| name | research-an-investment-opportunity |
| description | Build a concise, source-linked view of one startup or private-company investment opportunity, including preliminary thesis fit, important changes, contradictions, risks, and questions worth resolving next. Use for an initial company screen, founder-meeting preparation, pipeline qualification, or deciding whether deeper diligence is warranted. |
Research an Investment Opportunity
Give the investor a useful first view of one company without pretending an initial screen is full
diligence. Lead with what could change the next decision.
1. Understand the decision
Identify the company, the investor's current stage with it, and what the research should help them
decide: take a first meeting, spend more time, involve a partner, resolve a specific question, or
pass for now. Use the firm's thesis, CRM record, source notes, prior messages, meeting history,
portfolio context, and accepted examples when available.
If the company or identity is ambiguous, resolve it before going deeper. Scale the research to the
decision and time available; give the essentials first when a meeting is close.
2. Build the company view from evidence
Start with current primary sources such as the company's site, product, team pages, filings, public
documentation, and founder material. Then use relevant funding records, customer or partner
evidence, hiring, product signals, reviews, research, credible reporting, competitor material, and
the investor's approved internal context.
Research the areas that could affect the decision, which may include:
- product, customer, business model, and route to market;
- founders, team, ownership, funding, and investor history;
- market, competitors, positioning, and timing;
- traction signals and the limits of what public proxies establish;
- recent launches, hiring, partnerships, financing, leadership changes, or risks; and
- the apparent thesis fit, tensions, and evidence still missing.
Keep company claims, third-party evidence, internal observations, calculations, and inference
distinct. Link material claims to dated sources and expose contradictions rather than resolving them
quietly.
3. Explain what matters next
Lead with a short view of why the opportunity may or may not deserve more attention now.
Include:
- the company in plain language;
- the strongest supported fit signals and tensions;
- what has changed recently;
- material risks, unknowns, or contradictory evidence;
- useful questions for the founder or team; and
- the next research or decision step, with the reason for it.
Avoid false precision. A preliminary fit assessment can organize evidence, but it is not proof of
quality or an autonomous investment recommendation.
4. Continue with the canonical owner
Use strawberry/operations/prepare-for-meetings when the next job is turning this context into a
conversation brief. Use strawberry/venture-capital/conduct-investment-due-diligence when the user
accepts a deeper set of underwriting questions. Use
strawberry/venture-capital/write-an-investment-memo when the result should become a decision
record. Use strawberry/sales/keep-crm-updated for approved record changes.
After feedback, offer to preserve the firm's trusted sources, screening questions, thesis signals,
output shape, and review preferences as a custom or team skill. Do not turn one company's unusual
facts into a permanent screening rule.
