← All questions
Strategystandard
You have budget for one big growth bet next year: international expansion or a new product line. How do you decide?
How to approach it
Compare both on the same criteria: size of the prize, chance of success, cost and fit with what the company already does well.
How a strong answer opens
“I'd compare both bets on the same criteria: size of the prize, chance of success, cost, and fit with what we already do well.”
Outline of a strong answer
Try answering out loud for a few minutes before you open this.
- Agree on the goal and time horizon: revenue in two years, or a new growth engine for five
- Size each prize: reachable customers abroad versus demand from current customers for the new product
- Compare what each needs: local payments, language and regulation versus new engineering and sales skills
- Estimate cost and time to first meaningful revenue for each
- Compare how cheaply each can be tested first, such as one country or a beta with top customers
- Recommend one, with a six-month checkpoint and a rule for cutting losses
Where this question usually goes wrong
Picking the more exciting bet without comparing both on the same criteria or setting a point to cut losses.
Learn the method
Growth strategy and where to bet in Module 5, Product strategy.
The full kit has worked answers in full, start to finish, for every round type. $129 once.
More strategy questions
- How would you grow a B2B SaaS product from 1,000 to 10,000 paying customers?
- How would you decide which country a US food delivery app should expand to first?
- Name a company you think is making a strategic mistake right now. What would you do differently?
- Should Spotify start selling concert tickets directly?
- A streaming service lost subscribers after a price increase. Should it roll back the price?