Strategy question
What should Google invest in the next 5-10 years?
- Strategy
- Hard
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What this question tests
Long-horizon strategic thinking about where a large company should place its next bets, grounded in specific market trends and Google's existing assets.
How to approach it
- Pick 2-3 concrete investment areas rather than a broad list, e.g. AI-native productivity tools, energy/infrastructure for AI compute, and health/longevity given DeepMind's research assets.
- For each area, explain why Google specifically is well-positioned, citing an existing asset like search distribution, cloud infrastructure, or research talent.
- Size the opportunity roughly for the top pick, e.g. enterprise AI tooling spend growth over the next decade.
- Acknowledge the trade-off: over-investing broadly dilutes focus, so recommend prioritizing one primary bet with the others as smaller, hedged investments.
- State the biggest risk to the primary bet, like regulatory pressure or a faster-moving competitor, and how Google would mitigate it.
What a strong answer includes
- Chooses areas grounded in Google's actual existing capabilities, not generic buzzwords like 'the metaverse' or 'Web3.'
- Sizes at least the top pick with a rough number, not just a qualitative claim.
- Recommends a clear primary bet instead of an unprioritized list, showing decisiveness.
Common mistakes
- Listing five or more unrelated trendy areas with no prioritization, reading as unfocused.
- Ignoring Google's specific advantages and giving an answer that could apply to any large tech company.
Likely follow-up questions
- Which of these would you cut first if the budget were halved?
- What would make you walk away from this bet after year two?
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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