Hey hey,
We are back with the fourth edition of the Think Like a PM series.
Last time, we explored how Urban Company is shaking up the domestic help industry in India. Some great discussions happened in the comments, don’t miss them.
Today, let’s talk about something we have all experienced:
YouTube ads—Annoying, unskippable, and yet… increasing
You know YouTube, right? And those ads that pop up in videos?
Now, imagine you're a YouTube product manager. You're the one deciding how many ads to show, when they show up, and where they go.
You’re obviously making hard decisions. Decisions that impact the user experience and help Youtube make revenue.
Share this post with someone in your circle who also feels the same about YouTube Ads.
So here are the questions I want you to answer.
But before that…
Here Is What We Know:
YouTube’s core revenue comes from ads. More ads = more money.
YouTube offers a Premium plan, that removes ads.
Youtube displays different types of ads—some are 30 seconds, some are longer, some can be skipped, some can’t.
Think Like a PM:
As the Youtube Ads PM, how would you decide how many ads to show? What are the different things you will take into consideration?
If you could re-design the entire ad experience, what would you do? What would the ad look like? When would it show up? What would be the experience? How would you make those decisions?
Drop your thoughts in the comments. Let’s discuss.
Shoutouts!
I loved ’s thoughts on last week’s posts. He brought out very important, but nuanced points in the entire Insta-Maid model that Urban Company is trialing as we speak.
Do check out his comment here.
Thoughts From The JAPM Team
Organizing domestic help at scale is tough. It’s not like food delivery. This isn’t a standard service. Needs vary. So does everyone’s measure of quality.
The service fits people without full-time help—working couples, single parents, the elderly, folks living alone. But most middle-class families already have part-time or full-time help. They may not need this at all. While a market exists, it might be a small subset of the larger customer personas.
For workers, income is unstable. Full-time jobs offer steady pay. In the case of insta-maids, their earnings depends on bookings. And if they don’t get enough, they might not be motivated to stay with the platform. Which might lead to churn. Or, even worse, it might lead domestic workers trying to bypass the platform and deal directly with the customers.
Trust is a dealbreaker. Most people won’t open their doors to strangers on short notice. Background checks and visible worker ratings must be non-negotiable from day one.
₹49 per hour is too low. It’s not fair to workers and won’t attract quality. Prices will have to go up. That means this will likely be a premium service—not for everyone. And that will make the target market even smaller. Because the people who afford such services already have some arrangement going.
Domestic help runs on trust. Built over time, through referrals and relationships. This model breaks that. There’s no relationship here. So, trust—and adoption—will take time.
The idea sounds simple. Execution is the beast. Without strong operations, worker protections, and customer safety protocols, the model will fail.
To make this work, helpers must be vetted deeply, trained well, and paid fairly. Customers must see them as reliable and safe. That’s the only way to build long-term trust—and scale.
With that said, see you in the comments.—Sid