lead-research

name

lead-research

description

Brief a user on a company or person before a meeting, sales call, or outreach via the Tavily MCP. Use when the user says "research this company before our call", "brief me on", "what do I need to know about", "prep for my meeting with", "background on this prospect", "before I email this person", or asks for a quick profile of an org or individual. Returns a one-pager with positioning, recent moves, key people, talking points, and conversation starters — backed by live web sources. For deep market research, use deep-research instead.

Lead Research

Build a one-pager on a company or person before the user has to talk to them. Optimized for sales prep, partnership calls, and informed outreach.

When to use this skill

• "I have a meeting with {company} tomorrow — brief me."
• "Research this prospect before I email them."
• "Background on {person}."
• "Prep for my call with {client}."

For deep multi-source research (market reports, literature reviews), use deep-research. For competitive battlecards, use competitive-intel.

Discipline

The output of this skill is what the user reads on the way into a meeting. Be:

• Skimmable — every section answerable in 10 seconds.
• Actionable — give them something to say in the meeting.
• Honest about uncertainty — [unverified] where you couldn't confirm.
• Recent-biased — facts from the last 6 months matter more than founding-story trivia.

Workflow

Company brief

1. Snapshot search: tavily_search for "{company} overview" with include_answer: "advanced" for a starting summary.
2. Recent news: tavily_search for "{company}" with topic: "news", time_range: "month" (extend to quarter if nothing recent).
3. Their site: tavily_map from <domain> with instructions: "about, product, pricing pages". Extract the about page.
4. Funding / size: tavily_search for "{company} funding", include_domains: "crunchbase.com,techcrunch.com,sec.gov".
5. Hiring posture: tavily_search for "{company} careers" to surface jobs page.
6. Compose the company brief (template below).

Person brief

1. Bio search: tavily_search for "{person} {company}" to find their LinkedIn, bio pages, and quotes.
2. Quotes / writing / talks: tavily_search for "{person}" interview OR podcast OR talk.
3. Recent activity: tavily_search with time_range: "month" for anything they've published or been quoted in.
4. Compose the person brief (template below).

If both are needed (company + the person you're meeting), do both workflows in parallel and combine.

Company brief template

# {Company} — Pre-meeting brief
*{YYYY-MM-DD} • Audience: {user role}*

## Snapshot
- **What they do**: {one sentence}.
- **Stage / size**: {revenue / employees / funding stage}.
- **HQ**: {city}.
- **Customers**: {known customers if disclosed}.

## Recent moves (last 90 days)
- {Date} — {move} ({source})
- …

## Product & positioning
- {Their pitch in one line}
- Key differentiators they emphasize:
  - …

## Open questions / what to ask
- {Question that gets them talking about a real problem}
- {Question that surfaces budget / timeline / authority}

## Topics to avoid (or prep for)
- {Sensitive area, e.g. recent layoffs, competitor mention} ({source})

## Conversation starters
- "{Recent event} — congrats / how's that landing?"
- …

## Sources
[1] {url}
[2] {url}

Person brief template

# {Person} — Pre-meeting brief
*{YYYY-MM-DD}*

## Identity
- **Role**: {title} at {company}.
- **Background**: {prior role / company / education} ({source}).
- **Tenure**: {how long at current company}.

## In their own words (recent)
- "{quote}" — {context}, {source/date}
- …

## Recent activity
- {Date} — {published / posted / spoke at} {topic} ({source})

## Connections / mutuals
- {Notable shared connection or affiliation}

## Conversation starters
- {Specific recent thing of theirs to reference}
- {Topic they care about, based on their writing}

## Sources
[1] {url}
[2] {url}

Privacy and tone

• Stick to professional public information. Don't aggregate personal details (home neighborhood, family) even if they leak into search results — leave them out.
• Don't infer political or religious views unless the user specifically needs that for a journalism / policy use case and even then, cite carefully.
• Be charitable. The brief should help the user have a good meeting, not roast the prospect.

Failure modes

• Common name: disambiguate with "{person} {company}" or "{person}" "{role}". If still ambiguous, ask the user for LinkedIn URL.
• Stealth-mode company: surface what you can find (founder names, hiring, domain registration date), say what you couldn't.
• Outdated info: Tavily indexes change; if facts contradict the user's prior knowledge, flag it and let them adjudicate.