Coinbase's APM Interview Process

How to nail the updated interview process from a current APM, Amy!

I’m Amy and I joined Coinbase’s second APM cohort this past August! Over the past few months, a lot of people have reached out to ask about my recruiting experience. So, I figured this would be a good opportunity to share Coinbase’s interview process, some tips, and key resources I used that will hopefully help with your PM job hunt.

Homework Assignment

I got this assignment around a month after submitting my application. It consisted of three short answer questions on my background and interest in Coinbase, my favorite Coinbase product, and a teamwork experience.

Generally, I talked about my background growing up in Thailand, how that shaped my aspirations to create more economic freedom in the world, and connected it back to my excitement about Coinbase’s mission. For the favorite Coinbase product question, I chose Earn and mentioned how I like that it helps break down the barrier to wider crypto adoption and incentivizes people to learn about the space. There’s no correct choice of product here — just make sure to have good reasoning and ideas for improvement.

Interview Round 1: Product Vision + Product Execution (2 x 30 mins)

The first round was made up of a product vision and a product execution interview.

Product Vision

In this round, I was asked about my favorite product, key metrics I would track, and some improvement ideas. This was one of the most straightforward rounds in my Coinbase interview experience.

I talked about Duolingo, gave a brief overview of the product and why I liked it, and listed a few key metrics. For improvement ideas, I started with high-level goals and the current state of the product, then dove into user segments and pain points before brainstorming some solutions. We ended the interview by discussing tradeoffs and success metrics for this new improvement.

Product Execution

In the second portion, I got asked how I would define and prioritize a north star metric for Netflix’s homepage.

After asking a few clarifying questions to better understand the scope of the problem, I spent some time establishing a framework for my response. I started by talking about high-level goals, went over different user personas, and identified key metrics related to each group. Eventually, I prioritized and singled out a north star metric, evaluated tradeoffs, and ended by naming a few counter metrics. After some follow-up questions, my interviewer asked me how I would improve Netflix’s recommendation engine (so I did some product-design thinking in this round as well).

Overall, I had great conversations with both of my interviewers and was notified a few days later that I got moved to the next round.

Interview Round 2: Product Vision + Product Execution + Leadership and Values (3 x 30 mins)

The final round (supposedly for me since I had an extra one) was like the first round with an added leadership and values section.

Product Vision

This round was a little different from the typical product vision style interview. I got a strategy question on whether Coinbase should expand into a new country. Though this wasn’t what I was expecting from a product vision round, I tried my best to remain calm and again, asked a lot of clarifying questions to help frame my answer. After taking some time to organize my thoughts, I walked my interviewer through some key considerations for making this decision. This interview ended up being very conversational and my interviewer and I were constantly bouncing ideas around as we explored different hypothetical scenarios.

Although strategy questions are less common for entry-level PM interviews, it’s probably a good idea to spend some time practicing these. From talking to other people who also did the final round, I found that the product vision questions varied greatly. While some people got growth questions, others got more typical product vision questions that were crypto-focused.

Product Execution

For the next portion, I got asked to determine a north star metric for Coinbase’s sending and receiving experience. Though you certainly don’t need to be a crypto expert for Coinbase’s APM interviews, some experience using Coinbase or other crypto exchanges would certainly help. Here, I referenced my experience sending and receiving crypto on Bitkub and laid out a framework to help structure my answer. After identifying a few metrics, I eventually prioritized a north star before evaluating tradeoffs and counter metrics.

Like the previous round, my interviewer pushed me to think deeper with follow-up questions on prioritizing the number of on-chain transactions versus trading volume, which led to a great discussion. We also talked through a hypothetical scenario on technical tradeoffs before wrapping up the interview.

Leadership and Values

The last portion of this round consisted of behavioral questions focused on PM skills with an emphasis on Coinbase’s values. I got asked about my past experiences with teamwork, stakeholder alignment, mistakes and learnings, conflict management, and leadership, among others.

At the end of this virtual onsite round, I felt pretty confident about my product vision and product execution interviews but had mixed feelings about my leadership and values round. Unsurprisingly, my recruiter informed me a few days later that the team wanted to do an additional behavioral-focused interview. Even though I wasn’t done with the interview process just yet, my recruiter reassured me that this was a good sign.

Additional Round: Behavioral (30 mins)

My final round (for real now) was scheduled with a senior director of product. It was definitely nerve-wracking going into this interview, but I was also excited for the opportunity to talk to a product leader.

This interview turned out to be a mix of behavioral and metrics-driven questions. After some intros, my interviewer asked me about my past PM internship before diving into a metrics question on Facebook Marketplace. Although I was expecting mainly behavioral questions, the amount of practice I had with execution questions kept me grounded. We wrapped up this question relatively quickly, so my interviewer and I got to know each other a little better at the end.

The following week, my recruiter called me to pass on the good news!

General Advice

Coffee Chats

As someone who had a very small network in tech, this was one of the best things I did to break into the field so definitely take advantage of LinkedIn. I wouldn’t have been able to get here without all the awesome PMs I spoke to throughout my job search journey and can’t recommend this enough. 

Referrals

APM programs are extremely competitive, so getting a referral will definitely increase your chances of making it past the resume screen. Most of the time, I’ve been offered referrals during coffee chats without having to ask, but if you do, know that it’s totally normal to do this.

Books

I recommend skimming through Cracking the PM Interview and Decode and Conquer to familiarize yourself with how these interviews work. However, most of your time should be spent practicing! It’s easy to read the example answers in the books, but actually articulating your thoughts in front of an interviewer is a completely different story.

Watching mock interviews

In addition to books, one of the most helpful resources for me was mock interviews on Youtube. Some of my favorite channels are Exponent, PM Diego Granados, and Rocketblocks. Taking note of the different frameworks/structures and PM jargon used in these videos helped me a ton.

Practice

Practicing was the main way I was able to improve my interviewing skills. My #1 platform for finding mock partners is StellarPeers. This website is fantastic and completely free. Their no-show and late-cancellation penalty make this platform more effective than posting your calendly link on slack channels/other product groups. StellarPeers also has example answers and frameworks that can help inspire you to come up with your own. 

The first few mocks are going to be quite awful and frankly embarrassing (I believe my 10^th one was still pretty bad). But, you’ll eventually get the hang of it. I did 50+ mock interviews in total and this was way too much in hindsight. In general, I’d recommend practicing until you feel comfortable applying your own frameworks, speaking with structure, and answering follow-up questions. 

Do your research

In addition to researching the company, also prepare great questions for your interviewer! Show that you cared enough to research their background, career journey, and experiences. The Q&A section was probably my favorite part of these interviews. 

During the interview

Having structure is super important for showing your ability to think through problems methodically. With every interview, ask clarifying questions, break down the problem, lay out a framework, prioritize, and constantly check in with your interviewer to make sure you’re on the same page. Also, enthusiasm goes a long way and my #1 trick was to stay positive and upbeat, even when I was doubtful.

Desirable traits

I loved asking my interviewers what they look for in potential candidates and here’s a summary of the most frequently occurring desired traits for APMs: eagerness and excitement to learn, proactiveness, curiosity, structured thinking, and positivity. However you decide to do it, show these traits during the interview!

And that’s it for now! If you have any more questions or simply just want to chat, feel free to reach out via LinkedIn. Good luck and remember that things will work out :)