Prospect Research
Research a prospect company and contact to produce a structured intelligence brief. This skill gathers information from the company's website and the contact's LinkedIn profile, then cross-references with your company-profile.md to find personalization hooks.
When to Use
- Before writing any outreach (cold email, LinkedIn message)
- Before a demo or meeting (this skill is called automatically by
demo-prep) - When the user says "research [name] at [company]"
- When you need to understand a prospect before generating any output
Required Inputs
Ask the user for:
Company: [Name or website URL]
Contact: [Name and title — optional for company-only research]
If they only provide a name and company, that's enough. Research the rest.
Process
1. Load Company Profile
Read company-profile.md from the workspace root. You need this to:
- Identify shared connections between the user and the prospect
- Match the prospect's pain points to the user's product
- Determine if this company fits the user's ICP
If company-profile.md doesn't exist, tell the user: "Run the setup-company skill first to set up your profile. This makes research much more useful."
2. Research the Company
Navigate to the company's website and gather:
| What to Find | Where to Look |
|---|---|
| What they do | Homepage hero section, About page |
| Who they sell to | Pricing page, case studies, customer logos |
| Company size | About page, LinkedIn company page, job postings |
| Sales model | Pricing page structure, "Book a Demo" vs "Start Free Trial" |
| Recent news | Blog, press page, recent funding announcements |
| Tech stack signals | Job postings, integrations page |
| Demo / trial motion | CTA buttons, pricing page, "how it works" |
Also check for (see research checklist):
- Whether they have a "Book a Demo" button (relevant for demo automation)
- Whether they're hiring for roles related to the user's product
- Recent product launches or pivots
- Customer testimonials that reveal their value prop
3. Research the Contact
Look up the contact on LinkedIn (use browser tools) and gather:
| What to Find | Why It Matters |
|---|---|
| Current role and tenure | How long they've been there — new hires are more open to change |
| Department | Maps to which angle to use in outreach |
| Previous companies | Shared connection opportunities |
| Education | Shared school connections |
| Recent posts or activity | Conversation hooks, what they care about publicly |
| Responsibilities | What they likely own and what metrics they're measured on |
4. Find Personalization Hooks
Cross-reference the contact's background with the user's company-profile.md:
| If You Find... | Hook to Use |
|---|---|
| Same school (any level) | "Fellow [school] alum" |
| Same previous company | "Ex-[company] here too" / "My co-founder is ex-[company]" |
| Same city or region | Geographic connection |
| Mutual LinkedIn connections | "We both know [name]" |
| They posted about a relevant topic | Reference the post directly |
| They recently changed roles | "Congrats on the new role" |
| Their company just raised funding | "Congrats on the raise" |
Priority order: Shared school > shared company > shared connection > recent event > geographic.
5. Assess ICP Fit
Based on research, assess how well this prospect matches the user's ICP from company-profile.md:
| Signal | What It Means |
|---|---|
| Role matches target roles | Strong fit |
| Company size matches ICP | Strong fit |
| Industry matches ICP | Strong fit |
| They have signals from ICP (e.g., "hiring SDRs") | Strong fit |
| None of the above | Weak fit — note this in the output |
Output Format
# Prospect Research: [Contact Name] @ [Company Name]
**Researched:** [Date]
## Company Intel
| Field | Details |
|-------|---------|
| **Company** | [Name] |
| **Website** | [URL] |
| **Industry** | [Industry] |
| **Size** | [Estimate — employees, stage, funding] |
| **What They Do** | [2-3 sentences] |
| **Who They Sell To** | [Their customers] |
| **Sales Model** | [Inbound / outbound / PLG / enterprise] |
| **Recent News** | [Funding, launches, hires — if any] |
## Contact Intel
| Field | Details |
|-------|---------|
| **Name** | [Full name] |
| **Title** | [Job title] |
| **Department** | [Sales, Engineering, L&D, Product, etc.] |
| **Tenure** | [How long in current role] |
| **Background** | [Previous companies, education] |
| **Recent Activity** | [Posts, articles, comments — if any] |
| **Likely Priorities** | [What they probably care about based on role] |
## Personalization Hooks
- **Strongest hook:** [The best connection point]
- **Additional hooks:** [Other connection points]
## ICP Fit
[Strong / Medium / Weak] — [1 sentence explaining why]
## Relevant Pain Points
Based on their business and role, they likely care about:
1. [Pain point 1 — mapped to user's product]
2. [Pain point 2 — mapped to user's product]
3. [Pain point 3 — mapped to user's product]
Instructions
- Always research before generating. Never fabricate company details or contact background. If you can't find something, say so.
- Use browser tools for LinkedIn. Navigate to LinkedIn and search for the person. Don't guess at their background.
- Be specific about hooks. "Fellow IIT Delhi alum" is useful. "You both work in tech" is not.
- Flag weak ICP fit. If the prospect doesn't match the user's ICP, say so clearly. Don't force a fit.
- Keep it scannable. Tables and bullet points, not paragraphs. The user will skim this in 30 seconds.