Build a Buy-or-Pass Recommendation on Google Acquiring Robot-Vacuum Maker iRobot
Company: Google
Role: Product Manager
Category: Product Design & Strategy
Difficulty: medium
Interview Round: Other
The interviewer asks you, as a product manager, for a strategic recommendation: should Google acquire iRobot, the consumer robotics company best known for its Roomba robot vacuums? Take a clear position, buy or do not buy, and walk through the reasoning that gets you there.
```hint Value beyond the price tag
Separate what Google could get only by owning iRobot from what it could get by partnering with it or building on its own. Then think about what running a hardware business would cost Google beyond the purchase price.
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### Clarifying Questions
- Is a purchase price on the table, or should the recommendation hold across a range of prices?
- What is prompting the question: a push to grow Google's home hardware, a response to a rival's smart-home moves, or an approach from iRobot itself?
- Should the analysis cover only robots for consumers' homes, or also commercial cleaning and other uses of robots that map indoor spaces?
- Over what time horizon is the deal expected to pay off?
### What a Strong Answer Covers
- An accurate short picture of iRobot (products, business model, competition) and of what Google already offers in the home through its Nest devices, the Google Home app and Assistant.
- The usual acquisition rationales (market entry, technology and talent, data, distribution, keeping it from a rival), each tested against evidence rather than simply listed.
- Rough sizing of the robot-cleaning opportunity compared with Google's scale.
- Buy, build, partner and stay out compared as real alternatives, including hardware margins and operations, antitrust scrutiny, and privacy concerns about in-home maps.
- A firm recommendation and the specific conditions that would reverse it.
### Follow-up Questions
- Suppose Google's main smart-home rival announced a deal to buy iRobot. Does that change your answer, and why?
- If leadership decides to buy anyway, what would you do with the product line in the first year after closing?
- How would you answer users and regulators who worry about a robot that maps the inside of their homes?
Overview: A product strategy case asking whether Google should acquire iRobot, the robot-vacuum maker, and why. It tests how a product manager weighs acquisition rationales, market size relative to Google's scale, hardware, antitrust and privacy risks, and buy-versus-partner alternatives before committing to a recommendation.