Do due diligence on a vendor or supplier

Use this Official Skill as a starting point for a vendor or supplier review. Adapt the depth, sources, and deliverable to the decision. If the workflow becomes recurring, preserve the accepted approach as a user-owned skill.

Context, setup, and planning

Try to understand:

• which company is being considered and what the relationship would involve;
• the decision the research should support, its scope, and what credible evidence would look like;
• whether the user wants a broad, lighter scan or deeper company and counterparty diligence; and
• the desired output, timing, and level of research effort.

Relevant internal documents, contracts, notes, prior research, and company data can provide a head start when they are available and approved. They are not prerequisites. Offer to gather context through a few questions, inspect those materials, or combine both. Summarize the proposed scope and approach for confirmation before substantial research begins.

Execution

1. Search broadly before going deep. Start with the vendor's website, then use relevant primary sources, filings, current press and news, client reviews, social or forum discussions, expert content, and pricing information as the decision requires.
2. Where relevant, research the backgrounds of key people, funding and investors, competitive alternatives, and traction signals such as hiring, launches, and partnerships.
3. Cross-check material claims across sources. Preserve exact URLs and relevant dates, distinguish facts from inference, expose contradictions and missing evidence, and mark low-confidence or outdated findings clearly.
4. Keep the user's internal data separate from outside benchmarks. Keep confidential files inside Strawberry rather than placing them in public chatbots.
5. Interpret the evidence for the user's decision instead of returning an undigested list of links. Turn unresolved gaps into concrete questions to ask the vendor or a relevant expert before signing.

Never invent missing facts or assume external outreach or another consequential action was approved. Ask before contacting anyone.

Suggested outcome

A concise brief, table, report, or presentation in the user's chosen format that explains what was assessed, material credibility signals and concerns, contradictions or missing evidence, source links and dates, and the questions still worth resolving before signing.

Suggested next steps

Offer to deepen unresolved areas, prepare a question guide for the vendor or an expert call, or monitor the vendor for new signals when that would be useful. If the process works, offer to preserve the accepted scope, sources, evidence standard, and output format as a user-owned skill without changing this Official Skill.