Case interview word bank.

Turning a data point into an implication and a recommended action.

“The 'so what' is that this is a cost problem, not a revenue one — so that's where I'd focus.”

Whether a deal raises (accretive) or lowers (dilutive) the acquirer's earnings per share.

“Quick screen: is this accretive to EPS, and over what time horizon?”

Growing into related products, customers, or geographies that reuse today's capabilities.

“The lowest-risk growth is the nearest adjacency to today's core business.”

Non-ticket revenue — bags, seat selection, food, and loyalty programs.

“Ancillary revenue is the highest-margin growth lever before we touch base fares.”

Growth options across existing/new products and existing/new markets: penetration, product dev, market dev, diversification.

“I'd map the growth options on an Ansoff lens before defaulting to 'just sell more.'”

Average Revenue Per User — the core monetization metric for subscriber businesses.

“I'd decompose revenue into subscribers × ARPU and attack whichever is slipping.”

Annual or Monthly Recurring Revenue — the run-rate of subscription revenue.

“I'd work in ARR so growth and churn are on a clean recurring base.”

Total client assets a firm manages; fee revenue usually scales with it.

“Revenue here is basically AUM × fee rate — I'd decompose growth into flows versus market moves.”

Average spend per transaction — units per visit times price per unit.

“Is the issue traffic or basket size? I'd decompose revenue into visits × average basket.”

Win a narrow, defensible segment first, then expand into adjacent ones.

“I'd enter via a beachhead — one city or segment we can dominate — before scaling nationally.”

How fully beds or operating rooms are used — the core asset-efficiency lever in providers.

“Low OR utilization is high fixed cost going to waste — I'd attack scheduling first.”

The slowest step that caps total throughput; the first place to optimize.

“Throughput is set by the bottleneck — I'd find it before improving anything else.”

The three entry modes — organic build, acquisition, or alliance/JV — traded off on speed, capital, and capability.

“On entry mode, I'd weigh build vs. buy vs. partner against speed to market and our capability gaps.”

Selling services together — mobile, broadband, and TV — to raise ARPU and reduce churn.

“Bundling raises switching costs, so it can lift ARPU and cut churn at the same time.”

The months of gross margin needed to recoup the cost of acquiring a customer.

“A CAC payback under 12 months means we can afford to lean into acquisition.”

Output as a percentage of maximum capacity; low utilization spreads fixed cost thinly.

“At 60% utilization, fixed cost per unit is high — volume or footprint is the lever.”

Capital spend on network and spectrum as a share of revenue — structurally high in telecom.

“High capex intensity means returns hinge on utilization of the network we've already paid for.”

Share of low-cost current and savings deposits in total deposits; higher means cheaper funding.

“A weak CASA ratio raises funding cost and squeezes NIM — that's a lever worth pulling.”

Days to turn inventory and receivables into cash, minus payables (DIO + DSO − DPO).

“Freeing cash from the conversion cycle could fund this without new capital.”

The percentage of customers (logo churn) or revenue (gross churn) lost in a period.

“I'd separate logo churn from revenue churn — losing small accounts is very different from losing whales.”

Phase I-III testing for safety and efficacy before approval; each stage carries attrition risk.

“I'd risk-adjust the pipeline by trial phase — Phase II assets are far from certain revenue.”

Tracking groups of customers by join date to separate retention from new acquisition.

“A cohort view would tell us whether the slowdown is acquisition or worsening retention.”

What media players pay to acquire or distribute content — often the single largest cost line.

“Content cost is the swing factor on margin — I'd see how it scales with subscribers.”

Price minus variable cost per unit — what each sale contributes toward fixed costs and profit.

“Let me work in contribution margin so we can see break-even and the profit impact of volume.”

Price minus variable cost on each unit — the core profitability unit in autos.

“I'd work in contribution per vehicle so we can weigh volume against the price needed to fill the plant.”

The extra paid above market price to acquire control of a target.

“The bid implies roughly a 30% control premium — synergies need to cover at least that.”

The stage-by-stage path from awareness to purchase; the goal is to find the leaking stage.

“Let me break the funnel into awareness, trial, and conversion to find where we're leaking.”

Expected loan losses set aside, expressed as a percentage of the loan book.

“Rising cost of risk could be eating the spread — I'd check provisions before operating costs.”

Operating costs divided by operating income — the headline bank efficiency metric (lower is better).

“A cost-to-income ratio above peers points to an efficiency gap I'd size first.”

The fully-loaded cost of serving a given customer, channel, or segment, including service and logistics.

“I'd compare price realization to cost-to-serve by segment — some 'big' accounts may be unprofitable.”

Selling additional or higher-tier products to customers you already have.

“There's untapped revenue in cross-selling the installed base before we chase new logos.”

The time to complete one unit or process end to end.

“I'd map cycle time per step to see where time and cost accumulate.”

The spread dealers earn between invoice and sale price, plus manufacturer incentives.

“I'd check how much of the price actually reaches the OEM after dealer margin and incentives.”

A quantified issue tree that breaks an output metric into the levers that multiply or add up to it.

“I'd build a driver tree so every branch is something we can actually measure and move.”

Unit cost falls as volume rises and fixed costs spread — often a barrier to entry.

“Incumbent economies of scale set a cost floor a sub-scale entrant can't match.”

Enterprise value over EBITDA — the common valuation yardstick for comparing deals and peers.

“At about 9x EV/EBITDA versus peers at 7x, we're paying up — what justifies the premium?”

The split between transaction or advisory fees and lending-spread income.

“Tilting the mix toward fee income would make earnings less rate-sensitive.”

How a company reaches and sells to customers: channels, pricing, sales motion, and positioning.

“Even if the market's attractive, the GTM has to fit — do we have a channel to reach these buyers?”

A tiered pricing or versioning ladder that segments customers by willingness to pay.

“A good-better-best ladder lets us capture both budget and premium buyers.”

Two network models trading connection efficiency against operational simplicity and cost.

“The network model matters — point-to-point cuts connection cost but limits feed traffic.”

Lead with a likely answer and test it with data, instead of boiling the ocean.

“My leading hypothesis is that costs are the driver — here's the data I'd pull to confirm or kill it.”

COGS divided by average inventory — how many times stock sells through per year.

“Low inventory turns tie up cash and drive markdowns — I'd look there on the cost side.”

Systematically removing non-value-adding steps — waiting, rework, excess motion — from a process.

“A lean lens on the workflow would surface hand-offs and waiting time we can cut.”

The percentage of available seats actually filled — the core utilization metric.

“I'd check load factor before yield — empty seats and underpriced seats need different fixes.”

Lifetime value over acquisition cost; above 3x is the healthy SaaS benchmark.

“I'd check LTV/CAC by channel — the blended number can hide one unprofitable channel.”

Mutually Exclusive, Collectively Exhaustive — your buckets should have no overlaps and no gaps.

“Let me make sure these buckets are MECE before I go deeper.”

A change in the blend of products, customers, or channels that moves the average margin even when no single price changes.

“Flat average price could still hide an adverse mix shift toward lower-margin products.”

Interest earned minus interest paid, over interest-earning assets — a bank's core lending spread.

“I'd start with NIM — is the profit issue the spread, or the volume of lending?”

Revenue kept from a cohort including upsell, net of churn; above 100% means you grow even with zero new customers.

“If NRR is above 100%, the base alone grows — so I'd ask why new logos still matter here.”

Each new user makes the product more valuable to others — a powerful, compounding moat.

“If there are real network effects, the first mover to scale could lock the market.”

A unified shopping experience across store, web, and app.

“An omnichannel view matters here — online may be cannibalizing stores, not adding demand.”

A high fixed-cost base makes profit swing more than revenue, up or down.

“With this fixed-cost base, even a small volume recovery should drop disproportionately to the bottom line.”

Availability × performance × quality — the standard factory productivity score.

“I'd break OEE into its three parts to see whether it's downtime, speed, or defects.”

When a drug's patent expires and generics rapidly collapse its revenue.

“With a patent cliff approaching, growth has to come from the pipeline or M&A, not the base.”

The blend of who pays — commercial insurers, government, or self-pay — which drives realized reimbursement.

“Volume can be flat while payer mix shifts to lower-reimbursing government payers and crushes margin.”

The share of a population that actually adopts or uses the product.

“The swing factor is penetration — I'll state my assumption and test sensitivity to it.”

Subscribers as a percentage of the addressable population or households.

“With penetration already high, growth has to come from ARPU, not new subscribers.”

How fully assembly capacity is used; below roughly 80% the unit economics deteriorate fast.

“Below 80% plant utilization, fixed cost per car balloons — that's the heart of the problem.”

Reusing a common vehicle platform across models to cut development and parts cost.

“Platform sharing across the lineup spreads fixed engineering cost and lifts margin per model.”

The execution phase where synergies are realized or lost — the usual point of failure in deals.

“Most deals destroy value in PMI, so I'd pressure-test integration capacity and timeline.”

Charging different prices to different segments by willingness to pay — by geography, time, or version.

“Segmented pricing by channel or customer type could lift revenue without touching list price.”

How much volume responds to a price change; elastic demand is volume-sensitive, inelastic is not.

“Before any increase, I'd estimate elasticity — will the margin gain survive the volume loss?”

A retailer's own-brand products, typically higher margin than national brands.

“Shifting mix toward private label could lift blended margin without raising prices.”

The product itself — often via a free tier — drives acquisition and expansion, rather than a sales team.

“A PLG motion lowers CAC but needs a product users can adopt without hand-holding.”

A waterfall that decomposes the change in profit between two periods into price, volume, mix, and cost effects.

“Can we build a profit bridge from last year to this year so we isolate exactly which driver moved?”

Revenue and Cost per Available Seat Mile — profitability per unit of capacity.

“The spread between RASM and CASM is the real profit engine — I'd bridge both.”

The amount a payer actually pays per procedure or drug — often well below list price.

“List price is a red herring here; the real number is the reimbursement rate per payer.”

A vehicle's expected resale value, which drives leasing economics and effective monthly cost.

“Weak residual values raise lease payments and quietly suppress demand.”

Growth rate percent plus profit margin percent should exceed 40 for a healthy software business.

“On the Rule of 40 they're at 30 — so either growth or margin has to improve to justify the multiple.”

Revenue divided by selling area — the core retail productivity metric.

“Sales per square foot would tell us if this is a store-productivity problem or a footprint one.”

Year-over-year sales from stores open at least 12 months; strips out new-store growth to show organic health.

“I'd separate comps from new-store contribution to see whether the decline is organic.”

Validating an estimate against a second, independent method or a known benchmark.

“Let me sanity-check that against per-capita spend to confirm the order of magnitude holds.”

Splitting a population into MECE groups with different behavior before estimating.

“I'd segment the population first — usage differs too much to apply a single average.”

Inventory lost to theft, damage, or error, expressed as a percentage of sales.

“I'd rule out shrinkage as a margin leak before digging into supplier costs.”

The percentage of subscribers lost per period; small moves swing lifetime value sharply.

“At this scale, even a one-point churn improvement is worth more than chasing new subs.”

The cost and friction a customer faces to change providers; high switching costs protect incumbents.

“Incumbent switching costs are high here, so I'd expect slow share capture and a price-led entry.”

Incremental value from combining two firms: cost (overlap removal, scale) and revenue (cross-sell, reach), net of integration cost.

“I'd value cost synergies hard, revenue synergies conservatively, and always net out integration cost.”

The production pace needed to meet demand — available time divided by demand.

“If cycle time exceeds takt time, the line simply can't meet demand — that's the constraint.”

Total, Serviceable, and Obtainable market — the prize, the slice you can serve, and the slice you can realistically win.

“I'd frame the prize as TAM, narrow to the serviceable segment, then a realistic 3-year obtainable share.”

Patient flow rate and average days admitted — the levers on effective hospital capacity.

“Cutting length of stay frees beds, which is effectively free capacity for throughput.”

Two sizing paths: from a large aggregate down, or from unit economics up.

“I'll size it bottom-up from users × frequency × price, then sanity-check top-down.”

The all-in cost of owning a vehicle — purchase, fuel or charging, maintenance, and resale — central to EV adoption.

“Buyers compare on TCO, not sticker price, so I'd frame the EV case on lifetime cost.”

Footfall (or site visits) times the share who buy; volume = traffic × conversion rate.

“Volume is traffic × conversion — I'd check which one slipped before assuming it's price.”

Setting price by the economic value delivered to the customer rather than cost-plus.

“If we save the client $1M, value-based pricing captures a share of that, not just a cost markup.”

Owning more of the supply chain, upstream or downstream, to capture margin or secure supply.

“Vertical integration could secure supply and capture the distributor's margin — at the cost of flexibility.”

The maximum a customer would pay — the ceiling for value-based pricing.

“I'd anchor pricing to customer WTP and the value we deliver, not to our cost.”

Cash tied up in inventory and receivables less payables — a major lever in asset-heavy businesses.

“There may be trapped cash in working capital we can release to fund the turnaround.”

Average fare revenue per passenger mile flown.

“Flat revenue could be yield erosion offset by more traffic — I'd separate the two.”

The share of good output versus material wasted as defects.

“A few points of scrap-rate improvement can drop straight to gross margin.”