There is no magic number of coffee chats. Two or three useful conversations can be enough if you already understand the office, recruiting process, and culture.

More outreach only helps if it gives you something new: a different function, tenure level, or perspective. Repeating the same conversation with ten people is not automatically better.

Once you have enough information to apply thoughtfully, shift the time toward the application and interview prep. If useful, this guide on consulting coffee-chat questions gives more detail.

2 good chats is better than 10 identical ones imo.