Product Concept for Raising Museum Revenue: Segments, Prioritization and Metrics
Company: Google
Role: Product Manager
Category: Product Design & Strategy
Difficulty: medium
Interview Round: Other
You are a product manager with a short brief: build an app that helps a museum bring in more money. Decide who the app is for, what it does, how it earns, and how you would tell whether it is working.
```hint Follow the money
Before proposing features, list where a museum's income comes from today. Which of those streams could an app realistically grow, and who would be the one paying?
```
### Clarifying Questions
- Is the app for one particular museum, or a product that many museums could adopt, and who pays for it: the museum, its visitors, or both?
- Does "make money" mean growing earned income such as tickets, memberships and the shop, or does it include donations too, and is the museum a nonprofit trying to cover its costs rather than earn a profit?
- Is the museum open to visitors as usual, and does it already sell tickets online or run a website that the app would sit alongside?
- Should the app serve a particular audience, such as tourists, local families, school groups, enthusiasts, or people who may never visit in person?
### What a Strong Answer Covers
- A map of how a museum earns money today and a reasoned view of which of those streams an app can grow, given that many museums are mission-driven rather than profit-seeking.
- Both sides of the product: the museum as operator or buyer, and the visitor or remote audience as the person paying, with one segment chosen deliberately on revenue potential and reach.
- Solutions tied to that segment's pain points, prioritized by revenue impact, effort, and fit with the museum's mission and limited staff.
- Success metrics built on incremental revenue rather than downloads, with guardrails for visitor experience and cannibalization of existing sales.
- Practical risks such as getting the product into visitors' hands for a one-off visit, content production cost, on-site connectivity, and keeping access affordable.
### Follow-up Questions
- Most visitors come once and will not download an app for a single visit. How would you get your product into their hands?
- Six months after launch, revenue through the app is up but the museum's total revenue is flat. How would you investigate?
- How would your plan change if the museum had to close to in-person visitors for a year?
Overview: A product sense question asking a product manager to design an app that increases a museum's revenue. It tests understanding of how museums earn money, choosing between museum and visitor segments, prioritizing revenue-focused features, and defining success metrics with guardrails.