Account Research
Pull company and contact intel from the web before cold outreach, partnerships, or pricing conversations.
Overview
Account Research is an agent skill most often used in Idea (also Grow, Validate) that researches companies and people via web search for sales-ready intel before outreach.
Install
npx skills add https://github.com/anthropics/knowledge-work-plugins --skill account-researchWhat is this skill?
- Standalone web search: overview, news, hiring signals, leadership, and product positioning
- Optional enrichment layer for verified contact data, tech stack, and org chart when tools are connected
- Optional CRM layer for prior relationships and past opportunities
- Trigger phrases: research [company], look up [person], intel on [prospect]
- Structured before-outreach briefing instead of ad-hoc tab hopping
- Always-on web research block covers company overview, news, hiring, leadership, and product/service context
- Supercharged mode adds enrichment (email, phone, tech stack, org chart) and CRM history when connected
Adoption & trust: 1.8k installs on skills.sh; 19.6k GitHub stars; 2/3 security scanners passed (skills.sh audits).
What problem does it solve?
You are about to message a prospect but only have a company name and no structured picture of news, buyers, or prior relationship context.
Who is it for?
Solo founders and indie builders doing outbound, partnerships, or founder-led sales who want repeatable prospect research without a full sales ops stack.
Skip if: Builders with no outbound motion, or teams that already mandate a single CRM research workflow with enforced data fields and approval gates.
When should I use this skill?
User says research [company], look up [person], intel on [prospect], who is [name] at [company], or tell me about [company].
What do I get? / Deliverables
You get a consolidated account or person brief you can paste into outreach, call prep, or positioning notes—with richer contact and CRM context when connected tools are available.
- Structured account or person research brief for outreach
- Optional enriched contact and relationship context when tools are connected
Recommended Skills
Journey fit
Spans multiple journey phases - primary shelf plus alternate fits below.
Prospect and company lookup is the canonical research step before you commit to a channel, niche, or sales motion. Fits the idea/research shelf where you map who buys, who leads, and what signals matter—not yet full CRM ops.
Where it fits
Map whether a target account’s hiring and news fit your wedge before you pick a niche.
Refresh intel on a warm lead the day before a renewal or upsell conversation.
How it compares
Use instead of unstructured web-search chat when you want a fixed research checklist and optional enrichment/CRM layers.
Common Questions / FAQ
Who is account-research for?
Solo and indie builders who sell or partner and need company and contact intel before writing outreach or joining a call.
When should I use account-research?
In Idea when researching markets and buyers; in Validate when scoping who competes or who would pay; in Grow before lifecycle outreach—whenever you say research [company] or look up [person].
Is account-research safe to install?
Review the Security Audits panel on this Prism page and limit connected CRM or enrichment credentials to least-privilege accounts you control.
SKILL.md
READMESKILL.md - Account Research
# Account Research Get a complete picture of any company or person before outreach. This skill always works with web search, and gets significantly better with enrichment and CRM data. ## How It Works ``` ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ ACCOUNT RESEARCH │ ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │ ALWAYS (works standalone via web search) │ │ ✓ Company overview: what they do, size, industry │ │ ✓ Recent news: funding, leadership changes, announcements │ │ ✓ Hiring signals: open roles, growth indicators │ │ ✓ Key people: leadership team from LinkedIn │ │ ✓ Product/service: what they sell, who they serve │ ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │ SUPERCHARGED (when you connect your tools) │ │ + Enrichment: verified emails, phone, tech stack, org chart │ │ + CRM: prior relationship, past opportunities, contacts │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ ``` --- ## Getting Started Just tell me who to research: - "Research Stripe" - "Look up the CTO at Notion" - "Intel on acme.com" - "Who is Sarah Chen at TechCorp?" - "Tell me about [company] before my call" I'll run web searches immediately. If you have enrichment or CRM connected, I'll pull that data too. --- ## Connectors (Optional) Connect your tools to supercharge this skill: | Connector | What It Adds | |-----------|--------------| | **Enrichment** | Verified emails, phone numbers, tech stack, org chart, funding details | | **CRM** | Prior relationship history, past opportunities, existing contacts, notes | > **No connectors?** No problem. Web search provides solid research for any company or person. --- ## Output Format ```markdown # Research: [Company or Person Name] **Generated:** [Date] **Sources:** Web Search [+ Enrichment] [+ CRM] --- ## Quick Take [2-3 sentences: Who they are, why they might need you, best angle for outreach] --- ## Company Profile | Field | Value | |-------|-------| | **Company** | [Name] | | **Website** | [URL] | | **Industry** | [Industry] | | **Size** | [Employee count] | | **Headquarters** | [Location] | | **Founded** | [Year] | | **Funding** | [Stage + amount if known] | | **Revenue** | [Estimate if available] | ### What They Do [1-2 sentence description of their business, product, and customers] ### Recent News - **[Headline]** — [Date] — [Why it matters for your outreach] - **[Headline]** — [Date] — [Why it matters] ### Hiring Signals - [X] open roles in [Department] - Notable: [Relevant roles like Engineering, Sales, AI/ML] - Growth indicator: [Hiring velocity interpretation] --- ## Key People ### [Name] — [Title] | Field | Detail | |-------|--------| | **LinkedIn** | [URL] | | **Background** | [Prior companies, education] | | **Tenure** | [Time at company] | | **Email** | [If enrichment connected] | **Talking Points:** - [Personal hook based on background] - [Professional hook based on role] [Repeat for relevant contacts] --- ## Tech Stack [If Enrichment Connected] | Category | Tools | |----------|-------| | **Cloud** | [AWS, GCP, Azure, etc.] | | **Data** | [Snowflake, Databricks, etc.] | | **CRM** | [e.g. Salesforce, HubSpot] | | **Other** | [Relevant tools] | **Integration Opportunity:** [How your product fits with their stack] --- ## Prior Relationship [If CRM Connected] | Field | Detail | |-------|--------| | **Status** | [New / Prior prospect / Customer / Churned] | | **Last C