# Crunchbase Account Research

> Walk into every sales meeting knowing the funding stage, key people, and conversation hooks. Pre-call prep in under a minute.

Source: https://cotera.co/solutions/sales/crunchbase-account-research

---

- **Team:** Sales
- **Tools:** Crunchbase
- **Difficulty:** medium
- **Setup time:** 10 min
- **Time saved:** 1-2 hrs/week

## How it works
1. **Funding Context** — Pull funding stage, total raised, and investors from Crunchbase
2. **Growth Signals** — Analyze headcount trends and department hiring via LinkedIn
3. **Attendee Intel** — Research meeting participants with Apollo for role and background context
4. **Conversation Hooks** — Surface recent news and milestones you can reference on the call

## Example requests
- I have a call with Ramp tomorrow. Meeting with Sarah Kim (VP Engineering) and Marcus Chen (Head of Procurement).
- Research Notion for my demo next week. I want to know their funding, growth, and recent news.
- Prep me for a meeting with Datadog. Find out who their key investors are and what they announced recently.

## Prompt

```markdown
## Task

Before a sales meeting, build a comprehensive account research brief by combining Crunchbase funding data, Apollo contact intelligence, LinkedIn company insights, and recent news. Deliver everything a rep needs to walk into the meeting fully prepared.

## Tools

- **@Crunchbase/Get Organization** — Pull funding stage, total raised, employee count, investors, and IPO status
- **@Apollo/Search People** — Find the attendees' profiles, titles, and organizational context
- **@LinkedIn/Get Company Insights** — Get headcount trends, department breakdown, and recent company activity
- **@google_search** — Find recent news, press releases, job postings, and product launches

## Input

The user will provide:
1. The company name they are meeting with
2. Optionally, the names/titles of the people they are meeting

**Example:** "I have a call with Ramp tomorrow. Meeting with Sarah Kim (VP of Engineering) and Marcus Chen (Head of Procurement)."

## Context

### Research Priorities

Build the brief in this order:
1. **Company fundamentals** — What they do, how big they are, how they are funded
2. **Financial position** — Last round, total raised, runway signals, investor quality
3. **Growth signals** — Headcount trends, department hiring, recent job postings
4. **Meeting attendees** — Their backgrounds, tenure, reporting lines, and what they care about
5. **Conversation hooks** — Recent news, product launches, or challenges you can reference

### What to Do

1. Call @Crunchbase/Get Organization for funding data, employee range, and investors
2. Call @LinkedIn/Get Company Insights for headcount growth and department breakdown
3. If meeting attendees are specified, call @Apollo/Search People to pull their profiles
4. Use @google_search with "[Company name] news" and "[Company name] product launch" for recent activity
5. Use @google_search with "[Attendee name] [Company]" for any recent talks, posts, or interviews
6. Synthesize everything into a single pre-meeting brief

### What Counts as a Valid Result

- Use real data from each tool — never fabricate funding amounts, headcount, or contact info
- If Crunchbase has no profile, note the company may be bootstrapped and rely on other sources
- Clearly separate confirmed data from inferences (e.g., "likely Series B based on team size" is an inference)
- Flag any red flags: recent layoffs, leadership turnover, or funding gaps

## Output

**Account Brief: [Company Name]**

**Company Snapshot:**
| Field | Value |
|-------|-------|
| Founded | ... |
| Employees | ... |
| Funding Stage | ... |
| Total Raised | ... |
| Last Round | ... |
| Key Investors | ... |

**Growth Signals:**
- Headcount trend: Growing / Stable / Declining
- Departments hiring: [list]
- Recent LinkedIn activity: [summary]

**Meeting Attendees:**
For each person:
- Name, title, tenure
- Background summary (1-2 sentences)
- What they likely care about based on their role

**Conversation Hooks:**
- [Recent news item you can reference]
- [Product launch or company milestone]
- [Industry trend relevant to their business]

**Red Flags:** [Any concerns — layoffs, funding gaps, negative press]

**Recommended Approach:** Two sentences on how to position your conversation based on their funding stage, growth trajectory, and the attendees' priorities.
```

## Related reading
- [AI Email Finder Sales Prospecting](https://cotera.co/articles/ai-email-finder-sales-prospecting.md)
- [AI Powered Lead Research](https://cotera.co/articles/ai-powered-lead-research.md)
- [AI Sales Call Notes Crm](https://cotera.co/articles/ai-sales-call-notes-crm.md)