cult.fit Pandemic Survival Plan: Tripling Cash Runway Through Cost and Revenue Levers
Company: CasaOne
Role: Product Manager
Category: Product / Decision Making
Difficulty: medium
Interview Round: Other
cult.fit is a fitness company in India best known for its group workout centers. The COVID-19 pandemic has hit the business hard, and at its current rate of spending the company has six months of runway left. Leadership asks you to extend the runway to 18 months. How would you do it?
```hint Size the gap before choosing levers
Write runway in terms of cash on hand and net monthly burn, then work out what tripling it would require before you list any initiative.
```
### Clarifying Questions
- Are the centers closed by government order, open with limits, or open but empty because members stay away, and how long is that expected to last?
- What drives the monthly burn today: center rent, trainer and staff pay, marketing, technology? Which of those commitments can be renegotiated or ended?
- Besides center memberships, which revenue lines does the business have, such as online classes, and how are they performing?
- Is new funding (equity or debt) on the table, or must the 18 months come from the cash already in the bank?
### What a Strong Answer Covers
- The arithmetic behind the goal: what mix of lower burn and new cash turns six months into 18, and how the speed of execution changes it
- A breakdown of the cost base and the cuts, deferrals and renegotiations with the largest effect, weighed against their long-term cost
- Revenue moves that work while centers are closed or restricted, and how prepaid memberships and refund requests are handled
- A phased, prioritized plan with triggers for deeper action and metrics that show whether the runway is on track
- Risks to members, trainers and the brand, and keeping the business able to recover when centers reopen
### Follow-up Questions
- Members paid upfront for memberships they cannot use. Would you refund, extend or convert them, and what does each option do to cash?
- If you could pull only cost levers or only revenue levers, which would you choose to reach 18 months, and why?
- Restrictions ease after nine months. How does your plan let the business bring its centers back quickly?
Overview: A product strategy and execution question about cult.fit, a fitness business whose cash will last only six months after the COVID-19 pandemic hit its centers. It asks how to extend the runway to 18 months and tests burn and cash arithmetic, prioritizing cost and revenue levers, and protecting the ability to recover.