This book provides valuable insights, strategies, and practical tips to help candidates navigate the product management interview process. It covers various aspects such as the variation of the 'PM' role across companies, necessary experiences, how to translate existing experience, and how to master different types of interview questions including estimation, behavioral, case, product, technical questions, and the 'pitch'. The book is designed to help candidates prepare effectively for product management interviews in startups and larger tech companies.
This book provides essential skills and frameworks for product managers to succeed in the technology industry. It covers topics such as product skills, execution skills, strategic skills, leadership skills, and career management. The authors offer practical advice and real-world examples to help readers become effective product managers and drive successful product launches.
Everyone thinks they know how to prepare for a PM interview until the interviewer baffles you with a twisted question.
Gayle McDowell, the author of Cracking the PM Interview and the architect behind hiring processes at top tech companies, breaks down exactly how to ace behavioral and case interviews.
By the end of this episode, I’m confident you’ll know why most candidates fail PM interviews and exactly what to do instead.
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Brought to you by:
Maven: I’ve just launched my unique curation of their top courses
GibsonAI: Your AI Database Engineer
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In this episode:
Preview - 00:00:00
Hierarchy of Practicing for Interviews - 00:01:41
Ad Break - 00:05:29
Understanding How Your Words Are Interpreted - 00:07:34
Recognizing the Assumptions People Make About You - 00:11:04
The Correct Way to Answer "What's Your Weakness?" - 00:15:16
How to Answer "Tell Me About Yourself" - 00:19:04
Practicing Responses for "What's Your Biggest Weakness?" - 00:27:06
Ad Break - 00:32:41
How to Answer "Why Do You Want to Work Here?" - 00:35:21
Approach to Answering Behavioral Questions - 00:38:39
Handling Product Design Case Interviews - 00:43:04
Handling Execution Case Interviews - 00:50:05
How to Land Interviews in 2025 - 00:56:59
Optimizing Your Resume - 01:03:00
Gayle’s Future Goals - 01:06:14
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Email productgrowthppp at gmail.com to discuss advertising or guest opportunities.
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I hope you enjoyed the last episode, where I shared 11 key lessons from 50 podcast episodes and answered a bunch of your questions. Up next, we have episodes with:
Satish Mummareddy - L7 PM at Meta (Fmr)
Ethan Evans - Fmr VP, Amazon
Tal Raviv - Gen AI PM, Early Patreon, Riverside
I’m so excited to share them with all of you.
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit
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Product Growth Podcast 
