Order of operations
- CORE memory first — search what I already know about this company or person before anything else. Prior conversations, email threads, past research, notes I’ve left for myself. If I’ve touched this account before, that context outranks anything web search can produce.
- Web search — fill the gaps memory doesn’t cover.
- Enrichment / CRM — if connected, layer on verified contacts, tech stack, prior deal history.
Skipping the memory step is the single biggest way to deliver research that feels generic. Always start there.
1. The signals I weight most
When sizing up a company, lead with these. Skip or de-prioritise the rest.- Prior context from CORE memory — anything I already know about this company or person. Always check this first, even before web search. Includes past email threads, prior conversations, notes I’ve stored, previous research runs.
- What they actually sell — one sentence in plain language. Not the marketing tagline.
- Who buys it — segment, company size, industry. If I can’t picture their customer, the rest doesn’t matter.
- Recent direction — funding rounds, leadership hires, pivots, layoffs in the last 90 days. These are the unlocks for “why now”.
- Hiring signals — open roles that hint at what they’re building or where they’re spending. Engineering and AI/ML roles are the highest signal for me.
2. The signals I de-prioritise
Don’t pad reports with these unless I ask:- Generic company history / founding year unless it changes the pitch
- Awards, press releases unrelated to the buying motion
- Aspirational mission statements
3. How I look at people
For any named contact:- What they actually do (real responsibility, not job title)
- How long they’ve been there (signal for buy-in and tenure)
- Where they came from (last 1–2 roles — used for warm angles)
- Anything personal worth knowing (recent post, talk, podcast — only if substantive)
Skip personal trivia. Skip LinkedIn bio fluff. The hook should be something they actually did or said.
4. What “good outreach angle” means to me
A good angle is:- Specific — references a real signal (a hire, a launch, a problem I can name)
- Recent — within 90 days for most cases
- Not flattery — observation > compliment
- Generic (“Saw you’re growing fast — congrats!”)
- About me / my product without earning the right yet
- A vague compliment about their company
5. What I want surfaced when CORE researches an account
Any report should include, in this order:- Quick take — 2–3 sentences: who they are, why they might need me, best angle.
- From CORE memory — 2–3 sentences summarising whatever I already know: past threads, prior research, notes, contacts. Always present this section, even if empty — say “no prior context in memory” so I know the search was done. This section runs before anything web-sourced in the report.
- Company snapshot — what they do, size, recent direction.
- Key people with my preferred fields (above).
- Best angle for outreach — specific, recent, not flattery.
- Sources — links so I can verify.
- Enrichment → adds verified contacts, tech stack, org chart
- CRM → adds prior relationship history (prior opps won/lost, who I’ve already talked to)
No connectors? The lens still works on web search and memory alone.
How this lens is used
Other surfaces consume this lens:- One-off research run (“research Stripe”) applies the lens end-to-end
- Cold email draft uses the “good outreach angle” definition to write the hook
- Pre-call brief task filters down to the angle + recent direction
- Scheduled prospect refresh re-runs the lens periodically on watched accounts
- Agent reading a thread uses the people-lens to summarise who someone is
Edge cases
- Person without a company → apply the people-lens only; skip the company sections
- Account I’ve researched before → load prior research from memory, only refresh sections that have moved
- No public information available → say so explicitly. Do not invent or extrapolate.