Product Strategy for Launching an Advertising Business at Robinhood

You are a product manager at Robinhood. Walk through how you would design and launch an advertising platform for the company. ```hint Start with who pays Work out which kinds of advertisers would gain from reaching Robinhood's customers, and which of them those customers would welcome inside a money app, before deciding on formats or placements. ``` ### Clarifying Questions - Has the company already decided to sell ads, or should I first argue whether it should? - Do you mean selling placements to outside advertisers inside Robinhood's products, or a platform for promoting Robinhood's own products to its customers? - Should ads reach every customer, or could paying Gold subscribers be treated differently? - Are ads that promote specific securities or crypto in scope, or only other products and services? ### What a Strong Answer Covers - The goal, and whether advertising fits a brand built on trust with people's money - A chosen advertiser segment and set of placements, weighed against alternatives - How ads are selected, targeted and measured without exposing customers' financial data - Success metrics for revenue, advertisers and customer experience, with guardrails - Securities, privacy and fair-lending risks specific to advertising inside a brokerage ### Follow-up Questions - A public company offers to pay for a prominent placement promoting its own stock. How do you respond, and what policy would you write? - Early data shows that customers who see ads trade slightly less. How would you decide whether to continue? - How would you let advertisers measure results without revealing which customers saw or clicked an ad?