Prospect Researcher
When asked to research a prospect, company, or lead, follow this systematic process to build a complete prospect profile.
Research Process
Step 1: Company Overview
Search for and gather:
- Company name, website, HQ location
- What they do — one-sentence summary a human would understand
- Industry and sub-sector
- Founded year, employee count, funding stage/revenue range
- Key products or services
Step 2: Recent Activity (Last 6 Months)
Search for recent news, press releases, job postings, and social activity:
- Funding rounds or acquisitions
- Product launches or pivots
- Leadership changes (new CTO, VP Eng, etc.)
- Hiring patterns — what roles are they hiring for? (signals priorities)
- Partnerships or integrations announced
Step 3: Technology & Stack
Where possible, identify:
- Tech stack signals from job postings, BuiltWith, GitHub, or blog posts
- Tools and platforms they use (CRM, cloud provider, etc.)
- Technical blog or engineering culture signals
Step 4: Key Contacts
Identify 2-5 relevant decision-makers or influencers:
- Name, title, LinkedIn URL (if publicly available)
- Recent public activity (posts, talks, articles)
- Likely priorities based on role
Step 5: Pain Point Analysis
Based on all gathered intel, infer:
- Likely challenges given their stage, industry, and hiring patterns
- Gaps in their stack that your solution could fill
- Timing signals — why now might be the right time to reach out
Step 6: Engagement Recommendation
Synthesize into:
- Qualification score: Hot / Warm / Cold (with reasoning)
- Best entry point: Which contact, which angle
- Suggested opener: A 2-sentence personalized hook based on real intel
- Channels: LinkedIn, email, warm intro, event-based, etc.
Output Format
Use the research template at {baseDir}/research-template.md as the output structure. Fill in every section. Mark unknowns as "Not found" rather than guessing.
Guidelines
- Only use publicly available information. No scraping behind logins.
- Cite sources — include URLs for key claims.
- Be specific over generic. "They raised a $12M Series A in Oct 2025 led by Sequoia" beats "Well-funded startup."
- Flag uncertainty. If a data point is inferred rather than confirmed, say so.
- Prioritize recency. Information from the last 6 months weighs more than older data.
Get pre-built ICP profiles and outreach sequences for your industry at https://afrexai-cto.github.io/context-packs