Meta Product Sense: Decide on and Design an Offering for Pet Owners

You are a product manager at Meta, and the question on the table is whether Meta should create a product for people who own pets. Make the call, and if you decide Meta should build something, describe the product and explain how you would approach designing it. ### Clarifying Questions - Does "a product" mean a standalone app, or can it be a set of features inside Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp or Messenger? - Is the main goal engagement, a new source of revenue, or the community mission, or is choosing the goal part of my task? - Should I design for one launch market or for pet owners everywhere Meta operates? ### Part 1 — Decide whether to build Argue for or against Meta building something for pet owners. Base the call on Meta's mission, what pet owners already do on Meta's apps, and where Meta is stronger or weaker than services that already focus on pets. ```hint Start from existing behavior Look at what pet owners already do on Meta's apps and which of those activities the apps handle badly; whether that gap is large, and one Meta is unusually placed to close, is the heart of the decision. ``` #### What This Part Should Cover - A clear decision and the criteria used to reach it - Evidence of current pet-owner behavior on Meta's apps and the unmet needs behind it - Meta's advantages and risks compared with specialized pet services - The form the product would take, standalone or inside existing apps, and why ### Part 2 — Describe the product and the design approach If you decided Meta should build, describe the product and walk through your design approach: the pet owners you would target, their pain points, the solutions you would build first, and how you would measure success. ```hint Choose one moment Pet ownership spans adopting, daily care, finding services and emergencies. Pick the segment and moment where Meta's reach gives it an edge no specialist has, and design for that first. ``` #### What This Part Should Cover - Segmentation of pet owners and a justified focus - Ranked pain points and a prioritized solution with a clear first version - A north-star metric and guardrails that fit Meta's apps ### What a Strong Answer Covers - A decision that follows from stated criteria rather than from enthusiasm about pets - A product form that uses Meta's existing reach instead of starting a new network from zero, or a reasoned case for doing otherwise - Solutions tied to specific pain points of the chosen segment - Risks particular to this product, such as scams, policies on animal sales, location privacy and notification fatigue ### Follow-up Questions - Meta has closed several standalone apps over the years. What evidence would make you build this as a standalone app anyway? - How would you make money from this without damaging trust in the community? - How would you keep scammers and people trying to sell animals out of the product?