Prospecting Lists
Your goal is to help the user define their ideal client precisely, then systematically find matching prospects across multiple sources.
Before Starting
Define the ICP (Ideal Client Profile)
Don't skip this. A vague ICP produces a vague list. Nail down industry/vertical, company stage, size, budget signal (can they actually pay?), pain point, decision-maker, and geography.
Example ICP (not "startups"):
"Seed-to-Series-A startups in the AI/ML space with 5-20 employees, based in UK/US/EU, that have raised funding in the last 6 months and are hiring engineers (signal they're building). Decision-maker is the CTO or technical co-founder. They need help shipping their API/developer experience layer but can't justify a full-time hire for it."
Disqualifiers (equally important)
Define what makes a prospect a clear skip: pre-idea founders with no funding, companies with in-house teams that already cover your skill, industries you don't want to work in, budget below your floor.
Source Hierarchy
Tier 1: Warm Sources (Highest Conversion)
- Your existing network: Past colleagues, conference contacts, community members
- Referrals from current/past clients: Ask "who else should I talk to?"
- Communities you're in: Ramen Club, P1, Slack groups, Discord servers, Telegram groups
- Event attendees: Meetup/conference attendee lists
Tier 2: Public Intelligence
- Funding trackers: Crunchbase, PitchBook, TechCrunch Startups — recently funded = recently spending
- Job boards: Companies hiring for your skill = companies that need your skill NOW
- Product Hunt / Hacker News: Recently launched products that might need help scaling
- GitHub: Active repos in your niche, check the org/company behind them
Tier 3: Database Tools
- Apollo.io — firmographic + contact data, free tier available
- LinkedIn Sales Navigator — advanced search by role, company, industry
- Hunter.io — find email addresses from domains
- Clay — enrichment and multi-source prospecting
- BuiltWith — find companies using specific technologies
- Twitter/X lists — curate lists of ideal clients, monitor their activity
Building the List
Target: Start with 50-100 qualified prospects
For each prospect, capture:
| Field |
Example |
| Name |
Sarah Chen |
| Role |
CTO |
| Company |
Acme AI |
| Company stage |
Series A, $5M raised |
| Platform (best channel) |
Twitter + Telegram |
| Qualification signal |
Hiring 3 engineers, launched API last month |
| Personalisation hook |
Posted about struggling with API documentation |
| Status |
Not contacted |
Quality > Quantity
25 verified, well-researched leads beats 250 mostly-junk ones. Each prospect should pass your ICP checklist before going on the list.
Refresh Cadence
- Weekly: Add 10-20 new prospects from Tier 1-2 sources
- Monthly: Run Tier 3 database searches for new matches
- Quarterly: Review and update ICP based on what's actually converting
Related Skills
- keyword-search — find real-time opportunities (complements list-building)
- cold-dm — write outreach for your list
- follow-up-sequences — systematic follow-up for non-responders
- discovery-calls — handle the call when prospects respond
1---2name: prospecting-lists3description: Build qualified prospect lists from directories, databases, and community research. Use when the user wants to build a target list of potential clients beyond real-time keyword search. Also use when the user mentions "prospect list," "lead list," "ICP," "ideal client profile," "target accounts," "who should I reach out to," or "build a list." This is systematic list-building — different from the real-time keyword-search skill. For writing outreach after building the list, see cold-dm.4---56# Prospecting Lists78Your goal is to help the user define their ideal client precisely, then systematically find matching prospects across multiple sources.910## Before Starting1112### Define the ICP (Ideal Client Profile)1314Don't skip this. A vague ICP produces a vague list. Nail down industry/vertical, company stage, size, budget signal (can they actually pay?), pain point, decision-maker, and geography.1516**Example ICP (not "startups"):**17"Seed-to-Series-A startups in the AI/ML space with 5-20 employees, based in UK/US/EU, that have raised funding in the last 6 months and are hiring engineers (signal they're building). Decision-maker is the CTO or technical co-founder. They need help shipping their API/developer experience layer but can't justify a full-time hire for it."1819### Disqualifiers (equally important)2021Define what makes a prospect a clear skip: pre-idea founders with no funding, companies with in-house teams that already cover your skill, industries you don't want to work in, budget below your floor.2223## Source Hierarchy2425### Tier 1: Warm Sources (Highest Conversion)26- **Your existing network:** Past colleagues, conference contacts, community members27- **Referrals from current/past clients:** Ask "who else should I talk to?"28- **Communities you're in:** Ramen Club, P1, Slack groups, Discord servers, Telegram groups29- **Event attendees:** Meetup/conference attendee lists3031### Tier 2: Public Intelligence32- **Funding trackers:** Crunchbase, PitchBook, TechCrunch Startups — recently funded = recently spending33- **Job boards:** Companies hiring for your skill = companies that need your skill NOW34- **Product Hunt / Hacker News:** Recently launched products that might need help scaling35- **GitHub:** Active repos in your niche, check the org/company behind them3637### Tier 3: Database Tools38- **Apollo.io** — firmographic + contact data, free tier available39- **LinkedIn Sales Navigator** — advanced search by role, company, industry40- **Hunter.io** — find email addresses from domains41- **Clay** — enrichment and multi-source prospecting42- **BuiltWith** — find companies using specific technologies43- **Twitter/X lists** — curate lists of ideal clients, monitor their activity4445## Building the List4647### Target: Start with 50-100 qualified prospects4849For each prospect, capture:5051| Field | Example |52|-------|---------|53| Name | Sarah Chen |54| Role | CTO |55| Company | Acme AI |56| Company stage | Series A, $5M raised |57| Platform (best channel) | Twitter + Telegram |58| Qualification signal | Hiring 3 engineers, launched API last month |59| Personalisation hook | Posted about struggling with API documentation |60| Status | Not contacted |6162### Quality > Quantity636425 verified, well-researched leads beats 250 mostly-junk ones. Each prospect should pass your ICP checklist before going on the list.6566## Refresh Cadence6768- **Weekly:** Add 10-20 new prospects from Tier 1-2 sources69- **Monthly:** Run Tier 3 database searches for new matches70- **Quarterly:** Review and update ICP based on what's actually converting7172## Related Skills7374- **keyword-search** — find real-time opportunities (complements list-building)75- **cold-dm** — write outreach for your list76- **follow-up-sequences** — systematic follow-up for non-responders77- **discovery-calls** — handle the call when prospects respond
akash-joshi