Using Scout Research & Analysis
Scout Research helps you answer complex, multi-step questions without stitching together searches, exports, or spreadsheets. Ask questions in natural language and get structured analysis with dynamic tables, charts, and content designed for exploration and decision-making.
What makes it different
Scout has real-time access to Harmonic's proprietary database of 35M companies and 195M people, your account and network data, and web information. Scout reasons across all of these datasets to surface answers you can't get anywhere else.
How to access Research & Analysis
Click the dropdown on the right side of the Scout search bar.
Select Research & analysis from the menu.
Type your research question in plain language and press Enter.
Note: Research currently runs separately from Search Builder. It doesn't create or save a search; it returns a conversational answer with any tables embedded directly in the response. Deeper integration with saved searches is coming soon.
Example prompts by workflow
These are starting points — Scout builds on each prompt across turns, so you can keep refining as you go.
Thesis & market exploration
Map markets, find opportunities
"Break down the anti-money laundering tech landscape. Identify incumbents, analyze market trends, and find emerging Seed companies positioned to disrupt. Rank them by the relevance of executive team background."
Prioritize potential
"Give me companies that fit our thesis that may raise in the next 6 months. Give your rationale as to why these companies are likely to raise soon."
Analyze founder profiles
"Analyze founders of companies founded in the last five years who raised $50M+. Compare them to founders who raised less than $5M as a control group. Identify the strongest differentiators across prior company stage, functional background, prior founder experience, and hiring velocity."
Deal sourcing, portfolio, and capital
Build on your decisions
"I'm an investor @YourFund focused on early stage. Based on my investments in the past 24 months, what AI themes should be on my radar? Include any relevant network connections for warm intros to the most exciting companies."
Find the right capital partners
"I'm raising a Series A for @YourCompany. Find 10 strong Series A investors that would be a fit for our stage and sector, and show who on my team is connected to them."
Do your diligence
"Create a DD report on @TargetCo. Include an executive summary, market potential, market size and growth, business model and defensibility, founder profiles, in- and out-of-network candidates for reference calls, and main risks."
Talent & founder discovery
Find exceptional talent
"I'm tracking where top talent from elite tech companies ends up building next. Which companies have the highest concentration of ex-Waymo employees relative to their team size?"
Hire smarter, faster
"I am hiring for a senior Growth role at @PortfolioCo. Find strong candidates I should reach out to and give me your rationale. Focus on candidates at companies that have raised $100M or less."
Spot future founders
"I want to identify potential founders before they start companies. Find free agents in California who have left startups like @Stripe, @Anthropic, or @Tesla in the last 90 days."
Getting the Best Results
1. Brief Scout like a smart analyst Write your query the way you'd brief a sharp analyst — explain who you are, what you're trying to do, and what "good" looks like. No boolean logic or filters needed.
Instead of: "Tell me about fintech"
Try: "Create a table of the top 10 Series A fintech companies with name, total raised, headcount, key investors, and recent growth signals."
2. Anchor your query with @ Reference specific companies or people directly using @ to get more relevant results.
"Find companies similar to @Stripe in the payments space"
"Who from my network is connected to @company?"
"Analyze @portfoliocompany's competitive landscape"
3. Go deeper with follow-up questions Scout is most powerful across multiple turns. Start broad, then drill in — each follow-up builds on the previous context.
"Map the competitive landscape for AI-native legal tools."
"Now filter to US companies at Series A or earlier, founded after 2021."
"For the top 3, show warm paths through my network."
4. Ask for the output you need Specify the format upfront and Scout will structure results accordingly.
"Present this as a side-by-side comparison table."
"Break this down by region with key statistics."
"Create a one-pager I can share directly with my team."
5. Reference a saved search or list Pull in your existing work by referencing a saved search or list directly. Scout will use it as context for your query.
"Based on my fintech watchlist, which companies are most likely to raise in the next 6 months?"
"From my Series B pipeline search, who has the strongest founding team backgrounds?"
Need more prompt ideas? Use the chat support in the bottom right corner or email support@harmonic.ai.