Lead Research Assistant

This skill helps you identify and qualify potential leads for your business by analyzing your product/service, understanding your ideal customer profile, and providing actionable outreach strategies.

When to Use This Skill

• Finding potential customers or clients for your product/service
• Building a list of companies to reach out to for partnerships
• Identifying target accounts for sales outreach
• Researching companies that match your ideal customer profile
• Preparing for business development activities

What This Skill Does

1. Understands Your Business: Analyzes your product/service, value proposition, and target market
2. Identifies Target Companies: Finds companies that match your ideal customer profile based on:
   • Industry and sector
   • Company size and location
   • Technology stack and tools they use
   • Growth stage and funding
   • Pain points your product solves
3. Prioritizes Leads: Ranks companies based on fit score and relevance
4. Provides Contact Strategies: Suggests how to approach each lead with personalized messaging
5. Enriches Data: Gathers relevant information about decision-makers and company context

How to Use

Basic Usage

Simply describe your product/service and what you're looking for:

I'm building [product description]. Find me 10 companies in [location/industry]
that would be good leads for this.

With Your Codebase

For even better results, run this from your product's source code directory:

Look at what I'm building in this repository and identify the top 10 companies
in [location/industry] that would benefit from this product.

Advanced Usage

For more targeted research:

My product: [description]
Ideal customer profile:
- Industry: [industry]
- Company size: [size range]
- Location: [location]
- Current pain points: [pain points]
- Technologies they use: [tech stack]

Find me 20 qualified leads with contact strategies for each.

Instructions

When a user requests lead research:

1. Understand the Product/Service

   • If in a code directory, analyze the codebase to understand the product
   • Ask clarifying questions about the value proposition
   • Identify key features and benefits
   • Understand what problems it solves

2. Define Ideal Customer Profile

   • Determine target industries and sectors
   • Identify company size ranges
   • Consider geographic preferences
   • Understand relevant pain points
   • Note any technology requirements

3. Research and Identify Leads

   • Search for companies matching the criteria
   • Look for signals of need (job postings, tech stack, recent news)
   • Consider growth indicators (funding, expansion, hiring)
   • Identify companies with complementary products/services
   • Check for budget indicators

4. Prioritize and Score

   • Create a fit score (1-10) for each lead
   • Consider factors like:
     • Alignment with ICP
     • Signals of immediate need
     • Budget availability
     • Competitive landscape
     • Timing indicators

5. Provide Actionable Output

   For each lead, provide:

   • Company Name and website
   • Why They're a Good Fit: Specific reasons based on their business
   • Priority Score: 1-10 with explanation
   • Decision Maker: Role/title to target (e.g., "VP of Engineering")
   • Contact Strategy: Personalized approach suggestions
   • Value Proposition: How your product solves their specific problem
   • Conversation Starters: Specific points to mention in outreach
   • LinkedIn URL: If available, for easy connection

6. Format the Output

   Present results in a clear, scannable format:

   # Lead Research Results
   
   ## Summary
   - Total leads found: [X]
   - High priority (8-10): [X]
   - Medium priority (5-7): [X]
   - Average fit score: [X]
   
   ---
   
   ## Lead 1: [Company Name]
   
   **Website**: [URL]
   **Priority Score**: [X/10]
   **Industry**: [Industry]
   **Size**: [Employee count/revenue range]
   
   **Why They're a Good Fit**:
   [2-3 specific reasons based on their business]
   
   **Target Decision Maker**: [Role/Title]
   **LinkedIn**: [URL if available]
   
   **Value Proposition for Them**:
   [Specific benefit for this company]
   
   **Outreach Strategy**:
   [Personalized approach - mention specific pain points, recent company news, or relevant context]
   
   **Conversation Starters**:
   - [Specific point 1]
   - [Specific point 2]
   
   ---
   
   [Repeat for each lead]
   

7. Offer Next Steps

   • Suggest saving results to a CSV for CRM import
   • Offer to draft personalized outreach messages
   • Recommend prioritization based on timing
   • Suggest follow-up research for top leads

Examples

Example 1: From Lenny's Newsletter

User: "I'm building a tool that masks sensitive data in AI coding assistant queries. Find potential leads."

Output: Creates a prioritized list of companies that:

• Use AI coding assistants (Copilot, Cursor, etc.)
• Handle sensitive data (fintech, healthcare, legal)
• Have evidence in their GitHub repos of using coding agents
• May have accidentally exposed sensitive data in code
• Includes LinkedIn URLs of relevant decision-makers

Example 2: Local Business

User: "I run a consulting practice for remote team productivity. Find me 10 companies in the Bay Area that recently went remote."

Output: Identifies companies that:

• Recently posted remote job listings
• Announced remote-first policies
• Are hiring distributed teams
• Show signs of remote work challenges
• Provides personalized outreach strategies for each

Reference Files

• references/RESEARCH_REPORT.template.md - Research report template with key findings, evidence, and recommendations
• references/COMPETITIVE_ANALYSIS.template.md - Competitive analysis template with market overview, competitor profiles, and SWOT

Tips for Best Results

• Be specific about your product and its unique value
• Run from your codebase if applicable for automatic context
• Provide context about your ideal customer profile
• Specify constraints like industry, location, or company size
• Request follow-up research on promising leads for deeper insights

Related Use Cases

• Drafting personalized outreach emails after identifying leads
• Building a CRM-ready CSV of qualified prospects
• Researching specific companies in detail
• Analyzing competitor customer bases
• Identifying partnership opportunities