octavehq/research

/octave:research - Context-Aware Research & Prep

Research prospects and prepare for calls, meetings, demos, outreach, and deal reviews. Adapts output based on the occasion—whether you're prepping for a discovery call, following up on a deal, or researching a new prospect.

Usage

/octave:research <target> [--for <occasion>]

Examples

/octave:research [email protected]                       # General research
/octave:research acme.com                            # Company research
/octave:research [email protected] --for discovery       # Discovery call prep
/octave:research "meeting with Acme Corp" --for demo # Demo prep
/octave:research acme.com --for outreach             # Cold outreach angles

Occasions

| Occasion | Output Focus | |----------|--------------| | discovery | Questions to ask, pain points to probe, qualification criteria | | demo | Use cases to show, proof points to cite, objections to prepare for | | follow-up | Next steps, open questions, momentum builders | | outreach | Hooks, angles, personalization points, CTAs | | general | Comprehensive research (default) |

Working a live deal? Use /octave:pipeline for deal-level strategy — stalled deals, multi-threading, and competitive situations. Prepping a specific upcoming meeting? Use /octave:meeting-prep for a full battle plan, or /octave:brief for an HTML account dossier.

Instructions

When the user runs /octave:research:

Step 1: Parse Input and Detect Occasion

Identify the target:

• Email address → Person research
• Domain → Company research
• LinkedIn URL → Person research
• Name + company → Person research
• Meeting/deal description → Context-based (extract company/people)

Detect or ask occasion:

If --for not specified, infer from context or ask:

What are you preparing for?

1. Discovery call - First conversation, qualifying the opportunity
2. Demo - Showing the product, proving value
3. Follow-up - Continuing a conversation, next steps
4. Outreach - Cold/warm outreach, getting a response
5. General research - Just want to know more

TIP: For deal-level strategy on a live deal, use /octave:pipeline
TIP: For a full battle plan for a specific meeting, use /octave:meeting-prep

Your choice:

Step 2: Research the Target

For Person:

# Try to enrich the person
enrich_person({
  person: {
    email: "<email>",           # if provided
    linkedInProfile: "<url>",   # if provided
    firstName: "<first>",       # if provided
    lastName: "<last>",         # if provided
    companyDomain: "<domain>"   # if provided
  }
})

# Also get company context
enrich_company({ companyDomain: "<domain>" })

# Match to personas
qualify_person({
  person: { ... },
  additionalContext: "Match to our buyer personas and Motion ICP cells"
})

For Company:

# Enrich the company
enrich_company({ companyDomain: "<domain>" })

# Qualify against ICP
qualify_company({
  companyDomain: "<domain>",
  additionalContext: "Evaluate fit against our segments and Motion ICP cells"
})

# Find key contacts
find_person({
  searchMode: "people",
  companyDomain: "<domain>",
  fuzzyTitles: ["<titles from matching persona>"],
  limit: 5
})

Gather Library Context:

Use MCP tools:

# Find the matching Motion ICP cell (persona × segment intersection)
list_motions()
list_motion_icps({ motionOId: "<motion_oId>" })
find_motion_icp({ motionIcpOId: "<motion_icp_oId>", includeLearnings: true })

# Get relevant proof points
search_knowledge_base({
  query: "<company industry> <company size> results",
  entityTypes: ["proof_point", "reference"]
})

# Get competitor context if detected
search_knowledge_base({
  query: "<any competitor signals>",
  entityTypes: ["competitor"]
})

Step 3: Generate Occasion-Specific Output

Discovery Call Prep

See discovery-call-prep.md for the discovery call prep output template.

Demo Prep

See demo-prep.md for the demo prep output template.

Outreach Prep

See outreach-prep.md for the outreach prep output template.

Step 4: Offer Follow-Up Actions

After any research output, offer relevant next steps:

What would you like to do next?

1. Generate outreach content (/octave:generate)
2. Create collateral for this account (/octave:pmm)
3. Research additional people at the company
4. Deep dive on a specific topic
5. Save notes to [CRM integration if available]
6. Done for now

MCP Tools Used

Research Operations

• enrich_person - Full person intelligence report
• enrich_company - Full company intelligence report
• qualify_person - ICP scoring for person
• qualify_company - ICP scoring for company
• find_person - Find contacts at company

Library Context

• list_motions - List Motions in the workspace
• list_motion_icps - List Motion ICP cells under a Motion
• find_motion_icp - Fetch the matching Motion ICP narrative + Learning Loop learnings
• get_entity - Get persona, competitor details
• search_knowledge_base - Find proof points, references, messaging

Error Handling

Person Not Found:

I couldn't find detailed information for [email/name].

I found their company ([Company]). Would you like me to:

1. Proceed with company research + generic persona guidance
2. Search for them on LinkedIn (provide URL)
3. Create research based on their title alone

Company Not Found:

I couldn't find [domain/company name].

Try:

1. Check the domain spelling
2. Provide the company website URL
3. Search by company name instead

No Matching Motion ICP:

No Motion ICP cell matches this profile exactly.

Closest matches:

• [Motion ICP 1] (60% fit)
• [Motion ICP 2] (45% fit)

I'll use [Motion ICP 1] as a guide, but you may want to add the missing persona × segment cell to a Motion (or create a new Motion).

Related Skills

• /octave:meeting-prep - Full strategic battle plan for a specific upcoming meeting
• /octave:brief - HTML account dossier / internal reference document
• /octave:generate - Generate outreach content
• /octave:pmm - Create account-specific collateral
• /octave:prospector - Find more prospects like this one
• /octave:analyzer - Analyze past interactions with this account
• /octave:pipeline - Deal-level strategy (stalled deals, multi-threading, competitive)
• /octave:abm - Full account-based planning with stakeholder mapping
• /octave:battlecard - Competitive intelligence for deals