# A 12-engineer SaaS startup is three weeks into building a 5-node analytics pipeline because the CEO Canonical URL: Domain: Pipeline Design ยท Difficulty: medium ## Problem A 12-engineer SaaS startup is three weeks into building a 5-node analytics pipeline because the CEO asked one question last week: 'How many users signed up last quarter?' Nobody has asked since. Apply the section's four-question pipeline test on this scenario and replace the over-engineered scaffolding with one of the section's named simpler answers for a one-off question. The canvas should end with fewer nodes than it started. ## Related - [All practice problems](https://datadriven.io/problems) - [Mock interview mode](https://datadriven.io/interview/a-12-engineer-saas-startup-is-three-weeks-into-building-a-5-3c76d518) - [System Design Interview Questions](https://datadriven.io/data-engineering-system-design) - [Data Engineering Interview Prep Guide](https://datadriven.io/data-engineer-interview-prep) - [Daily Challenge](https://datadriven.io/daily) --- Source: DataDriven (https://datadriven.io). 100% free data engineering interview prep. Live code execution against Postgres 16, Python 3.11, and Spark sandboxes. No paywall, no premium tier, no signup gate.