Are market sizing questions a type of guesstimate? Like how many laptops are sold in the US every year? How many fish are in the oceans? etc.? Are those guesstimates?
Get Active in Our Amazing Community of Over 451,000 Peers!
Schedule mock interviews on the Meeting Board, join the latest community discussions in our Consulting Q&A and find like-minded Case Partners to connect and practice with!
What are guesstimate questions exactly?
Overview of answers
Upvotes
Best answer
Hi,
I've seen that some books using the word "guesstimates" for market sizing, for brainteasers and for the mix of both (weight of the Boeing). In reality what matters is that there are 2 types of questions:
- Market sizing - In most of the cases market sizing can be a part of the bigger case, but sometimes they give it as a separate case. You need to spend some time practicing various market sizing types.
- Brainteasers - There is no dedicated part of the interview for brainteasers and to be honest they are quite rare. Although the interviewer might want to ask you a brainteaser question either before or after the case. To prepare you simply read the 2-3 most popular books with the brainteasers (Are you smart enough to work at Google?, How would you move mount Fuji?).
Best
Was this answer helpful?
There are two main types of market sizing questions: the complex ones, which require many assumptions, bottom up. These will be precisely wrong, fine.
The other type are very high level, think a couple of top down assumptions, roughly right. This is what "guesstimate" would be, also called "back of the envelope" or "baby math". FWIW, I've seen a former boss, (ex-McK, CFO) successfully run a $5B company using only baby math. The idea here is to get to the essence of the problem, without getting lost in the noise. Very powerful stuff.
Was this answer helpful?
Related Cases
Company case by Oliver Wyman
Style:
Your client, large automotive OEM WyCar, has developed its first fully electric vehicle (EV) and introduced it as a pilot on the Austrian market last year. However, sales have been far below the expected numbers. The management has engaged you to support them in understanding the reasons and advise
...
Your client, large automotive OEM WyCar, has developed its first fully electric vehicle (EV) and introduced it as a pilot on the Austrian market last year. However, sales have been far below
...
(Open whole case)
121.5k
Times solved
Intermediate
Difficulty
Company case by Bain & Company
Style:
You have inherited the “Old Winery” from your grandfather, a winery that has been family-owned for five generations and can be dated back to the 16th century.Half of the eleven hectares are used to grow white grapes, the other half to grow red grapes. They are grown in a conventional way, i.e. they
...
You have inherited the “Old Winery” from your grandfather, a winery that has been family-owned for five generations and can be dated back to the 16th century.Half of the eleven hectares are
...
(Open whole case)
118.3k
Times solved
Intermediate
Difficulty
Company case by Roland Berger
Style:
Onlinestar, an online retailer of furniture and garden products (core business), has grown significantly in recent years as a result of an expansion of its product portfolio. The company mainly imports goods from Chinese manufacturers but also operates its own production of cat lavatories (special b
...
Onlinestar, an online retailer of furniture and garden products (core business), has grown significantly in recent years as a result of an expansion of its product portfolio. The company mai
...
(Open whole case)
92.4k
Times solved
Intermediate
Difficulty
Company case by RWE Consulting
RWE is an international renewables company with a proud heritage of more than 125 years in the energy business. Recently, during the Capital Markets Day in 2023, RWE’s CEO renewed the company’s 2030 vision of being a global leader in green energy. To achieve this, additional substantial investments
...
RWE is an international renewables company with a proud heritage of more than 125 years in the energy business. Recently, during the Capital Markets Day in 2023, RWE’s CEO renewed the compan
...
(Open whole case)
16.3k
Times solved
Intermediate
Difficulty
Company case by E.ON Inhouse Consulting
Climate change has become one of the biggest challenges in the 21st century, and with roughly 75% of all CO₂ emissions coming from energy, this sector plays a key role in the transition to a reduced carbon footprint. E.ON has taken up on the challenge to promote more sustainable and efficient energy
...
Climate change has become one of the biggest challenges in the 21st century, and with roughly 75% of all CO₂ emissions coming from energy, this sector plays a key role in the transition to a
...
(Open whole case)
5.1k
Times solved
Intermediate
Difficulty
McKinsey / Accenture Alum / Got all BIG3 offers / Harvard Business School
429
Meetings
12,236
Q&A Upvotes
127
Awards
186 Reviews
