Ather Energy Product Analyst Interview: Rounds, Questions and Preparation

What the job involves

Product Analysts at Indian unicorns and high-growth startups like Ather Energy work at the intersection of data, product, and business. They track user behaviour, run experiments, build dashboards, and translate insights into product decisions. Day to day you might query databases, define metrics, analyse funnels, and present findings to product and engineering teams.

Role and Technical Knowledge

1. 1

   What is a funnel analysis and how would you use it for an electric vehicle charging app?

   Explain the stages from app open to charging session start. Highlight drop-off points and how you would prioritise fixes.

2. 2

   How would you measure the success of a new feature that shows real-time battery range on a scooter dashboard?

   Define a primary metric like daily active users of the feature, and guardrail metrics like app crashes or user complaints. Mention A/B testing if possible.

3. 3

   Explain the difference between correlation and causation with an example from a ride-hailing or EV charging context.

   Use an example like more app opens on weekends and higher charging sessions. Show you would check for confounders before concluding.

4. 4

   Write a SQL query to find the top 5 cities by number of charging sessions in the last 30 days.

   Use GROUP BY city, COUNT sessions, WHERE date filter, ORDER BY count DESC, LIMIT 5. Mention handling of null city values.

Practical Scenarios

1. 5

   You notice that daily active users on a charging app dropped by 15 percent week over week. How would you investigate?

   Break down by platform, city, user cohort, and time of day. Check for app releases, server issues, or external events like holidays.

2. 6

   A product manager asks you to design a dashboard for the operations team to monitor charging station health. What metrics would you include?

   Include uptime percentage, average session duration, error rate, revenue per station, and real-time queue length. Mention refresh frequency and alert thresholds.

3. 7

   How would you decide whether to launch a new subscription plan for premium charging features?

   Define success metrics like conversion rate, churn, and average revenue per user. Suggest a pilot in one city and a controlled experiment before full launch.

4. 8

   You have limited time to analyse user feedback. How would you prioritise which complaints to address first?

   Segment by frequency, severity, and impact on core user journeys. Use a simple scoring framework and align with business goals.

Guesstimates and Product Sense

1. 9

   Estimate the number of electric two-wheeler charging sessions per day in Bengaluru.

   Break down by number of EV two-wheelers, average daily commute distance, battery range, and likelihood of public charging. State assumptions clearly.

2. 10

   How would you improve the user onboarding experience for a new EV owner using a companion app?

   Map the first-time user journey, identify friction points like pairing the scooter or setting up charging. Suggest small experiments to test improvements.

3. 11

   If you could add one feature to an EV charging app to increase retention, what would it be and why?

   Pick a feature like personalised charging reminders or gamified rewards. Explain how it addresses a user pain point and how you would measure retention lift.

Behavioural and HR

1. 12

   Tell me about a time you used data to solve a problem in a college project or internship.

   Use the STAR method. Focus on the data you collected, the analysis you did, and the outcome. Keep it concise and relevant to product analytics.

2. 13

   Why do you want to work as a Product Analyst at a high-growth startup like Ather Energy?

   Show passion for EVs and data-driven decisions. Mention the fast pace, ownership, and learning opportunities. Avoid generic answers about 'good company culture'.

3. 14

   Describe a situation where you had to explain a complex analysis to a non-technical person.

   Highlight how you simplified the insight, used visuals, and focused on the 'so what'. Show empathy for the audience.

4. 15

   How do you handle feedback or a mistake in your analysis?

   Be honest about a past error, show you took ownership, corrected it, and put a process in place to avoid repeats. Emphasise a learning mindset.