company-research

name	company-research
description	Research companies to build strategic intel before interviews and applications. Use this skill when the user says "research this company," "tell me about [Company]," "what should I know about [Company]," "company deep dive," "study sheet for [Company]," "I need to learn about [Company] before my interview," "company brief," "what do we know about [Company]?", or any request to learn about a company before an interview or application decision. Also trigger when the user says "prep me" and there is no company-brief.md in the application folder. This skill produces three documents: a deep company brief, a quick-reference study sheet, and a strategic interview plan. Do NOT trigger for post-interview reflection (interview-debrief), general industry research without a specific company, or offer evaluation (offer-evaluator).
recommended_model	{"default":"sonnet","reasoning":"Company research involves structured web search, fact extraction, and synthesis into templates. Sonnet handles this well and responds fast enough to produce all three documents in a single session. The templates provide structure that keeps output consistent.\n","upgrade_to_opus_when":"The company is a startup with limited public information requiring inference from fragments, or the user wants strategic analysis of how to position against a specific competitor landscape, or the research reveals complex organizational dynamics that need nuanced interpretation for interview strategy.\n"}

Company Research — Know Them Before They Know You

Intent

1. Research must be current, not stale — a company that raised Series C last week is a different interview than one that did layoffs last month; always search for the latest news, not just the About page
2. Specificity separates candidates — "I was impressed by your growth" is forgettable; "your expansion from 200K to 1M lives managed through value-based care mirrors the scaling challenge I solved at ilumed" is memorable
3. The JD is the richest signal — job descriptions reveal what the company is building, what they are struggling with, and what they value; every other research source supplements the JD, not the other way around
4. Research serves strategy, not trivia — knowing the CEO's name is table stakes; understanding that they just pivoted from fee-for-service to value-based care and need infrastructure to support it is an interview weapon
5. Connect every finding to the candidate — raw company facts are useless without a bridge to achievements.md; every section of the brief should surface how the candidate's experience maps to what the company needs
6. Study sheet must be memorizable — if it cannot be reviewed in 10 minutes before walking into the interview, it is too long; the study sheet is a cheat sheet, not a research paper
7. Three documents in 15-20 minutes; study sheet under 2 pages; interview plan with 3-5 strategic angles — thorough enough to walk in prepared, concise enough to actually be used

Why this skill exists

Going into an interview knowing only the job description is bringing a knife to a gunfight. The company's recent moves, leadership team, tech stack, culture, and pain points are all public information — the question is whether you do the homework. This skill does the homework systematically: a deep brief for understanding, a study sheet for memorization, and a strategic plan for using what you learned to stand out.

Prerequisites

• Application folder with metadata.json and job-description.md
• master/achievements.md for connecting company findings to candidate strengths
• master/narrative.md for aligning research angles to positioning themes
• Web search capability (for current company information)

If no application folder exists, tell the user to run job-intake first — company research without a scored JD is unfocused.

Workflow

Step 1: Identify the target

Which company and role? Check context. If the user mentions a company, find the application folder. If multiple folders exist for the same company (re-application), use the most recent.

If company-brief.md already exists in the folder, ask: "You already have a company brief from [date]. Want me to refresh it with current information, or start from scratch?"

Step 2: Load context

Read:

• metadata.json — match score, gaps, keywords, status, former_employer flag
• job-description.md — the full posting (this is the primary research seed)
• master/achievements.md — for connecting research findings to candidate strengths
• master/narrative.md — for positioning themes relevant to this role type

Step 3: Research the company

Use web search to gather information. Read references/data-sources.md for the full checklist and red flag indicators, and references/deep-dive-checklist.md for the structured "deep" mode that mirrors career-ops.

Deep mode (default for engineering-leadership, ai-applied, founder-minded-ic archetypes or when the user says "deep" / "deep dive" / "really research"): Work through references/deep-dive-checklist.md top-to-bottom. Produces a structured 8-section brief with dated press releases, exec LinkedIn summaries, tech blog themes, and a competitor landscape. Expect 8-12 searches/fetches.

Light mode (default for general archetype, under 30 minutes): Tier 1 only, skip the structured deep-dive checklist. Produces a shorter company-brief.md focused on connecting findings to achievements.

Tier 1 — Must research (do all of these):

• Company website: About page, leadership team, mission/values, product pages
• Recent news (last 6 months): funding rounds, acquisitions, product launches, leadership changes, layoffs
• The JD itself: what it reveals about team structure, tech stack, growth stage, and pain points

Tier 2 — Research if available:

• Glassdoor/Indeed: overall rating, interview process reviews, culture themes
• LinkedIn: company size, growth trajectory, key leaders, recent hires
• Crunchbase: funding history, investors, valuation, competitors

Tier 3 — Research if the company is tech-forward (or any AI/platform archetype):

• GitHub organization: open-source presence, tech stack signals
• Engineering blog: what they write about, architecture posts, recent themes
• Conference talks by their engineers

For former employers (metadata.former_employer is true): Skip general research — the candidate already knows the company. Focus on what has changed since they left: new leadership, new products, strategy pivots, funding events, headcount changes.

Research notes: As you research, keep a running list of facts that connect to items in achievements.md. These bridges are the most valuable output.

Step 4: Create company-brief.md

Write the deep research document in the application folder. Follow the template in references/research-template.md.

The brief should cover:

• Company Overview — what they do, stage, size, industry
• Leadership — key people with backgrounds, especially likely interviewers
• Product & Technology — what they build, tech stack, architecture signals
• Recent Moves — timeline of events from the last 6 months
• Culture & Work Environment — Glassdoor themes, work model, engineering culture
• Competitive Landscape — direct competitors, market trends
• What This Role Really Is — read between the lines of the JD
• Connection Points to Your Background — table mapping their needs to achievements.md
• Red Flags & Unknowns — anything concerning or unverifiable

Every section should earn its space. If research turned up nothing for a section, say so explicitly ("No engineering blog found") rather than omitting the section.

Step 5: Create study-sheet.md

Write the quick-reference memorization document. Follow the template in references/research-template.md.

Hard constraint: under 2 pages. This document is meant to be reviewed in the car before walking in, or in the 5 minutes before a video call starts.

The study sheet must include:

• The company in 30 seconds (2-3 sentences — practice saying it aloud)
• Key people table (name, title, one memorable fact each)
• Their big moves (top 3, one sentence each)
• What they need from this hire (3 priorities from JD + research)
• Your top 3 bridges (their need → your achievement + number)
• Smart things to say (phrases that demonstrate research naturally)
• Smart things to ask (company-specific questions, not generic)
• Numbers to have ready (achievements mapped to company relevance)

Step 6: Create interview-plan.md

Write the strategic planning document. Follow the template in references/research-template.md.

This bridges research to execution — it is about how to use what you learned:

• Strategic Positioning — which differentiator to lead with for THIS company
• Anticipated Interview Focus — what they will care about, probe, and test
• Company-Specific Talking Points — achievements tied to company needs, with "Drop this when" trigger conditions for each
• Gap Strategy — for each gap from match_score, how important is it to this company specifically, and how to bridge it
• Questions That Show Homework — reference specific findings, not generic templates
• Signals to Watch — what to pay attention to during the interview

Step 7: Update metadata and present

Update metadata.json:

• Set company_research_file to "company-brief.md"

Present a summary to the user:

1. Key findings — 3-4 most important things discovered
2. Strategic angles — how the research changes positioning
3. Red flags — anything concerning (or "none identified")
4. Recommendation — "Review the study sheet before your interview" or "The brief is ready — want to run interview-prep-builder now to build your full prep package?"

Offer to chain into interview-prep-builder, which will consume this research.

Edge cases

• No web search available — Build the brief from the JD alone. Be explicit about what is JD-derived versus independently verified. Flag that the brief should be supplemented when search is available.
• Startup with minimal public information — Note what could not be found. This itself is a data point (stealth mode, early stage). Convert unknowns into interview questions in the study sheet and interview plan.
• Company the user already knows well (former employer) — Focus the brief on what changed since they left. The study sheet should cover new leadership, products, and strategy pivots, not basics. The interview plan should address the "why are you coming back?" angle.
• Multiple roles at the same company — Create one company-brief.md shared across roles. The study-sheet.md and interview-plan.md are role-specific.
• Research reveals dealbreakers — If research surfaces major red flags (mass layoffs, lawsuits, terrible Glassdoor), say so directly. The research should inform a "should I still pursue this?" conversation, not just prep.
• Company brief already exists but is stale — If the brief is more than 30 days old, recommend a refresh. Recent news changes the strategic picture.

Skill composition

Upstream	This skill	Downstream
job-intake (application folder, JD, match score)	company-research (intel gathering)	interview-prep-builder (richer talking points)
		cover-letter-writer (company-specific hooks)
		offer-evaluator (company intel for negotiation)

Read references/research-template.md for output templates and references/data-sources.md for the research checklist.