Auto-research people from a spreadsheet using Perplexity AI

Looks up anyone you mark Pending in a spreadsheet and fills in their company, title, and location automatically.

How the work actually flows

A straight line. Runs once per each pending person; a person is alerted when a step fails.

Pattern: Sequence (1) ยท Multiple Instances without Synchronization (12)

flowchart TD trig(["sheet checked on schedule"]):::trigtime s0["find rows marked pending"]:::task s1[["research person with AI"]]:::mi s2[("write results back to sheet")]:::store s3["mark row as done"]:::task trig --> s0 s0 -->|"one per each pending person"| s1 s1 --> s2 s2 --> s3 out[/"spreadsheet filled with research"/]:::out pay{{"hours saved on manual research"}}:::pay s3 --> out out --> pay esc(("Alerts a person")):::human s2 -. "if it fails" .-> esc esc -.-> out classDef task fill:#e7f6fe,stroke:#34b8f0,color:#2c2a29 classDef svc fill:#f6f8fa,stroke:#7c8795,color:#2c2a29 classDef mi fill:#e7f6fe,stroke:#0079a8,color:#2c2a29,stroke-width:2px classDef human fill:#fff,stroke:#0079a8,color:#0079a8 classDef store fill:#f6f8fa,stroke:#0079a8,color:#2c2a29 classDef trig fill:#00a4eb,stroke:#0079a8,color:#fff,font-weight:bold classDef trigtime fill:#00a4eb,stroke:#0079a8,color:#fff,font-weight:bold classDef trigdata fill:#8ad4f5,stroke:#0079a8,color:#06314c,font-weight:bold classDef gate fill:#fff,stroke:#e8a23d,color:#6b4708,font-weight:bold classDef out fill:#1f9d6b,stroke:#167a53,color:#fff,font-weight:bold classDef pay fill:#06314c,stroke:#021f33,color:#fff
Starts itA stepRuns once per itemA personA record or sheetResultPayoff
Build size
Advanced

A larger build with multiple systems, AI reasoning, and custom rules.

Business functions
Social Media ManagementMessaging & NotificationsSpreadsheet & Database Ops
Connects
Google SheetsPerplexity AISlack

The problem it solves

You need background on a prospect, candidate, or contact before a call, but manually searching LinkedIn, company sites, and news takes forever. Doing this for a whole list of names one at a time is a slow, repetitive slog.

Who it fits

A sales, recruiting, or business development person who needs quick background research on a list of names.

How it works

  1. You type a name into a spreadsheet and mark it Pending
  2. The system checks the sheet on a schedule for anyone marked Pending
  3. Perplexity AI researches the person's company, title, location, and industry
  4. The results are written back into the same row and the status flips to Done
  5. If anything fails, you get a Slack alert
What you get

Names on your list filled in overnight

Anyone you mark Pending on your list gets their company, title, and location filled in automatically, ready for your next outreach.

What you get

A spreadsheet automatically filled in with each person's current company, title, location, and industry.

What you need

A Google Sheets account, a Perplexity AI API key, and a Slack account for alerts.

We can build this. But should you?

The hard question is not how to build it. It is whether this is the right thing to build first.

That is what a Fractional Chief AI Officer figures out with you, before anyone writes a line of code.

Let's Talk Strategy

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