PM Interview Case Challenge | Can You Clear the PM Hiring Bar?

Education Partner

Can You Clear the PM Hiring Bar?

Knowing product frameworks is one thing. Applying them to an ambiguous business problem – under time pressure and with real-world constraints – is another.

Can You Clear the PM Hiring Bar? is an interactive Product Leaders Forum workshop designed for aspiring Product Managers and professionals transitioning into product roles.

Participants will work in teams on a real-world food-delivery retention challenge. They will need to analyse the problem, identify the right customer segments, uncover root causes, prioritise solutions, and balance customer outcomes with business constraints.

Rather than a traditional lecture, the session simulates the type of structured thinking expected during a PM interview case assignment.

Teams will create a concise 5-slide executive recommendation. Selected teams will present their approach to a jury of experienced Product Leaders, who will critique the solutions from a hiring-manager perspective and explain what differentiates a strong PM response from an average one.

What participants can expect

Jury’s for Case Challenge Evaluation 2026

Ramakrishnan Iyappan

Vice President of Technology

Accenture

Ramakrishna Iyappan is the Vice President of Technology at Accenture India, with 27 years of experience spanning digital transformation, business strategy, and product innovation.He heads a Digital Transformation and Intelligent Automation practice, enabling organizations to achieve measurable efficiency gains, cost savings, and business growth through scalable automation.

His technology expertise includes automation, e-security, software engineering, and enterprise digital platforms. An MS in IT and Executive MBA in the Institute of Product Leadership holder, he brings strong engineering and business acumen, backed by PMP and TOGAF certifications.

Vellanki Sriharsha

AI Product Manager

IgniteTech

Vellanki Sriharsha is a Product & AI leader driving Business Process Reimagination in the AI era. He currently leads the Khoros Aurora AI stack powering enterprise communities, and is the architect behind an AI Copilot for warehouse operations built for Unilever’s WMS, that turns dashboards from visual clutter into decision engines.

With product leadership across Zee, VakilSearch, and BlackBuck, and digital transformation work for Asian Paints, DHL, and Bajaj Auto, he’s seen both eras up close and knows what separates incremental optimization from true reimagination. A vocal advocate for the “full-stack professional” mindset, he’s trained 100+ professionals across cohorts and workshops to build with AI, not just talk about it.

Who should attend

Aspiring Product Managers, professionals transitioning into Product Management, and early-career PMs looking to sharpen case-solving and structured-thinking skills.

Duration

90-120 minutes

Participant Case Challenge

Food Delivery Retention Challenge

Context & Problem Statement

You are part of the product team at a leading food-delivery platform.

The company has been successfully acquiring new users through marketing campaigns and attractive first-order discounts. However, a significant number of customers do not return after their first order.

The business wants to improve first-to-second-order retention, but there is an important constraint: you cannot solve the problem simply by offering more blanket discounts.

Baseline data provided to participants

Signal	What you know
Retention drop-off	First-to-second-order retention drops by 65% within the first week.
Customer support signal	40% of first-time user support tickets relate directly to cold or delayed food.
Marketing view	Marketing believes stronger discounts could help reactivate customers.
Finance constraint	Finance reports that discounts are hurting contribution margins.
Operations signal	Delivery reliability varies significantly across geographical zones.

Your challenge

As the Product Manager, recommend how the company should improve second-order retention while protecting contribution margins.

What is really causing customers not to return?
Are all churned customers the same, or should they be segmented differently?
What additional data or insights would you investigate before deciding on a solution?
What 2-3 interventions would you prioritise?
How would you measure whether your approach is working?

Deliverable

Prepare a maximum 5-slide executive deck summarising your recommendation.

Selected teams will get 5 minutes to present their solution to the Product Leader jury.

Ready to Prove Your Product Thinking?

Limited seats | Demonstration-focused event

Affiliations, Accreditation & Eco-System Partners

For any queries, reach out at engage@productleadersforum.org