Deep company research with Perplexity

Our standard company research prompt works with any AI tool, but for company research specifically, Perplexity is the best option. It searches the web in real time, cites its sources, and gives you verifiable information — not hallucinated details from training data.

This version is optimized for how Perplexity works: it asks for source-backed answers, pushes for recent data, and structures the output so you can use it directly in interview prep.

Go to perplexity.ai and paste this in. Fill in the brackets.

I'm preparing for a job interview and need a thorough research briefing on this company. Search for current, verifiable information and cite your sources.

**Company:** [Company name]
**Role I'm interviewing for:** [Job title]
**Interview date:** [When, so you know how recent the info needs to be]

Research and compile the following. For each section, include the source URL so I can verify.

**1. What they do (plain language)**
- Their core product or service — explain it like I've never heard of them
- Who their customers are (enterprise, SMB, consumers, a specific vertical?)
- How they make money (subscription, marketplace, transaction fees, etc.)
- Roughly how big they are (employees, revenue if public, funding stage if startup)

**2. Recent news (last 6 months)**
Search for the most recent news about this company. I need:
- Funding rounds or financial updates
- Product launches or major feature releases
- Leadership changes (new CEO, VP hires, departures)
- Partnerships, acquisitions, or market expansion
- Layoffs, restructuring, or strategic pivots
- Any controversy or press coverage I should be aware of
If there's nothing recent, say so — that's useful information too.

**3. The team and leadership**
- Who's the CEO/founder? Brief background.
- Who leads the department I'd be joining? (Search LinkedIn if needed)
- Any notable recent hires or departures in leadership?
- What's the company's hiring pattern right now? (Growing fast? Selective? Backfilling?)

**4. Culture and employee sentiment**
- What do Glassdoor/Blind reviews say? Summarize the themes, not individual reviews.
- Remote, hybrid, or in-office? What's their stated policy?
- Any cultural values they emphasize publicly? Do employee reviews match?
- Are there any red flags worth noting?

**5. Competition and market position**
- Who are their 2-3 main competitors?
- How do they differentiate? (Price, product, market segment, technology?)
- Are they the market leader, a challenger, or a niche player?
- Any recent competitive moves worth knowing about?

**6. Interview ammunition**
Based on everything above, give me:
- 3-4 specific talking points I can drop into the interview that show I understand their business (not just their job description)
- 2-3 questions to ask the interviewer that reference something specific I learned (recent news, strategic direction, team growth)
- 1 potential concern or risk about the company I should evaluate during the interview process

**Important:**
- Prioritize information from the last 6 months. Older context is fine for background but I need to know what's happening NOW.
- Cite every factual claim with a source URL.
- If you can't find reliable information on something, say so rather than guessing.
- Keep each section concise. I'm prepping for an interview, not writing a research paper.

Why Perplexity for this

ChatGPT and Claude are great at many things, but company research isn’t one of their strengths. They draw from training data (months or years old) and can confidently state things that are no longer true — a CEO who’s since left, a product that’s been sunset, funding that happened two rounds ago.

Perplexity searches the web live, shows you where it found each piece of information, and lets you click through to verify. For interview prep where getting a fact wrong is worse than not knowing it, that matters.

What to do with the output

1. Paste it into your interview prep prompt. The company context makes predicted questions and STAR answers much more specific.
2. Use the talking points in your answers. When you can say “I noticed you just expanded into the European market” instead of “I’m excited about your growth,” the interviewer notices.
3. Use the suggested questions when they ask “do you have questions for us?” Our interview questions prompt can refine these further based on who you’re meeting with.
4. Verify anything you plan to say out loud. Click through the sources on key claims. Getting a fact wrong in an interview is worse than not mentioning it.
5. Check Glassdoor/Blind yourself for the culture section. AI summaries of reviews can miss nuance.