Build a candidate's research brief on a company before an application or interview. Use when asked to research a company for a job, prep a company brief befo...
---
name: company-brief
description: "Build a candidate's research brief on a company before an application or interview. Use when asked to research a company for a job, prep a company brief before an interview, or understand a prospective employer fast. Produces a one-page brief โ what they do & how they make money, recent news & trajectory, product & competitors, likely challenges, culture signals, and smart questions to ask."
homepage: https://mohitagw15856.github.io/pm-claude-skills/skill/company-brief.html
metadata:
{
"openclaw": { "emoji": "๐" }
}
---
# Company Brief Skill
Walking into an interview without understanding the business is the fastest way to look like you're just
collecting offers. This skill assembles a candidate's research brief โ what the company does, how it
makes money, where it's heading, and the challenges *you'd* be hired to help with โ so you can speak to
their reality and ask questions that signal you've done the work.
## Required Inputs
Ask for these only if they aren't already provided:
- **Company name** (and website/ticker if helpful).
- **The role** you're interviewing for โ so the brief focuses on what's relevant to *that* job.
- **What you already know / found** โ paste any research, news, or notes you have (this skill structures and reasons over it).
> Note: ground this in real, provided information. Where current facts aren't supplied, say so and mark inferences as assumptions โ don't fabricate funding rounds, metrics, or news.
## Output Format
### Company Brief: [company] โ prepping for [role]
**1. What they do & how they make money** โ the business in plain terms: product, customers, and the revenue model. If you can't tell how they make money, that's itself worth noting.
**2. Trajectory & recent news** โ stage, growth signals, funding/earnings, launches, leadership changes (from the info provided). Where it's clearly heading.
**3. Product & competitors** โ the core product, who they compete with, and their differentiation (or lack of it).
**4. Likely challenges** โ the 2โ3 problems this company is probably grappling with that *this role* would touch. This is the gold: it's what you'll speak to in the interview.
**5. Culture signals** โ what their site, JD, reviews, and public voice suggest about how they work (and whether you'd want to).
**6. Smart questions to ask** โ 4โ6 questions that show you understand their business and surface what *you* need to know (avoid generic "what's the culture like?").
**7. Your angle** โ how to connect your background to their specific situation, in one or two lines.
## Quality Checks
- [ ] Explains how the company actually makes money (or flags that it's unclear)
- [ ] Likely challenges are tied to the specific role, not generic
- [ ] Questions-to-ask are specific to this company, not reusable boilerplate
- [ ] Inferences are marked as assumptions; nothing is fabricated as fact
- [ ] Ends with a concrete "your angle" connecting the candidate to their situation
## Anti-Patterns
- [ ] Do not fabricate funding, metrics, or news โ work from provided info and label inferences
- [ ] Do not produce a generic company overview โ focus on what matters for this role and interview
- [ ] Do not list culture platitudes โ read real signals (JD tone, reviews, how they describe the work)
- [ ] Do not suggest generic questions ("what's a typical day?") โ make them business-specific
- [ ] Do not skip "likely challenges" โ it's the section that makes you sound like a hire, not a tourist
## Based On
Interview research / company due-diligence practice for candidates (business model ยท trajectory ยท role-relevant challenges).
don't have the plugin yet? install it then click "run inline in claude" again.