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By Randall Kaplan
Two candidates can read the same annual report, study the same leadership biographies, and arrive knowing the same facts. One uses those facts to answer the interviewer’s questions. The other arrives with a thoughtful observation about the work the company needs done.
The difference becomes visible when the conversation moves beyond the resume. One candidate says they’re interested. The other gives the employer something useful to consider.
That is the opportunity inside company research. We’re preparing to show how we think, what we notice, and how we might contribute before anyone has hired us.
Extreme Preparation® means pursuing details others may overlook, testing our assumptions, anticipating questions and objections, and rehearsing until we can use what we’ve learned under pressure. It extends to the people in the room, the way we listen, and the material that represents us after we leave. Research is the beginning of that process.
A job description tells us what the company says it wants. Understanding the business helps us see why those responsibilities matter.
We should be able to explain who the company serves, what customers pay for, and why they choose it. Product pages, customer stories, and leadership interviews can help us build that picture. If the company is public, its annual report can provide additional context about its priorities and risks.
The point is to understand enough to have an informed conversation. If we can’t explain the business without repeating language from its website, our understanding probably needs more work. And when information is missing, a thoughtful question is more useful than an assumption presented as fact.
The next step is connecting that understanding to the role. A responsibility such as “improve customer onboarding” becomes more meaningful when we know which customers the company is trying to reach and what they need.
For example, suppose we’re interviewing for a customer success position at a company that has recently introduced a product for larger organizations. We could mention the launch and move on. Or we could use it to open a more valuable conversation:
“I read about your move into larger customer accounts. How has that changed onboarding, and where would this role have the most responsibility?”
Now the research is doing something. It shows that we’ve thought about the work, and it gives the interviewer room to explain what is actually happening. If the answer connects to something we’ve done before, we can naturally share that experience.
That exchange can reveal more than a rehearsed speech about why we want to join the company.
Companies hire people to work with other people. Our preparation should reflect that.
An interviewer’s professional background can help us understand their responsibilities and perspective. A department leader may be thinking about the year ahead. A potential teammate may be wondering whether we’ll communicate clearly when a project gets difficult.
Both perspectives matter. As I explain in Prepare to Shine, our preparation has to become visible through the way we listen, respond, and connect. We can know the company’s history and still miss the question the person across the table is asking.
That is why our research should make us more attentive. We’ve done the background work so we can focus on the conversation unfolding in front of us.
In Prepare to Shine, I describe an opportunity people often pass over because they think, “Nobody asked for this.” A useful leave-behind can give our preparation a life beyond the meeting.
For the customer success interview, we might prepare a single page with three observations from the company’s publicly available onboarding materials. Each observation would connect to a question and a possible next step. One might read:
“The setup guide explains the technical steps. I couldn’t find guidance on who should own each step when several departments are involved. How do you handle that today?”
Below it, we could sketch a simple ownership checklist and label it as an illustration based on public information. We’re offering a starting point, with the humility to recognize that the team knows things we don’t.
The document should be short, relevant, and offered at an appropriate point in the conversation. It should respect any instructions about work samples. Its value comes from helping the employer evaluate our thinking, not from adding pages to their day.
A coach or trusted colleague can challenge the idea beforehand: What did we actually observe? What are we assuming? Would this help the person doing the job? If we can’t answer those questions, the work needs another pass.
Before the interview, we should know which findings matter, which questions remain open, and which real experiences demonstrate our ability to contribute. Rehearsal helps us explain those connections without relying on notes.
The final test is what the interviewer could say about us to someone who wasn’t there. “They seemed interested” is a start. “They understood our challenge, asked a question we need to answer, and showed us how they think” gives the next person much more to evaluate.
That is an outcome worth preparing for.
My podcast In Search of Excellence explores the preparation, decisions, and experiences behind achievement.
Randall Kaplan is a serial entrepreneur, investor, and executive coach. He’s a co-founder of Akamai Technologies and the founder and CEO of JUMP Investors, which has invested in more than 100 early-to-late-stage companies, including Google, Seagate, and Lyft. For 25 years, he’s coached hundreds of entrepreneurs, business owners, and executives. He created Extreme Preparation® to help people pursue their boldest ambitions, overcome the obstacles standing in their way, and change the course of their careers, businesses, and lives.
He also interviews some of the world’s most successful people, including Mark Cuban, Tony Robbins, Mike Tyson, David Solomon, and David Rubenstein, on his podcast In Search of Excellence, which has reached as high as #3 in Entrepreneurship and #10 in Business on Apple Podcasts.