How to research a company before your interview (in 30 minutes)

Researching a company before an interview doesn't need to eat your evening. Thirty well-spent minutes are enough to turn vague answers into specific ones, and to prepare the two or three questions that show you're serious. Here is a five-block checklist, each block on a timer.

Block 1: the product and the model (8 minutes)

Start with the most important thing: what the company sells, to whom, and how it makes money. Skim the site, but focus on the product page and the pricing page, often more revealing than the "about" page. If it's a product you can try, try it for five minutes. Nothing impresses an interviewer more than a candidate who has actually used the thing they're applying to help build.

Note: the problem the product solves, the target audience, one or two direct competitors, and what sets the company apart.

Block 2: recent news (6 minutes)

Look for news from the last six to twelve months: a funding round, a new product, expansion, a senior hire, an award or acquisition. A news search on the company name usually does it. These items are gold in an interview: they let you tie your motivation to a specific moment in the company's trajectory, rather than to generalities.

Block 3: health and size (5 minutes)

You don't need an audit, just a sense of scale. Is it an early-stage startup, a scale-up, a large group? Roughly how many employees? Is the company hiring actively or in a freeze? The careers page and the company's LinkedIn profile already tell you a lot. This context also shapes your compensation expectations, a topic we cover in our salary negotiation guide.

Block 4: culture and internal signals (6 minutes)

The culture on the website is a marketing pitch; look for rawer signals. Read a few reviews from former and current employees with a critical eye (the extremes are often biased, look for recurring patterns). Watch how the company communicates publicly: tone, the values it foregrounds, how it talks about its teams. These signals help you calibrate your approach and spot any red flags.

Block 5: the people you'll meet (5 minutes)

If you know your interviewers' names, glance at their profiles: their role, tenure, background. You're not there to flatter them, but to understand who you're talking to. An interview with the engineering lead calls for different examples than one with an HR recruiter. Also look for a point in common (a technology, a school, an experience) that can create a natural connection.

Turning research into questions

The best proof that you did your homework is your questions. For each block, prepare one open-ended question:

• On the product: "I tried [feature], what's the next big product direction?"
• On the news: "After [recent event], what are the team's priorities for the year?"
• On the team: "How is the team I'd join structured, and what do the first few months look like?"

These questions show you're picturing yourself in the role, and they actually inform you about the job. Many behavioral questions, especially the classic "why us?", are prepared directly from this research. See our list of behavioral interview questions to anticipate them.

The takeaway

Thirty structured minutes are enough: the product, the news, the size, the culture, the people. You'll only keep a handful of concrete facts, but well placed in the conversation, they make all the difference between an interchangeable candidate and someone who clearly wants this role, at this company.

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