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:

```markdown # 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

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