I applied online. I interviewed at Instacart in May 2017
Interview
No phone interview; Just an email to do a write-up on a project with two key asks. I asked some clarification on the questions, but didn't get any answers, even after 2 follow-ups on the questions. I ended up doing the write-up anyway, and stated my assumptions, as I understood, since I didn't get any clarifications. Spent some time doing research & analysis. I then sent the answer.
I didn't receive a single response back ! Not for the assignment, not on the job .. NOTHING ! So, I wasted a whole bunch of my time working on this project, and the didn't even have the professionalism to send me an email.
If they are so unprofessional to the interview candidates, I highly doubt what their company culture is like. I most likely dodged a bullet there.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
This was a challenge question for which I was asked to prepare a write-up & submit, before the interview: You’re the PM on a small cross- functional team at Instacart responsible for the Instacart mobile app our customers use. Our marketplace serves dense geographic areas in the US, but not all of them. Develop a consumer product that engages customers in markets where our current delivery product isn’t available now, and will not be available within the next 2 years either. Create a short document to share your vision for this product. Why should the company build this product? What high level features does it have? What does success look like? Explain your vision and how you will execute on it.
I applied online. I interviewed at Instacart (Toronto, ON) in Dec 2025
Interview
HR screening over the phone, Hiring manager 30 min interview with questions mostly about you and your experience, the Execution interview was then an hour live case study around defining metrics and then follow up questions to further define new metrics along the user journey and make decisions based on them
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Talk in detail about a product and how it came to be and the results
The first round is a product sense/execution round, generic to assess product capabilities. The second round is supposed to be final round across engineering, hiring manager, coworkers, etc. In the second round, you'll get a mix of product sense questions, collaboration/experience questions, and culture/values. No case studies thankfully. However, after my final round, the recuriter/hiring manager stalled for weeks, then asked me to do another interview...then said the role I interviewed for was no longer available, so I would have to do ANOTHER panel assessing with my product sense/capabilities and more time with the hiring manager. I pushed back because at this point I had spoken with the hiring manager 3-4 times. At the end of the day, they also suggested I interview for another role (same panel process), and then the recruiter ended up ghosting me when I wasn't selected for either role. Super bad candidate experience, they really make you jump through hoops and all in all aren't even respectful of YOUR time.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
you are the pm for pickup, how do you set goals for the team?
I have been in the industry for more than 6 years now and this was the WORST interview experience. In the produce sense interview, the interviewer was highly arrogant, dismissive, disrespectful and did not let me speak up. The interviewer was literally cutting me off in every sentence let alone host a decent conversation . Interviewer did not keep any open mind while working through the case study and expected me to know every detail about their product and solve case based on that which is not humanly possible for an outsider. I have never felt so agitated and anxious after an interview.
Even if somehow magically I would have cleared that interview, I would not have preferred joining the company solely based on my interview experience. I like Instacart as a company and I hope they make better choices on their interview panel.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Product sense question: How would you launch instacart for business.