Create a company research brief with executive quotes, product strategy, and org context. Use when preparing for interviews, competitive analysis, partnerships, or market-entry work.

Purpose Create a comprehensive company profile that extracts executive insights, product strategy, transformation initiatives, and organizational dynamics from publicly available sources. Use this to understand competitive landscape, evaluate partnership opportunities, benchmark best practices, prepare for interviews, or inform market entry decisions by understanding how successful companies think about product management and strategy. This is not surface level research—it's strategic intelligence gathering focused on product management perspectives and executive vision. Input Works best with: The company to profile. Also useful: Why you're researching it (interview prep, competitive analysis, partnership, market entry) — this changes what the brief emphasizes. Anything supplied with the invocation itself — text after the skill name, a pasted context dump, or an appended ARGUMENTS: line — counts as answers already given. Use it and skip whatever it covers; don't re ask. Arriving empty handed? That works too. The skill asks for the company and the purpose before drafting the brief. Example invocation: Build a company research brief on Datadog — I interview with their platform PM team Friday. Key Concepts The Executive Insights Framework This framework synthesizes company intelligence across multiple dimensions: Core Components: 1. Company Overview: Basic info, history, industry context 2. Executive Quotes: Strategic vision from CEO, COO, VP Product, Group PM 3. Product Insights: Strategy, recent launches, innovation focus 4. Transformation Strategies: Digital, AI, Agile transformations 5. Organizational Impact: How PM influences strategy, cross functional collaboration 6. Future Roadmap: Upcoming initiatives and anticipated challenges 7. Product Led Growth (PLG): PLG strategies, data driven decisions Why This Works Executive perspective: Captures leadership thinking, not just marketing copy Product centric: Focuses on PM relevant insights (strategy, process, culture) Multi source: Synthesizes interviews, earnings calls, blog posts, case studies Strategic intelligence: Informs competitive positioning, partnership evaluation, or interview prep Anti Patterns (What This Is NOT) Not financial analysis: Focus is product strategy, not valuation or stock performance Not SWOT analysis: This documents their perspective, not strengths/weaknesses assessment Not surface scraping: Go deeper than "About Us" pages—find executive interviews, product blogs, earnings transcripts When to Use This Competitive analysis (understanding how competitors approach PM) Partnership evaluation (assessing cultural fit and strategic direction) Interview preparation (understanding company culture, product philosophy) Benchmarking best practices (learning from successful companies) Market entry decisions (understanding how incumbents operate) When NOT to Use This For internal analysis (this is external research) When primary sources are unavailable (executives haven't spoken publicly) As a substitute for customer research (this is company perspective, not customer perspective) Application Use template.md for the full fill in structure. Step 1: Define Research Scope Clarify what you're researching and why: Step 2: Gather Company Overview Document basic company information: Sources to check: Company website (About, Press, Blog) LinkedIn company page Crunchbase / PitchBook (for funding/valuation) Wikipedia (for history) Step 3: Extract Executive Quotes on Strategic Vision Find recent quotes from key executives: Sources to check: Earnings call transcripts (if public) Podcast interviews (e.g., Lenny's Podcast, Masters of Scale, How I Built This) Conference talks (YouTube, company blog) Blog posts by executives LinkedIn posts Industry publications (TechCrunch, The Verge, etc.) Quality checks: Recent: Prioritize quotes from the last 12 24 months Substantive: Look for strategy/philosophy, not generic PR statements Attributed: Always cite source and date Step 4: Document Product Insights Synthesize product strategy and recent launches: Sources to check: Product blog or changelog Product Hunt launches Release notes Product team blog posts or case studies Step 5: Identify Transformation Strategies Document how the company is evolving: Sources to check: Engineering blog Case studies or white papers Conference talks by engineering/product leaders LinkedIn posts about process changes Step 6: Understand Organizational Impact of Product Management Document how PM functions within the organization: Sources to check: PM job postings (describe role, responsibilities, team structure) LinkedIn profiles (track PM career progression) PM blog posts or interviews Glassdoor reviews (internal culture insights) Step 7: Analyze Future Roadmap and Challenges Identify where the company is headed: Sources to check: Earnings calls (forward looking statements) Analyst reports Industry news (funding rounds by competitors, market shifts) Step 8: Document Product Led Growth Insights If applicable, capture PLG strategies: Sources to check: Product analytics blog posts Growth team blog posts Case studies on activation, retention, expansion Step 9: Synthesize Key Takeaways Summarize the most important insights: Examples See examples/sample.md for a full company research example. Mini example excerpt: Common Pitfalls Pitfall 1: Surface Level Research Symptom: "Stripe is a payments company. They process payments." Consequence: No strategic insights. Fix: Go deeper—find executive interviews, engineering blogs, product philosophy posts. Pitfall 2: No Source Citations Symptom: "The CEO said the company is focused on innovation" Consequence: Unverifiable, low credibility. Fix: Always cite source and date: "The CEO said X (Source: Lenny's Podcast, Episode 185, Sept 2023)." Pitfall 3: Mixing Opinion with Facts Symptom: "Stripe's product strategy is great because they focus on developers" Consequence: Analysis, not research. Fix: Document what they do, not whether it's "good." Save analysis for "Key Takeaways." Pitfall 4: Outdated Information Symptom: Using 5 year old quotes or strategies Consequence: Irrelevant insights (company strategies evolve). Fix: Prioritize sources from the last 12 24 months. Pitfall 5: Ignoring Negative Signals Symptom: Only documenting successes, ignoring challenges or failures Consequence: Incomplete picture. Fix: Include "Anticipated Market Challenges" and competitive threats. References Related Skills skills/positioning statement/SKILL.md — Use company research to understand competitive positioning skills/pestel analysis/SKILL.md — Company research informs market context skills/proto persona/SKILL.md — Executive quotes may reveal target personas External Frameworks Competitive intelligence frameworks Strategic analysis methodologies Dean's Work Executive Insights Company Profile Template Provenance Adapted from prompts/company profile executive insights research.md in the https://github.com/deanpeters/product manager prompts repo. Skill type: Component Suggested filename: company research.md Suggested placement: /skills/components/ Dependencies: References skills/positioning statement/SKILL.md , skills/pestel analysis/SKILL.md

company-research