View the Dossier Extreme SKILL.md the file this guide runs on
---
name: dossier-extreme
version: 10.2.0
description: >
Use when preparing deep prospective-client research before a high-stakes
meeting. Fires on "build a dossier," "Dossier Extreme," "deep research on,"
"prospect research for," "who is [name]," "prep me for the [company] call,"
or "research this person before the meeting." Produces a structured
eight-section markdown dossier covering who they are, their organization,
what they care about, what they have already tried, their likely
motivations, their network, smart entry points, and the flags and gaps
still open. Every claim is sourced and linked.
---
# Dossier Extreme v10
Before a high-stakes meeting, Dossier Extreme builds a full profile of the prospective client from public signals. You enter the conversation as a trusted advisor, not a vendor pitching blind.
This is not a search-engine summary. It is a structured read of who they are, what they care about, what they have already tried, and where you fit.
## Context Required
This skill runs standalone. The more you give it, the sharper the output.
**Optional inputs**
- Anything you already know — a profile URL, referral notes, prior email threads
- The organization's name and website
- Any public content they have produced — podcast links, Substack, blog, conference talks, published writing
- The meeting context, meaning what this conversation is nominally about
- Your offer description, so Smart Entry Points get written against what you sell rather than in the abstract
**Sources it pulls from**
LinkedIn (personal and organization), press releases, news coverage, social media, podcast appearances, published writing, newsletters, conference talks, panel appearances, YouTube, board memberships, the organization website and its jobs board, annual reports or 990s or 10-Ks, academic or industry publications, any other public footprint.
## When to Run It
Run it for
- First discovery calls with a new prospective client
- Proposal or scoping conversations
- Any meeting where you want the relationship to shift gears
- A renewal, because what is under pressure at an organization changes faster than the relationship does
- Any time a colleague asks you to dig into someone before an introduction
Skip it for internal team meetings, recurring check-ins with existing clients, and low-stakes introductions. Skip it for an individual buying for themselves rather than for an organization — the sections come back thin on a person with no professional footprint.
## The Research Prompt
Paste this and fill in what you know.
```
Run Dossier Extreme on this prospective client.
NAME: [Full name]
TITLE AND ROLE: [Their title and organization]
ORG: [Organization name, size if known, sector]
HOW WE MET: [Referral / inbound / outreach / event / mutual connection]
WHAT I KNOW SO FAR: [Anything you have already learned]
MEETING PURPOSE: [What this conversation is nominally about]
WHAT I SELL: [Your offer, so the entry points connect to something you do]
LINKS: [Any URLs you have]
Build the full dossier.
```
## Steps
1. Confirm the target before searching. Organization name, person's name, title. If only one is supplied, find the others and confirm before going deeper. Researching the wrong Sarah Chen wastes the run.
2. Pull the organization layer, including the jobs board. What an organization is hiring for is the clearest public statement of what it has decided to fix, and almost nobody reads it.
3. Pull the person layer, including how long they have been in the position. Someone in month four buys differently than someone in year nine.
4. Pull the pressure layer for Section 5. Regulatory changes, funding cycles, competitor moves, leadership changes, anything with a date attached in the last two quarters.
5. Draft all eight sections. Every claim links its source. Anything without a source goes to Section 8 as an open question, never into the body as an assertion.
6. Write Smart Entry Points last, against what the user sells. Two or three, each a paragraph, each plain. The user picks. The skill does not pick for them.
7. Run the check-ins below before handing it over.
## What It Produces
A markdown document with eight sections. Every claim is sourced and linked.
```markdown
# Dossier Extreme
## [Prospective client name] — [Organization] — Compiled [MM.DD.YY]
**Compiled for** [meeting purpose]
**Internal only** — this is preparation, never a document the prospective client sees
## 1. Who They Are
Professional background, career arc, current position, and how long they have been in it. What they have built or led. The through-line across what they do. Open with a citable sentence under 25 words. Link the profile and any public bio.
## 2. Their Organization
Size, sector, stage, mission, funding or revenue model. Public signals about where they are in their field — job postings, press, announcements, leadership statements. Link the org website, the jobs board, and recent coverage.
## 3. What They Care About
Drawn from public content. What they name repeatedly, in their exact words. Pull the vocabulary verbatim rather than summarizing their tone — a proposal written in the prospective client's language reads as understanding, one written in yours reads as a template. Direct quotes with source links.
## 4. What They Have Already Tried
Signals about tools, vendors, consultants, or initiatives already in motion. What worked and what did not. If nothing is public, say so here rather than leaving the section empty. Link the sources.
## 5. Their Likely Motivations
Why they probably said yes to this meeting, and why now rather than last year. The pressure layer belongs here — regulatory shifts, funding cycles, competitor moves, new leadership, hiring patterns, each dated and sourced. What success looks like to them, and what they may be nervous about.
## 6. The Relationship Web
Who they trust. Advisors, board members, peers, collaborators they mention publicly. Where budget authority sits, who else touches the decision, and who might already know you. Link the profiles.
## 7. Smart Entry Points
Two or three things you could reference naturally, each connecting a specific finding to something you do. These are not flattery — they are things you would want to ask about in any conversation. Written as plain paragraphs, never taglines. Each links back to its source.
## 8. Flags and Gaps
What you do not know yet that could shape the conversation. Budget size, timeline, whether this person has authority, whether a competing engagement is underway. What to listen for, and what to ask about once you have earned the right.
```
## Works With
**Chains upstream from**
- None required. This is an origin node — it runs on public signals plus what you tell it. Hand it a CRM record or an intro email thread and Sections 6 and 8 start populated instead of empty.
**Chains downstream to**
- A meeting-prep or discovery-briefing skill — consumes the dossier as its primary research input.
- A fit or opportunity assessment — uses the dossier signals to score fit.
- Proposal drafting — Sections 3 and 5 supply the framing and the vocabulary.
**Pairs well with**
- Any research agent that can split the work or produce parallel research.
- Any pitch or offer-shaping skill, run after the dossier so the pitch is built on findings rather than guesses.
**Standalone mode**
Runs on whatever you give it. Minimum viable input is a name and an organization. Every section still populates, though thinly when the public footprint is sparse.
## Gotchas
I know you'll want to run it on someone you already know well — don't. It shines on new or semi-known prospective clients. For existing clients, a quick refresh note works better.
I know you'll want to skip the LINKS field because you have the name — don't. Every link you provide sharpens the research. Paste the profile URL, the org site, any podcast they were on.
I know you'll want to stop at the About page and the profile headline — don't. That layer tells you what they say about themselves, which they already know. Sections 4 and 5 are where the useful material lives.
I know you'll want to skip job postings because they feel like noise — don't. Hiring is the clearest public statement of what an organization has decided to fix.
I know you'll want to write Section 3 as a summary of their tone — don't. Pull the exact words. A phrase they use repeatedly is worth more than a paragraph describing their style.
I know you'll want to treat the dossier as a finished artifact to hand to a client — don't. It is consultant-facing preparation. It never leaves your system, and sending it reads as surveillance.
I know you'll want to accept public content at face value — don't. People curate what they publish. Use the dossier to form hypotheses you test in conversation, not conclusions you bring in.
I know you'll want to fill an empty section with reasonable inference — don't. An unsourced claim in the body becomes something you repeat in the meeting and get corrected on. Move it to Section 8.
I know you'll want to keep running it after you have built a relationship — don't. Once you have a second or third meeting behind you, shift to notes and conversation recall.
I know you'll want to research the person's personal life because it is findable — don't. Family, health, home address, political donations, and anything from a personal social account stay out. The line is what they have published in a professional capacity.
*Add to this list as failures surface.*
## Constraints
- Markdown output only.
- Public sources plus whatever you supply. Never private data, leaked information, or scraped paywalled content.
- Every claim carries a linked source. Anything unverified goes to Section 8 rather than being softened into the body with a hedge.
- Internal preparation only. The dossier never goes to the prospective client.
- Personal life stays out. Professional footprint only.
- Smart Entry Points offers options. The skill does not decide which to use.
- If the target cannot be confirmed, stop and ask rather than researching a likely match.
## Check-Ins
After the first run, ask
- Are all eight sections populating, or is one consistently thin?
- Did the Smart Entry Points land in the conversation, or did you write your own?
- What did you wish the dossier had surfaced that it missed?
After several runs, ask
- Is one section always sparse because the public footprint in your sector is thin?
- Have you started to trust Their Likely Motivations, or is it still a guess most of the time?
- Any failure pattern to add to the gotchas right now while it is fresh?
Before wrapping up, ask
- What else can I take off your plate?
## Changelog
| Date | Version | What Changed |
|------|---------|-------------|
| 08.05.26 | 10.2.0 | Give-out edition. Removed the ACA-only audience gate and every internal path so it runs cold on any consultant's machine. Kept the canonical eight sections rather than inventing new ones. Folded the pressure layer into Their Likely Motivations, folded verbatim vocabulary into What They Care About, and added budget authority to The Relationship Web. Added the personal-life boundary, the target-confirmation step, and the jobs board as a source. Version reflects Anne Murphy's dossier lineage, not this file's git history. |
| 04.19.26 | 2.0.0 | Formalized under Nathaniel Method v2.2.0. Output restructured as eight-section markdown with required source links on every claim. "Prospect" as a noun replaced with "prospective client" per brand rule; "prospect research" preserved as a term of art. |
| 04.03.26 | 1.0.0 | Initial skill. |
---
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