The Cognitive
Map your competitor's team with one Claude prompt.
You type the role, the city and 3 competitor names. Claude finds who does that job at each one today, who used to and moved on, rates every person with a line from their profile, and hands you one call list.
The right 3 names matter more than the prompt.
A competitor, for hiring, is any company where the person does the same job for the same kind of buyer. That is often not the company your client loses deals to.
Someone selling to CFOs ramps faster at a company that sells to CFOs, even in a different product.
A rep closing $15K deals in 2 weeks and a rep closing $300K deals in 9 months do different jobs. Stay within about 2x.
Pick at least one company a bit bigger than your client. Their people want more scope, and your client is the move up.
| Hiring | Look at companies that | Skip companies that |
|---|---|---|
| Account Executive | Sell to the same buyer at the same deal size | Run only inbound or product-led sales, if your client needs outbound |
| SDR / BDR | Have a large outbound team in the same city | Outsource their SDR team to an agency |
| GTM Engineer | Are known for their outbound machine, not their product | Have no RevOps or growth team at all |
| Solutions Engineer | Sell a product just as technical to the same buyer | Sell mostly self-serve with no demos |
| Customer Success | Have a similar number of accounts per CSM | Run support tickets under the name Customer Success |
| RevOps | Use the same CRM and are at the same stage | Are 10x bigger, where RevOps is split into 6 jobs |
Every recruiter in your space calls their people every week. Put the leader in at most once, next to two less obvious names.
Hiring from a company your client sells to or partners with can cost them the deal. Ask your client before you name one.
Some companies agree not to hire from each other. Ask your client once at intake, and leave those names out.
Fill in the boxes. Copy. Send it in Claude.
It runs two searches through The Cognitive: people at the 3 companies now, then people who used to work there. Claude rates both and merges them into one list.
Prompt builder
Sign up at app.thecognitive.io. 7 days, no card.
Customize, Connectors, +, Add custom connector. Paste https://app.thecognitive.io/mcp and sign in.
Paste it in any Claude chat. A search takes 1 to 6 minutes.
One list. Current people and alumni, ranked together.
Mock example · people and companies are made upJordan R. now
Lee B. alumni
Riley V. now
The quote is what Claude bases the rating on. If a Strong has a weak quote, move it down yourself.
Work the list in this order.
They have left that company once already, they know the buyer, and they can talk freely. These are usually the easiest first calls.
Read the dates on the profile. Someone 2 to 4 years in has seen a full cycle and often hit a ceiling.
Rated Possible because the profile is quiet on one thing (quota, deal size). One question on the call settles it.
They have just made a move. Note them and come back next year.
Two messages: one for current people, one for alumni.
Hi [first name], [client] is hiring a [role] selling to [same buyer], [pay range], [city or remote]. You've been doing the same job at [their company], so the buyers would be familiar. Open to a 10-minute call this week?
Hi [first name], [client] is hiring a [role] for [same buyer], [pay range], [city or remote]. Your time at [competitor] is close to what they need, [one line from their profile]. Open to a 10-minute call?
Never in the first message
- Anything bad about their current company. They will defend it, even if they agree.
- "I'm reaching out because you work at [competitor]." Name the job they do, not the logo.
- Your client's name if the search is confidential. Use "a [stage] company selling to [buyer]".
Follow-ups to send in the same chat.
Search deeper on the first search: 10 more people at the same 3 companies. Skip anyone already shown.10 creditsLook at where the Strong people on this list worked before. Suggest 3 more companies like those, with one line each on why, then run the same two searches for them.about 20 creditsWrite a first message for each of the top 5. Use the current-people version or the alumni version from above, and fill the brackets from their profile. Under 60 words each.0 creditsName 3 competitors for your hardest open role.
The free trial covers this prompt about 5 times. If you want help picking the right 3 companies for a role, book 30 minutes.