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Research · Diagnose, Explore

Expert interview brief

Buys judgement from someone who has already done the thing you are about to attempt. Expensive per hour and cheap relative to learning it yourself.

The printable canvas and the handoff into Claude Code are part of a paid plan. See what a plan includes. It needs the Claude desktop app on this machine, and your team and the prompt library already installed in that project — we cannot see your disk, so open it there.

Stage
01 Diagnose, 02 Explore
Works at
Corporate, Business
Maturity
Early startup → Large organisation
Time
A week to arrange, an hour per conversation

What it is

Structured conversations with people who have direct operating experience of the thing you are considering. You are purchasing judgement and pattern recognition rather than information, which is why the questions differ from ordinary research.

The question
What you need that public sources cannot provide. Usually about how something actually goes rather than whether it is possible.
Expert selection
Operators over analysts for execution questions. Direct, recent, relevant experience beats seniority.
The brief
What you tell them beforehand so the hour is spent on judgement rather than context-setting.
Judgement questions
What did you underestimate, what would you do differently, where does this usually fail. Not questions with findable answers.
Triangulation
Three or more conversations. Disagreement between experts is more informative than agreement, and it is where the real uncertainty lives.
Disclosure boundaries
What you will not reveal. Decided in advance, because experts move between clients and often between competitors.
The mistake people makeExpert networks are expensive and slow. If the question is answerable from filings, pricing pages or a trade body, you are paying a premium for something you could have found in an afternoon.
What it’s forYou need somebody who has already lived the thing you are about to attempt.
What it’s not forThe question is answerable from public sources. Experts are expensive and slow — use them for judgment, not facts.

How you run it

  1. Exhaust public sources firstPaying an expert for something on a company's website wastes their time and your credibility. Arrive already informed.
  2. Ask for judgement, not informationWhat would you worry about? What did you underestimate? Where does this usually go wrong? Facts you can find; judgement is what you are buying.
  3. Choose operators over observersSomeone who has run it beats someone who has studied it, for this purpose. Analysts know the market; operators know what breaks.
  4. Speak to at least threeOne expert is an anecdote. Where three disagree is more informative than where they agree.
  5. Manage disclosure deliberatelyDecide in advance what you will and will not say. Experts talk to your competitors too, and often the same week.

The prompt

Two ways to run it

Run this tool in your own Claude

The short prompt starts your partner against the library on your disk. The long one carries everything with it and needs nothing installed.

🔒 Prompt locked

Everything above is free — what this tool is, what it is for, what it is not for, and how to run it as a workshop. Three tool prompts a month are free with an account; beyond three, and for the printable canvas, it is the paid part.

See plans — from £19 a month

Your playbook

It lands in the earliest stage this tool suits. Move it on the Playbook page.

You’ll need

  • A question public sources genuinely cannot answer
  • A shortlist of people with direct relevant experience
  • Clarity on what you must not disclose

You’ll end up with

  • Three or four conversations with judgement, not facts
  • The consensus and where experts disagreed
  • What you would have got wrong without them

Runs well with

Acquisition screen and synergy thesisAdjacency mapAI opportunity mapAnsoff matrix