prospect

name	prospect
description	Find a target worth roasting — a ~50/50 split of recognizable X brands (public traction, punch up) and reachable SMB Meta ads (the $5 revenue). Audit the ad, brand-safety gate, PICK one. Judgment, not a threshold.
version	1.0.0
metadata	{"hermes":{"tags":["sales","research"],"category":"business","requires_toolsets":["terminal"]}}

prospect — find + pick a target

Follow the battle plan. Two prospecting modes, both legit:

• Traction (the plan's #1 edge): roast recognizable X brands — find a brand the judges/audience already follow running a genuinely lazy ad, roast it publicly on X. They see it, they reply, the Hall of Shame gets real engagement that can't be faked. Punch UP at big brands only — safe + funny because it's self-aware (yes, even Stripe/NVIDIA).
• Revenue: the Foreplay/SMB flow below — reachable owners you can actually sell the $5 fix to.

Never punch down at a struggling small business — roast the ad, root for the owner. Voice, look, and the 6-box viral gate: ../../brand/CHARACTER.md + ../../brand/taste/ADCHAD-TASTE-PACK.md. Full guideline check: ../../brand/BATTLE-PLAN-ALIGNMENT.md.

When

The acquire heartbeat, or "prospect for " — any niche, brand, or pasted ad.

Procedure

Step 0 — did the operator name a target? This decides everything; settle it before any tool call.

• YES — a niche, brand, or ad ("prospect for bad gym ads", "roast Stripe", a pasted URL). Serve THAT. No split, no rotation, no db prospects mode-counting. Strip filler to the bare subject — drop "bad", "ads", "for", and any location: "bad gym ads" → niche gym, "med spas in Denver" → niche med spa, "that Stripe ad" → brand Stripe. A niche / small business → mode revenue (B); a recognizable brand → mode traction (A). You can prospect for anything — there is no list of allowed industries.
• NO — bare /prospect (the acquire heartbeat). Now hold the ~50/50 split: read pnpm -s tool db prospects, count recent mode:traction vs mode:revenue, pick whichever is behind (tie/first run → start traction, then alternate). Half your roasts are recognizable brands (distribution), half reachable SMBs (revenue), and you choose the niche/brand from your rotation.

A) TRACTION — a recognizable X brand (punch UP, public, for engagement)

1. Pick a recognizable brand the audience/judges already follow that's running a genuinely lazy ad and that you haven't roasted yet (check db prospects). Rotate categories so it never gets samey — DTC, SaaS, food, fashion, fintech; the sponsors (Stripe, NVIDIA) are fair game and on-thesis.
2. Pull a real ad of theirs. pnpm -s tool xread --handle "<brand>" (or paste their ad/creative URL) → take one current ad/creative → pnpm -s tool vision --image "<creative_url>" to read what it ACTUALLY shows. Roast only what vision sees — never invent a flaw.
3. Brand-safety: punch UP only. A huge brand is a safe, funny target because the roast is self-aware. A struggling small business is NOT a traction target — never punch down. No people/protected traits, no false claims; unsure → don't post.
4. Record + hand off. pnpm -s tool db record --json '{"prospect_id":"<id>","channel":"note","text":"traction — <brand>: <flaws>","mode":"traction","segment":"public"}'. Hand /roast the creative_url + brand; it publishes to X only (no email — they won't buy; this is distribution).

B) REVENUE — a reachable SMB (the Foreplay flow; you can sell the $5)

1. Niche. If the operator named one (Step 0), use it — any niche is valid. Otherwise pick from your rotation: check pnpm -s tool db prospects + your memory — exploit niches that convert, rotate when one goes dry. Rotation seeds (examples, not a whitelist): med spa, dentist, HVAC, gym, lawn care.
2. pnpm -s tool foreplay scan --query "<niche>" --n 10 → candidate ads (each has link_url, creative_url, copy, advertiser, a prospect id). Query the bare niche, NEVER a location — Foreplay searches ad copy/brand text, not geography, so "med spas in Denver, CO" returns nothing; use med spa. If ads is empty: broaden once (strip every qualifier → the bare niche) and re-scan; still empty → pnpm -s tool db record --json '{"channel":"note","text":"no ads found for <niche>"}', report it, and STOP. An empty scan is a data result, not a bug.
3. Shortlist from the scan alone — pick ONE prime suspect. Rank the worst ads from the (already-slim) scan copy/metadata and pick the single worst-looking, reachable-looking one. Do NOT enrich or vision the whole batch — each is a separate ~30s+ model round-trip and the model call is the slow part, not the tool.
4. Verify just that one. pnpm -s tool enrich --id <prospect_id> --link "<link_url>" --name "<advertiser>" → contact + segment (A active X · B email · unreachable). Then SEE it — pnpm -s tool vision --image "<creative_url>" returns its actual on-image text, offer, social proof, and real flaws. Foreplay's copy field is often null because the copy lives IN the image — never trust the text fields alone. Audit with synthcheck, grounded ONLY in what vision shows; never claim something is missing if it's visibly there.
5. Brand-safety gate (keep this rigorous): judge ≥3 times whether the roast is fair — reasoning in one turn, not extra tool calls, so it's cheap. A genuinely fine ad, or one that turns out unreachable → drop it and fall back to the next suspect (repeat step 4). Publicly mocking an innocent business is irreversible reputational harm — never roast a clean ad.
6. Pick ONE: worst ad AND reachable AND not already roasted (check db prospects stages). Record why: pnpm -s tool db record --json '{"prospect_id":"<id>","channel":"note","text":"candidate — <flaws + why this one>","mode":"revenue"}'

Output

Hand /roast: the specific ad's id (foreplay_id, or the brand for a traction target — you roast one ad, not the brand), the prospect id, its segment (public for traction · A/B for revenue) + handle/email, the ad's creative_url, and the named flaws.

Pitfalls

• Don't re-pick a brand already at stage roasted+ (read db prospects).
• Traction = punch UP at big brands; revenue = punch the SMB's ad but root for the owner. Never mock a struggling business for engagement.
• unreachable SMB → skip (revenue needs a reachable owner). A traction brand needs no contact — it's public only.
• A clean ad is not a target. Dropping one is the right call.