Build a Two-Sided Booking Marketplace Between Local Salons and Their Customers
Company: Google
Role: Product Manager
Category: Product Design & Strategy
Difficulty: medium
Interview Round: Other
You are the product manager for a new mobile app that works as a marketplace between salon owners and consumers in the same area: salons offer their services through it, and people nearby use it to find a salon that suits them. Design the product, including who you would serve first, what the first version would do, and how you would measure success.
```hint Two sides, empty at first
A marketplace has no value to customers until salons are on it, and none to salons until customers are. Decide which side you win first, and what that side gets from the app before the other side arrives.
```
### Clarifying Questions
- Is this a new startup, or a feature of an existing local-search or maps product that already has users?
- Which salon services are in scope, such as hair, barbering, nails or skin care?
- How far does "nearby" reach, and do we launch in one city or several at once?
- Should the first version already make money, and if so from salons, from customers or from both?
### What a Strong Answer Covers
- Both sides treated as users, with segments and pain points for salon owners and for customers, and a reasoned choice of whom to serve first.
- A plan for the cold-start problem: which side and which area to build first, and why that side would join.
- A focused first version built around one core loop from discovery to a completed visit, with features prioritized by value and effort.
- Marketplace risks specific to salons: no-shows, untrustworthy reviews, and customers and salons arranging repeat visits outside the app.
- A north-star metric that reflects matched supply and demand, with supporting metrics for each side and guardrails.
### Follow-up Questions
- Three months in, most repeat customers book their stylist directly by phone. What do you change?
- Salons in one district complain that search results favor a few popular shops. How would you rank results fairly?
- What evidence would tell you the first city is ready and it is time to expand to a second?
Overview: A product design case about building a mobile marketplace that connects neighborhood salons with nearby consumers. It tests two-sided marketplace thinking: serving salon owners and customers, solving the cold-start problem, scoping a first version, keeping repeat bookings in the app, and choosing liquidity metrics.