LinkedIn Monetization: Pitch One New Product Feature and Its Business Case
Company: LinkedIn
Role: Product Manager
Category: Product Design & Strategy
Difficulty: medium
Interview Round: Other
You are a product manager at LinkedIn. Which new feature would you add to the product to increase LinkedIn's revenue? Pick one, explain who it serves and why it would bring in money, and describe how you would know it is working.
```hint Follow the money first
Start from how LinkedIn earns money today and who pays in each case. A revenue feature is strongest when it solves a problem a paying group already feels, and when LinkedIn's network or data gives it an edge no competitor has.
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### Clarifying Questions
- Is the target near-term revenue within the next year or so, or long-term revenue, and is there an engagement or member-trust metric the feature must not hurt?
- Should the feature grow an existing revenue line (hiring products, ads, subscriptions, sales tools, learning), or may it open a new one?
- Who may the feature be for: individual members, or companies such as recruiters, marketers and sales teams?
- Are there limits on how member data can be used, for example in regions with strict privacy rules?
### What a Strong Answer Covers
- An accurate map of LinkedIn's revenue lines and who pays in each.
- A chosen customer segment with an unmet need and a reason to believe it will pay.
- A specific feature with a clear monetization mechanism, and why LinkedIn in particular can win with it.
- The effect on free members and on the other side of the network, not just on the payer.
- A primary revenue metric that nets out cannibalization, leading indicators, guardrails and a way to test it.
### Follow-up Questions
- How would you price the feature, and how would you test different prices?
- Paid adoption goes up, but members report more unwanted messages. What do you do?
- How would you tell whether the new revenue is incremental or just shifted from products LinkedIn already sells?
Overview: A product sense prompt asking which new feature would grow LinkedIn's revenue. It tests understanding how LinkedIn makes money and who pays, choosing an underserved paying segment, designing a feature with a clear monetization model, and measuring incremental revenue without harming members.