Research a Prospect Before Outreach in 5 Minutes

Good outreach depends on one specific observation about the person you're writing to. Finding it shouldn't take an hour. With a fixed routine you can get what you need in about five minutes per prospect. Here's the routine, the sources worth checking, and how to stop researching once you have enough.

What you're actually looking for

You are not building a dossier. You need four things, and only the first two are essential:

1. Current context: their role, company, and how long they've been there. This determines what's relevant to them right now.
2. One recent, public signal: a post, talk, launch, repo, hire, funding announcement or opinion they've shared.
3. A connection: a mutual contact, shared community, former employer, school or interest.
4. A timing trigger: something that makes today a sensible day to write, such as a new role or a product launch.

The five-minute routine

Minute 1: Confirm who they are

Open their LinkedIn profile or company team page. Verify their current title and company, since stale data is the fastest way to look careless. Skim the headline and about section for how they describe themselves, because that's the language they'll respond to.

Minutes 2 and 3: Find the recent signal

Check where they're publicly active, in this order of usefulness:

• Their own writing: a blog, newsletter, or long LinkedIn posts. Opinions give you the best material.
• X/Twitter or LinkedIn activity: look at what they post and what they comment on, not just what they repost.
• GitHub or portfolio: for engineers and designers, their recent repositories or case studies are specific and flattering to reference accurately.
• Talks and podcasts: a search for their name plus "podcast" or "talk" often turns up an interview with quotable ideas.
• Company news: a launch, funding round, hiring push, or leadership change can explain what's on their plate.

Minute 4: Look for the connection

Scan for overlap: mutual connections, shared employers, schools, communities, or topics you both care about. A genuine shared reference makes a message feel like it comes from someone in the same world. Don't stretch it. If there's no real overlap, skip this and lean on the signal from the previous step.

Minute 5: Write the angle in one sentence

Before you open your email client, write one sentence: "I'm writing to X because they did Y, and that's relevant to my Z." If you can't complete it, you either need another minute of research or a different prospect. This sentence becomes the opening of your message.

Turning research into an opening line

Weak: "Saw your profile and was impressed by your background."

Better: "You mentioned in your recent post that your team stopped doing quarterly planning and moved to six-week cycles. We just made the same switch and I'm curious how you handled the first cycle."

The difference is that the second one cannot be sent to anyone else. For the rest of the message, follow the structure in how to write a cold email that gets replies.

Mistakes to avoid

• Researching too long. Past about ten minutes you're procrastinating. One strong detail beats ten weak ones.
• Creepy specificity. Stick to professional, public information they've chosen to share. Referencing family, home, or personal social accounts crosses a line.
• Trusting a single source. Names collide and profiles go stale. Cross-check at least two places before you state a fact about someone.
• Reciting facts back. "I see you went to X and work at Y" is not insight. Connect the fact to something useful.

Speeding it up with a tool

The routine above is mostly retrieval and summarization, which is exactly what AI does well. Avian runs it for you: paste a name, email, LinkedIn URL, Twitter/X handle or GitHub username and it builds a profile with what the person does, what they've been up to, and angles you can use, then drafts three message variants. Because public data can be wrong or thin, treat the output as a strong first pass and verify anything you plan to state as a fact.

If you're missing a handle or address for someone, read how to find someone's email or social handle. When you're ready to try the faster route, sign up free and research your first prospects with the included credits.