# People Profiling Tool: What Information Matters Most

**Goal:** make conversations easy, memorable and impactful.
**How to read this:** ranked by impact. "Use as" says whether the item becomes a spoken **Opener** or stays as **Background** that guides the tool silently.

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## Priority Ranking

| # | Information | Why it matters | Where it comes from | Use as |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | **Current focus or struggle** (hiring, fundraising, launching, moving, changing careers) | Lets you offer something useful, and people remember who helped them | LinkedIn posts, X, job listings, news, company updates | Opener |
| 2 | **Strong mutual connections** (ranked by closeness, not just follows) | Instant trust and a route to a warm introduction | Instagram and X mutuals, tags, comments, photos together, LinkedIn | Background |
| 3 | **Rare shared experiences** (same school years, event, city, niche community) | The rarer the overlap, the stronger the bond | Education and work history, event attendee lists, location history | Opener |
| 4 | **Passions outside work** (sport, music, cause, travel, food, pets) | Fastest way from a professional chat to a personal one | Instagram, X likes and follows, Strava, Spotify, bios | Background |
| 5 | **Something specific they said recently** (post, talk, podcast, strong opinion) | Shows you paid attention and invites them to talk about themselves | X, LinkedIn, YouTube, podcasts, Substack | Opener |
| 6 | **Recent wins or milestones** (promotion, funding, award, launch, marathon) | An easy, warm and specific opener | News, LinkedIn, Instagram, press releases | Opener |
| 7 | **What they love being asked about** (their deep expertise) | Makes them feel valued and makes you look thoughtful | Repeated topics across talks, posts, papers, GitHub | Opener |
| 8 | **How you can help each other** (their needs matched against your assets) | Turns a nice chat into a lasting relationship | The tool matches item 1 against your own profile | Opener |
| 9 | **Communication style** (casual or formal, playful or earnest) | Matching their tone makes conversation feel natural | Writing style across posts and messages | Background |
| 10 | **Origin story** (hometown, career pivots, why they started) | Good for going deeper once rapport exists | Interviews, About pages, long-form posts | Opener (later in conversation) |
| 11 | **Topics to avoid** (recent setbacks, failed ventures, feuds, sensitive personal matters) | Avoiding one misstep matters as much as three good openers | News, posts, deleted or changed roles | Background only, never raise |

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## Openers vs Background

| Spoken openers | Background guidance |
|---|---|
| 1. Current focus | 2. Mutual connections |
| 3. Rare shared experiences | 4. Passions outside work |
| 5. Something they said | 9. Communication style |
| 6. Recent wins | 11. Topics to avoid |
| 7. Their expertise | |
| 8. Ways to help | |
| 10. Origin story | |

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## The Golden Rule

> **Use everything to rank and match. Only *say* things the person would expect a stranger to know.**

| Feels natural | Feels like surveillance |
|---|---|
| "I loved your talk on X" | "I saw you were at Y's wedding" |
| "Congrats on the launch" | "Your sister mentioned on Instagram..." |
| "We were both at Z in 2022" | "I noticed you follow A and B" |

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## What Makes Each Goal Work

| Goal | Driven by |
|---|---|
| **Easy** | Shared experiences (3), recent wins (6), communication style (9) |
| **Memorable** | Rare overlaps (3), passions (4), referencing what they said (5) |
| **Impactful** | Current focus (1), mutual connections (2), helping each other (8) |