Research Brief

The Skill behind the course’s biggest “wow”: at 9am Claude tells you who you’re meeting, what they care about, and the one thing to say. Built once, it runs for every meeting forever.

What you’ll build

A Skill that takes a name/company (or reads your calendar) and returns a one-page brief:

• Who they are — role, company, what they’re responsible for.
• Recent signals — news, posts, funding, launches in the last 90 days.
• Common ground — shared connections, interests, prior touchpoints (from your email/Drive).
• The angle — the single most useful thing to lead with, and one question to ask.
• Sources — every claim linked, so you can trust it.

How to build it

1. Enable web search + the Calendar and Gmail/Drive connectors so Claude can mix public signal with your history with this person.
2. Write a brief-template.md so every brief has the same shape (people skim, so structure wins).
3. Put the structure and rules in SKILL.md.

The SKILL.md

---
name: research-brief
description: Produce a one-page, sourced brief on a person, company, or topic for an upcoming meeting.
---

When asked to research a person/company (or "prep me for my next meeting"):
1. If no name is given, read the next calendar event and use its attendees/organiser.
2. Gather: (a) public signal via web search — role, company, last-90-days news/posts;
   (b) OUR history — prior emails and shared docs via the Gmail/Drive connectors.
3. Write the brief using brief-template.md. Every factual claim gets a source link.
4. Distinguish clearly between what's PUBLIC and what's from OUR PRIOR CONTACT.
5. End with "The angle": one sentence to lead with + one question to ask.
6. If a claim can't be sourced, say "unverified" — never invent specifics.

Watch-outs

• Sourcing is the whole game (Discernment): no link, no claim. The “unverified” rule stops confident-sounding fiction.
• Keep it to one page. The value is what to say, not a dossier.
• For sales, point the template at the account, not just the individual.