Creating a marketing plan for an interview?

So I’m going on an interview for a start-up company and they want me to create a marketing plan for the company as part of the interview.

My one concern is that I’ve heard stories of people who do that and don’t get hired but then the company steals their ideas. How do I protect myself from this in case I don’t get the job?

i agree, this is total BS. If anything, i would tell them that you have the ability to create such a plan, but have so many questions that need to be addressed, doing so at this stage would be irresponsible.

ie, what is the capacity of the company to deliver? How is the product on a functional standpoint compared to the competition? What is there pricing strategy? What is their branding strategy? How does the competition price and position their product? What are the current sales people capabilities?

this sounds to be like they are fishing for free help, be care full.

i was the vp of a technology company, sales and marketing – we never would have done something so unethical.