critiquing Glass in isolation.
Common mistakes
- Giving a flat yes or no without separating technology from product execution.
- Not mentioning the well-known privacy and social-friction backlash, a key part of the case.
- Treating Glass as a total failure without acknowledging its later enterprise success.
Likely follow-up questions
- What would you have changed about the initial launch?
- Why did the enterprise pivot succeed where consumer failed?
- What's a current product at risk of the same mistake?
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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