Framework for knowing what you actually want

In this section, observe how the structure is being used.

A B2B collaboration tool like Zoho Workplace wants to increase sales in the Indian SMB segment. What GTM approach would you recommend?

The framework we will use to approach this question is given below. 

Before you go about diagnosing the problem and coming up with solution, make sure you have crystal clarity on the problem statement.

: Start by understanding the current situation and goals. What are Zoho Workplace's unique selling points? What challenges are they facing in the Indian SMB market? Are there specific industries or regions they want to target?

: Based on these insights, the goal might be to increase market penetration by 20% within the next year, focusing on tech-savvy SMBs in urban areas.

Primary users are tech-driven SMBs looking for cost-effective, integrated solutions.

Secondary users are traditional SMBs beginning to adopt digital tools.

Achieving a 20% increase in sales and a 30% rise in user engagement within the first year.

By focusing on targeted marketing, strategic partnerships, and leveraging Zoho's strengths, the company can effectively capture the Indian SMB market. Regularly assessing performance against defined metrics will ensure ongoing success and adaptability.

In this section, we will solve a case study question together.

How would you launch a new digital insurance product like PolicyBazaar in India? What would your GTM strategy include?

Let's break it down using the same framework.

What are the specific challenges and opportunities in the Indian digital insurance market?

What is the primary goal of launching this product? 

(Examples: Capture market share, increase brand awareness, etc.)

Who are the target users, and what are the current market trends in digital insurance?

Who are the main competitors, and what strategies are they using?

What strategies can be used for market penetration, product development, and strategic partnerships?

Which strategies should be prioritized based on impact and feasibility?

What are the key milestones and resource allocations needed for a successful launch?

Summarize it keeping these 2 questions in mind.

In this section, you will find a bunch of case study questions for you to practice.

Research the company's industry, competitors, and recent developments. This will help you tailor your responses to their specific needs.

GTM strategies often involve cross-functional teams. Demonstrate your ability to work effectively with others.

Remember, preparation is key to success. With practice and confidence, you'll be well-equipped to tackle any GTM interview.

All the best for your upcoming interview. Rooting for you. 💪

GTM questions and how to structure answers

How to prepare for SaaS GTM questions

This cheatsheet outlines Sairam's journey in preparing for and successfully landing the Product Marketing Manager role at Talabat. 

It provides an in-depth look at the steps he took before, during, and after the interview process, covering everything from his application to the selection process.

This Cheatsheet is designed for folks pursuing a career in 

 and those specifically preparing for roles in growth-stage tech companies like 

. It is ideal for aspiring marketers, growth managers, or anyone interested in product marketing within tech.

 is an online food delivery and quick commerce platform operating in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. It acts as a bridge between customers and local restaurants, grocery stores, and other merchants. They also help local businesses grow and give delivery drivers flexible earning options. It’s all about convenience and speed. Talabat is part of 

, a global leader in online food ordering and delivery services.

Summarising Assignment Skills Infographic in Pastel Lined Illustrative Style.png

Sairam's interview journey with Talabat was a multi-stage process. He prepared thoroughly before facing technical rounds and behavioral interviews, interacting with various roles in the company. 

While his genuine interest and cultural fit were advantages, he recognized the need to improve his practical experience, particularly in data analysis.

Here’s an overview of all the tools Sairam used to crack the PMM role, showcasing how his entire GrowthX experience shaped his roadmap.

A deep dive into each interview round starts from here.

 Sairam's early work on the Talabat Pro GTM project gave him a big advantage in the interview process. He walked in knowing the core problem statement and a solid plan to address it. This boosted his confidence and showed interviewers he's proactive and can think ahead. 

0️⃣ Pre-interview: Application process

                                                              4 more rounds to go 

2️⃣ Round 2 interview: Past projects and technical

                                                                 3 more rounds to go 

3️⃣ Round 3 interview: Assignment deep-dive

So, take a page from Sairam's book. Every step you take is part of your own path, so just go with the flow and see where it leads you.

For a firsthand account of Sairam's interview journey, watch the video 

Interview strategies across all rounds

Estimate the market size for online grocery delivery in India, focusing on players like BigBasket. 

The unstoppable rise of quick commerce: How Blinkit, Zepto, and Swiggy  Instamart are dominating the market

1. What is the scope? We're focusing on online grocery delivery in India.

2. Who are the key players? Companies like BigBasket, Grofers, and Amazon Pantry.

3. What time frame are we considering? Let's consider the current year.

Average spend: Assume an average spend of $30 per month on groceries.

49 million × 30 × 12 = 17.64 billion USD 

Check if this estimate aligns with industry reports and adjust assumptions if needed.

Estimate the number of monthly active users for a regional language social media app like ShareChat.

ShareChat Logo Vector - (.SVG + .PNG) - GetLogoVector.Com

(Your thoughts: _______________________________)

(Assumptions: _______________________________)

Compare your estimates with available data on similar apps or industry reports to ensure they are realistic.

Share your final estimate of monthly active users, explaining the key assumptions and calculations.

This framework helps ensure your estimation is logical and grounded in real-world data.​

Remember, preparation is key to success. With practice and confidence, you'll be well-equipped to tackle any estimation interview.

Analyze problems and propose reasonable solutions.

Market sizing with clear structure

Cheatsheets are simple, quick-reference documents that give you fast insights into any topic. 

Think of them as your handy guide when you need to understand something without digging through tons of information. 

We hope you didn't miss this session because this was not a typical career clarity chat. 

Jaimit did take us through some solid actionable that can guide one to 

But, what really made this session stand out was Jaimit's truth bombs and unfiltered honesty. 

💎 With years of experience under his belt, he reflected on how the marketing world has changed since he started back in 2000. Today’s marketers need to be quick on their feet and ready to adapt.

💎 He made it clear that while you might not have control over the industry you end up in, focusing on developing your skills is crucial. 

💎 Throughout the chat, Jaimit emphasized the importance of combining analytical skills with storytelling, staying curious about consumer behavior, and building strong relationships.

💎 He took us the dos and donts of cracking interviews.

💎 He also emphasized the criticality of stakeholder management as a skill in leadership roles.

Jaimit's infectious energy and unflinching honesty were a breath of fresh air, and everyone in the session was smiling from ear to ear.

We will cover the following parts in the next 10 minutes. You would want to take notes.

First off, it's important to understand the big picture. Marketing has come a long way since the days of TV ads and print media. Today, it's about tailoring messages to specific audiences and using data to make smart decisions.

To succeed in marketing, you need a mix of skills. Analytical thinking helps you make sense of data, while storytelling helps you connect with your audience. And don't forget about creativity! You'll need to come up with fresh ideas to stand out from the crowd.

Remember, marketing is always changing. So, it's important to stay curious, learn new things, and be open to trying new approaches. With the right skills and mindset, you can build a rewarding and fulfilling career in marketing.

Nuggets of gold by Jaimit in this section.

Jaimit stresses on how being curious is a never ending endeavor. If you aren't curious, you won't go too far. 

Keep asking questions, seeking answers, and connecting the dots.

Think like a consumer—solve for their needs. --> Research skill

Jaimit strongly believes that keeping consumer understanding at your core will solve for most problem statements that you will come across.

Keeping their needs at the forefront will guide your problem-solving efforts.

Master the art of analysis and storytelling. Don't box yourselves.

Bringing these two skills together transcends all marketing. Without these, you can't progress to the next level of your career.

As Jaimit rightly mentioned, people often tend to box themselves based on their backgrounds and perceived strengths. 

Step out of it. These skills are not something you are born with but something you can pick up. 

Believe that you posses both these skills 💫

Why? They refuse to see the big picture. 

Why? They are territorial or lack interpersonal skills or leverage collaborations.

Imagine you're a CMO or CGO candidate, gearing up for an interview. What should you expect? 

Recruiters are on the lookout for candidates who can not only solve consumer problems but also have a knack for storytelling and a genuine curiosity. They're keen to see if you can hold an intelligent conversation, understand the product inside out, and are passionate about the business.

Remember, the interview is a two-way street. It's not just about you impressing the recruiters; it's also about understanding if the company aligns with your career goals. So, be prepared to ask insightful questions, show your enthusiasm, and demonstrate your ability to think critically.

Negotiations are an inevitable part of the interview process. Be prepared to discuss compensation, benefits, and other terms of employment. Remember, it's okay to walk away if the terms don't meet your expectations.

In the end, the goal of the interview is to find a company and a role that's a perfect fit for both you and the recruiters. 

Being kind and open to conversations can really open doors for you. In today’s world, showing genuine respect and interest in the business demonstrates that you care. When you care, you naturally contribute more.

In interviews, asking smart questions is key for senior leadership roles. Make sure you understand the business inside and out.

Be entertaining and stand out in interviews. 

Being entertaining doesn’t mean putting on a show. Genuine enthusiasm comes from putting effort into how you communicate your ideas.

The shows what a (CMO) should prioritize, especially during their initial days. It’s essential to understand the company’s values and products without rushing to make changes. Instead of trying to fix everything at once, take time to assess the current state of the product, customer base, and potential improvements.

Aligning marketing efforts with business goals is crucial for clear direction. Knowing what’s expected in your role is key—junior roles often come with guidance, while senior positions require self-direction. 

Communication is vital at every level. When challenges arise, adopt a strategic mindset. Avoid blaming others; instead, view your team as an asset. Building trust through recognizing strengths and having genuine conversations is important.

Lastly, effective stakeholder management is critical for senior CMOs. This involves honesty, ownership, and readiness to tackle tough situations. By keeping these principles in mind, a CMO can navigate their role successfully and contribute to the company's growth.

Deal with the cards that you have been dealt. 

Believe that the team you are working with, the product you are working on are stellar. If you don’t have that confidence, it’ll be tough to make progress.

Building meaningful relationships is your strongest asset.

Understand your stakeholders—know what they need.

Get to know your stakeholders and what they really need. Understanding their perspective is key! If you don’t meet their expectations, they won’t be inclined to help you out either. 

Good stakeholder management is super important, especially in senior roles.

It's often better to ask for forgiveness than permission.

Sometimes, it’s better to just dive in and take the initiative on projects instead of waiting for approval. If things don’t go as planned, just ask for forgiveness later. Mistakes are inevitable! 

170+ members joined in, across 4 to 10+ years of experience, here’s what they had to say about the session!

Loved that it was unfiltered and touched upon such a diverse array of topics that impact a marketer's journey.

Well, it gave me the opportunity to look back on the mistakes I have made so far and take the next possible best steps ahead.

Loved every minute of this session. It was very insightful and helped me understand how I am on the right track with some of my principles.

Marketing leadership progression mapped out

What innovative features could be introduced to Slack to enhance its effectiveness as a communication tool for tech startups? 

Based on these questions, the goal is to:

Slack is primarily used by tech startup teams, including developers, project managers, and designers, who rely on it for smooth communication and collaboration. 

Then there are the secondary users, like freelancers and clients, who connect with the startup through Slack to stay aligned and keep projects moving forward.

These solutions address key pain points like information overload and fragmented workflows, making Slack a more powerful tool for startups.

The success metrics to be taken into account are:

By adding AI-driven noise reduction, built-in project management, and better search features, Slack can really boost its usefulness for tech startups. This would create a more focused and productive communication environment.

​What features would you prioritize in HubSpot's marketing automation platform to better support small businesses in managing their email campaigns? 

HubSpot Logo, symbol, meaning, history, PNG, brand

Start by asking yourself: What are the main challenges small businesses face with email campaigns? Are there specific features they struggle with in HubSpot?

Think about the ultimate goal: How can HubSpot better support small businesses in managing their email campaigns? What outcomes are we aiming for?

Identify who the primary users are. Is it the business owner, a marketing manager, or someone else? Also, consider any secondary users who might interact with the platform.

Consider possible features that could help. What ideas come to mind for addressing each pain point? Think about ease of use, automation, and analytics.

For each idea, weigh the pros and cons. What are the trade-offs? How do these features balance simplicity with functionality?

Decide which features to prioritize. Why do you think these will have the most impact? Consider the specific needs of small businesses.

Determine how you'll measure success. What metrics will show that these features are effectively supporting small businesses?

Bring everything together. How do these enhancements create a more supportive environment for small businesses managing their email campaigns?

In this section, you will find a bunch of case study questions for you to practice. 

B2B PMs and B2C PMs operate in different environments. While B2B PMs navigate complex business relationships and technical requirements, B2C PMs focus on mass appeal and user-centric experiences. With this knowledge, you're set up for success in your B2B or B2C world.

Remember, preparation is key to success. With practice and confidence, you'll be well-equipped to tackle any product interview.

Naling Product interviews in B2B

Opening lines that hook interviewers immediately

Body language 101

Cheatsheets are simple, reference documents that give quick insights into any topic.

Consider them your handy guide when you need to understand something without digging through tons of information.

We hope you didn't miss this session because this was not a typical chat on cracking a PM role. It was a lot more. What truly made this session one of a kind was Nagga’s exceptional generosity and candidness with which he shared his roadmap of preparing for and applying to PM roles.

With 40+ members joining in, across 3-12 years of experience, including those looking to transition into product management.

Here’s Nagga’s take on becoming a product manager in 2024

People don’t know you personally so they are going to rely on that sheet of paper that will present your experience, skills and qualifications and help them identify if they are aligned with the role you are applying for.

For instance, Nagga recently rolled out an opening for a PM role and received 1000+ applications. He obviously does not know each of these candidates.

So, the easiest and quickest way for him as a hiring manager to filter and shortlist from this pool of applicants is by referring to their resumes and understanding if they are suitable for the role’s requirements

Nagga sees resumes as a textual form of an elevator pitch. An elevator pitch is basically a quick pitch you make to someone if you met them in an elevator.

Since there’s a time crunch, the idea here is to include only the most important and relevant information in the pitch so the recipient can make an informed decision about the next steps.

As a hiring manager, Nagga reviews over 500 resumes when hiring for roles. He says, “If I find a profile interesting, I spend more time reading it; otherwise, I reject it. If a candidate hasn’t put in effort into things like formatting your resume well, then I reject it immediately.”

Basic hygiene practices like formatting, grammar, and consistent font styles, clean headings make your resume look presentable and professional, ensuring a comfortable and pleasant reading experience for the hiring manager.

If you do not have PM experience, consider why someone will invest in you. More than you contributing to the org, as an early PM the org has to invest resources to train you.

Organizations are more careful about hiring for junior PM roles because the stakes are higher as the org and the immediate supervisor must be quite hands-on.

Product management is 95% problem-solving and 5% creativity.

As long as you can break down a problem and solve it in a structured way with the required skills, you are eligible to apply to PM roles.

With resumes, prioritize UX over UI. When a hiring manager looks at your resume the important stuff should appear highlighted. Everything that increases your chances of getting shortlisted, be it relevant skills, experience or the impact you have driven. This is why the UX is important.

Resume UI can be plain black and white, but it must bring out the essence of your profile. It should be easy for the reviewer to capture the important parts and build your persona in their mind. Put more effort into the content and not aesthetics.

Create a master resume, which is a dump of all the work you have ever done in your career so far. Think of every task you have done, every project you have undertaken, every metric you owned and use that to pick information when customizing a resume for specific roles.

When writing your resume use power verbs, bold the keywords and numbers you want to highlight, and avoid including irrelevant experiences.

If a company is not known, then write in one line what the company does. This helps the recruiter and hiring manager get context.

A professional summary is good to have when you are more experienced, but consider adding it if you are an early professional.

Avoid writing the resume with ChatGPT. It is okay to use it for reference purposes but using the tool to write every line in the resume is a big red flag and can be easily spotted by a recruiter or hiring manager.

Avoid stuffing your resume with numbers just to stand out. Only write what you can justify in the interview round. Hiring managers are looking to work with genuine candidates, so avoid exaggerating.

Avoid having a long resume, stick to one page. Unless you are someone with 10+ years of resume, ensure you are sticking to the one-page length.

Nagga’s resume and how it has evolved over the years

If you are early in your career or looking to transition into a PM role, you must work on a portfolio.

Your Portfolio communicates to the recruiter and hiring manager that you have put in the work to gain the required PM skills and implement these skills to solve a real-world problem.

Your Portfolio shows high intent and that you’re willing to go the extra mile. This way, the hiring manager won’t have to worry about training you from scratch.

For early PM roles, hiring managers mandate a portfolio which acts as a filtering criteria when they shortlist candidates.

In many ways, you will be starting from scratch. So, a portfolio alone will not help, you will have to gain relevant transferable skills that you can use in a PM role.

PM requirements that changed this year

PM transition roadmap that works

Swiggy has experienced a 20% drop in daily orders over the past month. What steps would you take to identify and resolve this issue?

Swiggy: Food Instamart Dineout - Apps on Google Play

Take a moment to clear your mind and gather your thoughts. This helps ensure you're approaching the issue with a fresh perspective.

"Swiggy has experienced a 20% drop in daily orders over the past month."

Investigating internal & external factors

Determine what's really causing the issue.

Instagram is facing a decline in user-generated content in India. How would you investigate this issue?

Remember, preparation is key to success. With practice and confidence, you'll be well-equipped to tackle any RCA interview.

Don't be afraid to think outside the box and propose innovative solutions. Remember to tailor your responses to the specific context of the interview.

Problem diagnosis step by step

What is your favorite productivity product, and what makes it stand out to you?

Notion is a powerful all-in-one workspace that combines note-taking, task management, and databases.

The goal is to streamline productivity by integrating multiple tools into a single, cohesive platform, making it easier for users to organize and manage their work.

Users range from individuals managing personal projects to teams in startups and large enterprises looking for collaborative solutions.

Notion addresses the need to reduce app-switching, offering a customizable and integrated workspace that adapts to various workflows and preferences.

I love Notion because it brings everything I need into one place. Its flexibility allows me to organize my tasks, notes, and projects exactly how I want, making my workflow more efficient and enjoyable.

Competitors include Evernote, Trello, Asana, Microsoft OneNote, and Coda.

What do they lack that your favorite product has?

Many competitors lack the same level of customization and integration. Notion's ability to combine databases, notes, and tasks into one cohesive system is unmatched, and its user-friendly interface makes it accessible to both beginners and advanced users.

Improve offline functionality to ensure seamless access without internet connectivity. Enhance mobile app performance for a smoother experience.

Measure by tracking user feedback, engagement during offline periods, and monitoring app performance metrics.

Consider potential complexity for new users, data security concerns, and maintaining performance with increased features.