Decide on vegan-burger R&D investment
Overview
This question evaluates quantitative business-case construction, including market sizing (TAM/SAM/SOM), unit economics and financial modeling, risk assessment and option valuation, plus experimental-design skills within the Analytics & Experimentation domain for a Data Scientist role.
Capital One
Oct 13, 2025, 9:49 PM
Data Scientist
Technical Screen
Analytics & Experimentation
0
0
Investment Decision: Vegan Burger R&D and Launch Business Case
You are evaluating whether to invest now in R&D to develop and launch a plant-based (vegan) burger. Build a quantified business case and an experimentation plan to inform the go/no-go decision.
Deliverables
- Recommendation: Invest now or defer? State your decision and rationale.
-
Size of prize:
- Define and quantify TAM, SAM, and SOM over a 3-year horizon.
-
Unit economics:
- Expected price, net revenue, variable costs, and contribution margin.
-
Fixed costs and recovery timeline:
- R&D, tooling/capex, marketing, SG&A. Estimate break-even timing and NPV/IRR.
-
Risks and mitigations:
- Supply, operations, and brand risks, with concrete mitigations.
-
Option value:
- Learning benefits and future line-extension potential.
-
Test-and-learn plan:
- MVP spec, pilot markets/channels, experimental design, KPIs, guardrails.
-
Clear criteria:
- Kill, pivot, and scale thresholds.
Make minimal, explicit assumptions and show your math. Where exact data is unavailable, state reasonable ranges and perform sensitivity analysis.
Solution
Login required
Show