Product Sense: A Home-Trading Product for Travelers, From Trust to Matching
Company: Meta
Role: Product Manager
Category: Product Design & Strategy
Difficulty: medium
Interview Round: Other
Design a product that lets people trade homes with one another while they travel.
```hint Every member is both sides
In a swap each household is a guest in one home and the host of another, often on the same dates. Ask what has to be true for two strangers to hand over their keys, and what makes two members' travel plans line up.
```
### Clarifying Questions
- Is this a standalone app or a feature inside Meta's apps, such as Facebook, and is the goal engagement, revenue or something else?
- Must swaps be simultaneous, with two households trading homes for the same dates, or can a member host now and travel later?
- Which trips are in scope: vacations, longer stays such as remote-work months, or both, and domestic or international?
- Does any money change hands between members, or are swaps meant to be free?
### What a Strong Answer Covers
- How the two-sided role of every member shapes the user segments and the matching problem.
- Trust and safety between strangers: verification, the condition of the home, belongings, and what happens when something goes wrong.
- A prioritized first version that solves the cold-start and matching problem in a focused market before expanding.
- Success metrics built on completed swaps, with guardrails for incidents and cancellations.
- Risks such as lease terms, local housing rules, insurance, and competition from rental and home-exchange services.
### Follow-up Questions
- Two members agree to swap, then one cancels a week before the trip. What should the product do?
- How would you get the first homes listed in a new city?
- How would you make money without ruining the feeling that swapping is free?
Overview: Product design question about a product that lets travelers swap homes with each other. It tests handling members who are both host and guest, trust and safety between strangers, the matching and cold-start problem, a focused launch plan, and success metrics with safety and cancellation guardrails.