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