← SoundCloud Interview Insights

SoundCloud·Product Manager·Onsite - Product Sense / Strategy·Senior

SeniorPrefer not to say
May 2026

Summary

Interviewed at SoundCloud for what felt like a product role, got hit with a pretty open-ended community building question and had to wing it more than I'd like to admit.

Questions Asked (1)

Q1

How would you go about building a community around music discovery?

Product Sense & IdeationProduct StrategyGo-to-Market (GTM)
Author's notes

I went straight to features, which in hindsight was the wrong move.

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AI HintsAI Generated

Suggested Approach

Start by clarifying what 'community around music discovery' means for SoundCloud—likely a space where users share, discuss, and discover music together. Then structure your answer around a user-centric framework: define the target users and their needs, design community features that drive discovery, and outline a GTM plan to seed and scale the community.

Pro tip: Emphasize that community should amplify SoundCloud's unique value: its diverse catalog and creator-first ethos. Avoid generic social features; instead, tie every idea back to how it helps users discover new music and supports artists.

1. Define Objectives & Target Users

Clarify the goal: increase music discovery, engagement, and retention. Identify key user segments (e.g., casual listeners, superfans, artists) and their discovery pain points.

2. Design Community Features

Propose features that foster community-driven discovery, such as collaborative playlists, listening rooms, artist AMAs, and user-curated collections. Ensure they integrate with SoundCloud's existing player and social graph.

3. Seed & Grow the Community

Outline a GTM plan: partner with influential artists and curators, run discovery challenges, and leverage existing user behaviors (likes, reposts) to bootstrap engagement.

4. Measure & Iterate

Define success metrics (e.g., discovery rate, community engagement, retention) and establish feedback loops to refine features based on user behavior.

Key Points to Mention

  • Leverage SoundCloud's unique strengths: vast underground catalog, creator tools, and existing social features like reposts and comments.
  • Focus on reducing discovery friction: help users find music tailored to their taste through community recommendations.
  • Incentivize participation: reward users and artists for contributing to discovery (e.g., badges, analytics, monetization opportunities).
  • Ensure moderation and quality control to prevent spam and maintain a positive community vibe.
  • Integrate with existing SoundCloud ecosystem: mobile app, web, and creator dashboard for seamless experience.
  • Consider network effects: design features that become more valuable as more users join (e.g., collaborative filtering).

AI-generated suggestions, not part of the candidate's original notes. May be inaccurate — verify before relying on them.