# Refolk guides *Long, structured reference documents on searching for people, companies, and repositories. I revise them as the practice changes rather than publishing a replacement.* - Index: https://www.refolk.ai/guides - This file: https://www.refolk.ai/guides/index.md - Every guide is also available as plain Markdown at https://www.refolk.ai/guides/.md - Guides: 412 ## Recruiting and sourcing Finding, qualifying, and reaching the people you want to hire - from role brief to signed offer. - [Sourcing Return-to-Work Candidates From Public Signals](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/sourcing-return-to-work-candidates) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/sourcing-return-to-work-candidates.md)) - A recruiter's procedure for finding, qualifying, and ranking return-to-work candidates from public career-history signals, tied to one open role without penalizing the gap. - [The Talent Map Playbook: Target Companies to a Named Pool](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/talent-map-playbook-named-pool) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/talent-map-playbook-named-pool.md)) - Build a reusable talent map for one role family before the req opens: tiered source companies, named candidates, a documented coverage figure, and a refresh cadence. - [From Conference Agenda to a Ranked Candidate Shortlist](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/conference-agenda-to-shortlist) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/conference-agenda-to-shortlist.md)) - A step-by-step method to turn one conference speaker agenda into a deduplicated, seniority-inferred, ranked shortlist with a contact path per person. - [The People-Search Query Reference: Patterns, Matches, and Misses](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/people-search-query-reference) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/people-search-query-reference.md)) - A lookup reference for writing candidate search queries that return the right people the first time, with the silent misses each pattern hides on every source. - [Sourcing Cleared Candidates From Public Signals Into a Ranked Shortlist](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/sourcing-cleared-candidates-public-signals) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/sourcing-cleared-candidates-public-signals.md)) - A method to infer security clearance level, type, and reactivatable eligibility from public signals and build a lawfully screened, ranked cleared-candidate shortlist. - [The Lookalike Shortlist Playbook: One Exemplar to 20-30 Ranked Comparables](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/lookalike-shortlist-from-one-exemplar) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/lookalike-shortlist-from-one-exemplar.md)) - Turn one great employee into a ranked shortlist of 20 to 30 comparable candidates across GitHub, LinkedIn, and the open web, stress-tested against the clone trap. - [The Remote-Applicant Authenticity Read: Advance, Verify, or Reject](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/remote-applicant-authenticity-read) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/remote-applicant-authenticity-read.md)) - Score a remote applicant's public identity signals across GitHub, LinkedIn, and the open web, then return a defensible Advance, Verify, or Reject verdict before interview. - [The Openness-Signal Read: Reach Now, Watch, or Skip a Passive Candidate](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/openness-signal-read-passive-candidate) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/openness-signal-read-passive-candidate.md)) - Score a passive candidate's dated public signals and sort your list into reach-now, watch, or skip against a reply-rate cutoff you can defend. - [Working the Off-Sheet References on a Finalist](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/off-sheet-references-finalist) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/off-sheet-references-finalist.md)) - Build a ranked list of off-sheet references from a finalist's real work history, clear the consent and current-employer gate, and run calls that surface risk. - [The Warm-Intro Path to a Passive Candidate: Map, Rank, Ask](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/warm-intro-passive-candidate) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/warm-intro-passive-candidate.md)) - Take one passive candidate you cannot cold-reach, map and rank the warm paths to them, and send a double opt-in intro request that converts. - [The Boomerang Rehire Score: Pursue Now, Nurture, or Pass](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/boomerang-rehire-score) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/boomerang-rehire-score.md)) - A rubric for scoring former employees on rehire fit and return-readiness, then sorting a roster into pursue-now, nurture, or pass with a defensible reason. - [Finding the Stage That Kills an Outbound Sourcing Funnel](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/stage-that-kills-sourcing-funnel) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/stage-that-kills-sourcing-funnel.md)) - Diagnose which single stage of your outbound sourcing funnel converts furthest below benchmark, and attribute it to data, targeting, message, or speed. - [The Silver-Medalist Re-Engagement Play: Closed Search to Warm Queue](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/silver-medalist-re-engagement-play) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/silver-medalist-re-engagement-play.md)) - A step-by-step playbook to re-engage silver medalist candidates for a new role: pull past finalists, re-verify fit, segment by rejection reason, and message warm. - [The Search Brief Standard: When a Role Is Sourceable](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/search-brief-standard-sourceable) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/search-brief-standard-sourceable.md)) - Grade any search brief pass or fail against fixed criteria so two independent sourcers build substantially the same shortlist. A definition of done for role briefs. - [The Repo-Sourced Candidate Standard: Pipeline, Park, or Discard](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/repo-sourced-candidate-standard) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/repo-sourced-candidate-standard.md)) - Grade any single GitHub contributor you pulled off a repository as Pipeline, Park, or Discard using criteria two sourcers apply identically. - [Cutting a Repo's Contributor List Down to a Reachable Shortlist](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/repo-contributors-reachable-shortlist) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/repo-contributors-reachable-shortlist.md)) - Turn a flagship repository's full contributor set into a small shortlist of senior, reachable engineers by stripping noise, resolving identity, and knowing when to pivot. - [The GitHub Profile Signal Reference for Technical Sourcers](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/github-profile-signal-reference) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/github-profile-signal-reference.md)) - Read any GitHub profile signal fast and know what it proves, what it does not, how it misleads, and how long it stays valid for a shortlist decision. - [The Sourced-Candidate Handoff Standard: Accept, Return, or Hold](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/sourced-candidate-handoff-standard) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/sourced-candidate-handoff-standard.md)) - A gradeable definition of done for sourced candidate records, so a reviewer can call accept, return, or hold in minutes and a second reviewer agrees. - [The Source-Company Clearance Standard: Cleared, Conditional, or Off-Limits](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/source-company-clearance-standard) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/source-company-clearance-standard.md)) - Grade any candidate source company as Cleared, Conditional, or Off-Limits against written criteria so two sourcers reach the same verdict every time. - [The Outreach Hook Reference: Person and Company Signals](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/outreach-hook-signal-reference) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/outreach-hook-signal-reference.md)) - A row-by-row catalog of person and company signals for cold recruiting outreach: what each proves, its shelf life, and exactly how it misleads. - [The Repo Sourcing-Yield Score: Mine It, Skim It, or Skip It](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/repo-sourcing-yield-score) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/repo-sourcing-yield-score.md)) - Score any GitHub repository as a candidate pool across six weighted dimensions and land on a Mine, Skim, or Skip verdict before you burn hours mining it. - [The Talent Sourcing Playbook: From Role Brief to Ranked Shortlist](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/talent-sourcing-playbook-2) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/talent-sourcing-playbook-2.md)) - Run a full sourcing cycle for one open role, from a signed brief to a ranked shortlist of four to eight, without wasting a week on the wrong pool. - [Sourcing a Functional Leader Who Scaled Through Your Stage](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/sourcing-stage-fit-functional-leader) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/sourcing-stage-fit-functional-leader.md)) - A worked teardown of a stage-fit executive search: reconstruct a candidate's employer during their tenure, reject title-only leaders, and rank a reachable shortlist. - [The Extraction-Friction Score: Rating a Candidate's Barriers to Moving](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/extraction-friction-score) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/extraction-friction-score.md)) - Score any passive candidate's contractual, immigration, financial, and geographic barriers to moving, and reach a pursue-now, pursue-later, or deprioritize verdict. - [The Source-Company Archetype Reference for Sourcing](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/source-company-archetype-reference) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/source-company-archetype-reference.md)) - Classify any company on your source list into a named archetype and read the caliber, reachability window, and specific trap of the people inside it. - [The RTO Attrition Queue: Sourcing Flight Risks After the Mandate](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/rto-attrition-queue-sourcing) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/rto-attrition-queue-sourcing.md)) - Turn one return-to-office announcement into a ranked, reachable queue of named flight-risk employees, scored on public signals and messaged on the flexibility hook. - [Mapping the Source-Company Universe for a Hard Platform Role](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/mapping-source-company-universe) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/mapping-source-company-universe.md)) - A teardown of building a ranked, evidence-backed list of companies to source a hard platform role from, including adjacent industries and the wrong turns. - [From Contributor Graph to Ranked Hiring Shortlist](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/contributor-graph-ranked-shortlist) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/contributor-graph-ranked-shortlist.md)) - A time-boxed method to source developers from a GitHub repo: pick projects, pull and dedupe contributors, strip bots, and rank on evidence. - [The Layoff Sourcing Playbook: From WARN Filing to Ranked Queue](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/layoff-sourcing-playbook) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/layoff-sourcing-playbook.md)) - A weekly process to detect workforce cuts from public filings, verify and scope each one, rank by relevance, and build a warm candidate queue before the window closes. - [The Poaching-Window Score: Rating a Company's Talent Exposure](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/poaching-window-score) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/poaching-window-score.md)) - Score target companies on public disruption signals to produce a ranked source-company queue with the exposed segment and the decay window attached to each. - [The Calibration Batch: Lock a Search Before You Source](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/calibration-batch-before-sourcing) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/calibration-batch-before-sourcing.md)) - Assemble and run a calibration batch that turns a hiring manager's reactions to sample profiles into signed-off must-haves, trade-offs, and target companies. - [Sourcing Developers Inside Gated Slack and Discord Communities](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/sourcing-developers-gated-communities) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/sourcing-developers-gated-communities.md)) - A start-to-finish method for finding and reaching engineers in invite-only Slack, Discord, and Reddit communities without getting muted, banned, or ignored. - [Sourcing an SRE From Public Incident Work: A Teardown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/sourcing-sre-from-incident-work) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/sourcing-sre-from-incident-work.md)) - Convert postmortem bylines, SREcon talks, and observability contributions into a ranked, reachable SRE shortlist, and filter out backend and sysadmin false positives. - [The Tenure-Pattern Read: Flight Risk or Explained Short Stints](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/tenure-pattern-read) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/tenure-pattern-read.md)) - Score a candidate's short job stints into stable, context-explained, or churn risk using tenure thresholds and public corroboration before you advance them. - [The Rep-Attributable Performance Score: Skill, Tailwind, or Territory](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/rep-attributable-performance-score) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/rep-attributable-performance-score.md)) - Score how much of a sales candidate's quota track record is their own selling ability versus product tailwind or a loaded territory, then decide advance, probe, or pass. - [The Retention-Cliff Outreach Queue: Sourcing an Acquired Team](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/retention-cliff-outreach-queue) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/retention-cliff-outreach-queue.md)) - Turn one acquisition announcement into a timed, ranked outreach queue keyed to the retention cliff, so you reach each acquired keeper as their equity handcuffs loosen. - [The Offer Fall-Off Risk Read for Late-Stage Candidates](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/offer-fall-off-risk-read) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/offer-fall-off-risk-read.md)) - Score any candidate at offer stage as low, medium, or high fall-off risk across named dimensions, then attach a securing action and a backup decision. - [The People-Search Query Cookbook: Patterns That Find Real Candidates](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/people-search-query-cookbook-2) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/people-search-query-cookbook-2.md)) - A reference for writing people-search queries that return the right candidates the first time, across LinkedIn, GitHub, X-ray, and natural-language tools. - [The Design Portfolio Score: Advance, Screen, or Pass a Designer](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/design-portfolio-score) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/design-portfolio-score.md)) - A reviewer-side rubric to score any designer's public portfolio on defined dimensions and produce a defensible advance, screen, or pass decision with a seniority read. - [The Clearance-Likelihood Read: Cleared, and to What Level](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/clearance-likelihood-read) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/clearance-likelihood-read.md)) - Score a public profile that never states a clearance into a defensible estimate of clearance status and level band, with a confidence flag, before you spend outreach. - [The Candidate Authenticity Score: Real, AI Persona, or Fabricated](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/candidate-authenticity-score) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/candidate-authenticity-score.md)) - Score a sourced or inbound candidate's public footprint on a fixed authenticity rubric and route them to book, verify, or reject with a defensible reason. - [The Inbound Triage Standard: From Applicant Flood to Ranked Human-Review Queue](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/inbound-applicant-triage-standard) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/inbound-applicant-triage-standard.md)) - A lawful, evidence-first method to triage hundreds of inbound applications, corroborate each against public footprint, and rank who earns a human screen. - [The Back-Channel Reference Playbook: Off-List Sources to a Verdict](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/back-channel-reference-playbook) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/back-channel-reference-playbook.md)) - Build an off-list reference list from a finalist's real work history, run a structured call, and reach a defensible go or no-go without tipping off the candidate. - [The Relocation Likelihood Score for Sourced Candidates](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/relocation-likelihood-score) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/relocation-likelihood-score.md)) - Score any sourced candidate's relocation likelihood from lawful public evidence, then sort your pool into pursue-now, probe, or skip before you spend outreach. - [Sourcing an AppSec Engineer From Public Vulnerability Work](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/source-appsec-from-vulnerability-work) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/source-appsec-from-vulnerability-work.md)) - Carry one application security req from brief to ranked shortlist using CVE credits, GHSA reporter credits, bug bounty reputation, and CTF standings. A worked teardown. - [From Paper Authorship to a Reachable ML Researcher Shortlist](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/paper-authorship-to-ml-researcher-shortlist) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/paper-authorship-to-ml-researcher-shortlist.md)) - Turn a research-scientist brief into a ranked, deduplicated shortlist of named ML researchers with a current employer and a contact path, from public papers. - [Re-Engaging Past Finalists When a Matching Role Reopens](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/re-engaging-past-finalists) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/re-engaging-past-finalists.md)) - A tool-neutral playbook to pull past finalists the day a role reopens, re-verify each one's public status, and produce a lawful, ranked re-engagement list. - [From Patent Records to a Reachable Inventor Shortlist](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/patent-records-to-inventor-shortlist) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/patent-records-to-inventor-shortlist.md)) - The end-to-end method for sourcing hardware and R&D engineers from the public patent record, scoping CPC codes, disambiguating inventors, and resolving to current contacts. - [The First-Message Send Standard for Passive Candidates](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/first-message-send-standard) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/first-message-send-standard.md)) - Grade any first-touch candidate outreach draft as send, rework, or hold against a checklist two recruiters would score the same way before it leaves the outbox. - [The Repo-Evidence Skill Standard for Technical Shortlists](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/repo-evidence-skill-standard) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/repo-evidence-skill-standard.md)) - A pass/fail standard for deciding whether public GitHub activity proves a specific skill, so two sourcers grading the same profile reach the same verdict. - [The Recruiter's GitHub Signal Reference: Trust, Discount, or Ignore](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/github-signal-reference-recruiters) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/github-signal-reference-recruiters.md)) - A lookup reference for recruiters reading an engineer's GitHub: what each signal proves, the false positive and false negative that make it lie, and how to weight it. - [Sourcing a Compiler Engineer From Public Contributions](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/sourcing-compiler-engineer-contributions) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/sourcing-compiler-engineer-contributions.md)) - A worked teardown for filling a low-LinkedIn-signal compiler role: start from anchor repos, enumerate contributors, resolve identity, and rank a shortlist. - [The Shortlist Submission Standard: When a List Is Ready](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/shortlist-submission-standard) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/shortlist-submission-standard.md)) - A gradeable definition of done for a candidate shortlist, with the pass/fail checklist two recruiters would apply identically before sending to the hiring manager. - [The Target-Company List Standard: When Your Source List Is Ready to Work](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/target-company-list-standard) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/target-company-list-standard.md)) - A pass/fail standard for grading a target-company source list as ready-to-work before you pull a single candidate name, so two sourcers reach the same verdict. - [The Talent Watering-Hole Reference: Where Specialists Leave Traces](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/talent-watering-hole-reference) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/talent-watering-hole-reference.md)) - A per-archetype lookup for sourcing rare specialists: the public venues to search, what a hit there proves about skill, and the false positives each one produces. - [The GitHub Profile Triage Read for Technical Sourcing](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/github-profile-triage-read) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/github-profile-triage-read.md)) - A weighted rubric to score any GitHub profile against one open role and reach a research-now, park, or skip call in under two minutes. For technical recruiters. - [Draining One Competitor's Public Org Into a Hiring Shortlist](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/competitor-org-to-shortlist) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/competitor-org-to-shortlist.md)) - Take one named competitor and produce a ranked, deduped, reachable shortlist of its team, with funnel counts, dedupe checks, and the contract red lines that pause a name. - [Leveling a Candidate: Reading Real Seniority From Title and Company](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/leveling-candidate-title-company) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/leveling-candidate-title-company.md)) - A scoring rubric for sourcers to normalize a candidate's true level from their title plus company context, catching inflation and hidden seniority alike. - [The Talent-Availability Signal Reference for Target Companies](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/talent-availability-signal-reference) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/talent-availability-signal-reference.md)) - A lookup reference for sourcers: which public company events make employees reachable, the receptivity window, where to detect it, and how each signal misleads. - [The Standing Talent Pipeline: Warm Before the Req Opens](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/standing-talent-pipeline-warm) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/standing-talent-pipeline-warm.md)) - Stand up and maintain a proactive candidate pipeline per role family, with a stocking search, warmth tiers, a refresh cadence, and the five fields every entry must carry. - [Building a Target-Company List for a Product-Manager Search](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/target-company-list-pm-search) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/target-company-list-pm-search.md)) - Carry one live Product-Manager search from a blank sheet to a ranked 20-to-50 company universe, sizing each company by candidate count and tagging include, expand, or cut. - [From Contributor Graph to Ranked Candidate Shortlist](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/contributor-graph-to-shortlist) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/contributor-graph-to-shortlist.md)) - A repeatable method for turning a repository's raw contributor list into a deduplicated, noise-filtered shortlist ranked by role fit and contactability. - [The Layoff Watchlist Playbook: Reach Affected Talent First](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/layoff-watchlist-recruiting-playbook) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/layoff-watchlist-recruiting-playbook.md)) - Build and run a standing watchlist that flags when target companies shed the roles you hire, ordered by lead time, so you reach affected people first. - [Grading a Company as a Talent Source for a Sourcing List](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/grading-company-talent-source) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/grading-company-talent-source.md)) - Score any company as include, tier, or exclude for a specific search using four public signals, and turn those scores into a prioritized target company list. - [The Candidate Openness Score: Message Now, Nurture, or Skip](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/candidate-openness-score-rubric) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/candidate-openness-score-rubric.md)) - Turn public signals into a weighted openness score that sorts any candidate into message-now, nurture, or skip, with a column for how each signal lies. - [One Sourcing Search: From First Query to Ranked Shortlist](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/sourcing-search-first-query-to-shortlist) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/sourcing-search-first-query-to-shortlist.md)) - Carry one real candidate search from an empty result set to a sent shortlist, diagnosing at each fork whether a count is a query problem or a market fact. - [The People-Search Query Cookbook: Patterns That Return Real Candidates](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/people-search-query-cookbook) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/people-search-query-cookbook.md)) - A reference of people-search query patterns organized by hiring intent, with how each one translates across LinkedIn, GitHub, and Google X-ray, and how it misfires. - [The Search Brief Standard: When a Role Is Ready to Source](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/search-brief-standard) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/search-brief-standard.md)) - A pass/fail standard for grading a role brief before sourcing starts, with a reproducibility test, must-have criteria, and a verification checklist. - [The Talent Sourcing Playbook: Role Brief to Ranked Shortlist](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/talent-sourcing-playbook) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/talent-sourcing-playbook.md)) - Run a full sourcing cycle for one open role, from intake brief to ranked shortlist, sized against real funnel and pool data so you do not waste a week. ## Sales and go-to-market Building account lists, mapping who actually decides, and finding the moment to reach out. - [The Company Trigger-Event Reference: Proof and Shelf Life](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/company-trigger-event-reference-2) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/company-trigger-event-reference-2.md)) - Look up any company trigger event: what it proves about buying readiness, where to detect it, how long the outreach window stays open, and how it misfires. - [The First-in-Function Signal: Build a Ranked Greenfield Queue](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/first-in-function-greenfield-queue) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/first-in-function-greenfield-queue.md)) - Detect when a company stands up a function for the first time, separate it from a backfill or dormant reopen, and build a ranked outreach queue timed to the first 90 days. - [The Signup-to-Account Queue: Rolling Scattered PLG Signups Into Ranked PQAs](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/signup-to-account-queue) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/signup-to-account-queue.md)) - Turn a raw export of individual free-product signups into a deduplicated, ranked product-qualified-account queue for AEs, with do-not-touch rules that protect self-serve conversion. - [The Deal Qualification Score: Commit, Work the Gaps, or Walk](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/deal-qualification-score) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/deal-qualification-score.md)) - Grade any open deal across eight qualification checks on one evidence scale, verify weak checks against public signals, and reach an auditable forecast verdict. - [The Pre-Call Brief: Booked Meeting to Call-Ready Facts in One Page](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/pre-call-brief-one-page) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/pre-call-brief-one-page.md)) - Turn a booked discovery call into a one-page, source-traced brief in under 15 minutes, with every fact labeled by source and freshness so nothing stale reaches the call. - [The Mobilizer Read: Grading One Contact's Power to Move the Deal](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/mobilizer-read-grading-one-contact) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/mobilizer-read-grading-one-contact.md)) - Score one engaged contact on power, stake, and action, then decide Back, Test, or Look Past using live tests and public-profile checks before you over-invest. - [Sourcing a Matched Reference Customer for a Deal in Flight](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/sourcing-matched-reference-customer) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/sourcing-matched-reference-customer.md)) - Turn a late-stage reference request into a ranked shortlist of three to five matched, willing customer advocates the same afternoon, without re-burning your back-pocket three. - [Re-Opening a Churned Account: From Lost Logo to Ranked Win-Back Queue](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/churned-account-winback-queue) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/churned-account-winback-queue.md)) - A playbook to turn a book of churned B2B customers into a ranked win-back queue with a current named contact, a reason-to-return, and a cleared-to-send date. - [The Champion-Move Priority Score: Chase Now, Nurture, or Pass](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/champion-move-priority-score) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/champion-move-priority-score.md)) - Score a past champion's job change on advocacy, seat authority, account fit, and timing, and reach a chase-now, nurture, or pass verdict in five minutes. - [Mapping an Account's Whitespace Into a Ranked Expansion Queue](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/account-whitespace-expansion-queue) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/account-whitespace-expansion-queue.md)) - Turn one won account into a ranked queue of unpenetrated units and regions, each with named buyers to work this quarter. A full expansion sourcing method. - [Turning an Assigned Territory Into a Ranked Book You Can Work](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/territory-to-ranked-account-book) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/territory-to-ranked-account-book.md)) - A repeatable method for a new AE or founder to audit an inherited account list, source the ICP accounts nobody assigned, and rank the book into working tiers. - [Sourcing a Competitor's Customers Into a Ranked Displacement List](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/ranked-displacement-target-list) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/ranked-displacement-target-list.md)) - Build a deduplicated, evidence-graded list of accounts running a named competitor's product, ranked by switch-readiness and timed to each renewal window. - [The Channel-Partner Recruit List: From Ideal Partner Profile to Ranked Shortlist](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/channel-partner-recruit-list) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/channel-partner-recruit-list.md)) - Turn a channel strategy into a ranked, verified list of resellers, integrators, MSPs, and referral firms to recruit, each with a named partnerships contact. - [Closed-Lost to a Ranked Reactivation Queue](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/closed-lost-reactivation-queue) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/closed-lost-reactivation-queue.md)) - A working procedure to turn a pile of closed-lost opportunities into a ranked, timed reactivation queue with verified current contacts and trigger-matched reasons. - [The Repo-Signal Qualification Standard: Route, Nurture, or Discard](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/repo-signal-qualification-standard-2) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/repo-signal-qualification-standard-2.md)) - A written pass/fail bar for grading a single public repository signal as Route, Nurture, or Discard before it reaches an AE, so two SDRs agree. - [The Repo Buying-Signal Reference: Intent, Noise, and Shelf Life](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/repo-buying-signal-reference) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/repo-buying-signal-reference.md)) - Look up any repo action, learn what it proves about buying intent, how it produces false positives, and how long it stays actionable before it decays. - [The Target-Account Fit Standard: On-List, Watch, or Reject](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/target-account-fit-standard) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/target-account-fit-standard.md)) - Grade any net-new company against a written fit and disqualification rubric so two reps reach the same on-list, watch, or reject verdict from public evidence. - [Working One Repository Signal Into a Booked Meeting](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/repo-signal-to-booked-meeting) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/repo-signal-to-booked-meeting.md)) - Carry a single GitHub repo event from raw signal to a booked meeting with a qualified buyer, or kill it correctly, with real counts and forks at each step. - [The Prospect Research Source Reference: What Each Source Proves](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/prospect-research-source-reference) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/prospect-research-source-reference.md)) - A source-by-source lookup for pre-call research: what each public source confirms about an account or buyer, how fresh it is, and how it misleads. - [Tracing the Warm Path Into a Cold Target Account](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/warm-path-cold-target-account) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/warm-path-cold-target-account.md)) - Take one cold logo and produce a ranked list of warm-intro paths with named connectors, or confirm no warm path exists and route to cold outreach. - [Buying-Committee Mapping: Naming Who Decides, Blocks, and Champions](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/buying-committee-mapping-decide-block-champion) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/buying-committee-mapping-decide-block-champion.md)) - A framework for turning a target account into a named list of the people who decide, block, and champion, scored by influence, stance, and access. - [The Signal-Stack Priority Score: Same-Day, This-Week, or Watch](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/signal-stack-priority-score) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/signal-stack-priority-score.md)) - Score the live stack of buying signals on one account through a fit gate, weight, and decay window to assign a same-day, this-week, or watch action tier. - [From Dependency Manifests to a Ranked Target-Account List](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/dependency-manifests-ranked-accounts) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/dependency-manifests-ranked-accounts.md)) - A start-to-finish method to find companies that import a library in public dependency files and rank them into a deduplicated account list to work. - [The Self-Host Upgrade Score: Ranking Open-Core Accounts From Their Repos](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/self-host-upgrade-score) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/self-host-upgrade-score.md)) - Score any company that self-hosts your open-core tool from its public repositories, then sort it into chase-now, nurture, or ignore with defensible cutoffs. - [The Worked-Prospect Standard: When to Retire an Unresponsive Contact](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/worked-prospect-retirement-standard) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/worked-prospect-retirement-standard.md)) - A gradeable definition of done for retiring an unresponsive prospect: valid touches, distinct channels, spacing, and deliverability, so two people grade the same. - [The Buyer Authority Signal Reference: Reading Budget Power From a Title](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/buyer-authority-signal-reference) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/buyer-authority-signal-reference.md)) - Classify any prospect's real buying role from their title, seniority, scope, and firmographics, and know exactly how each signal misleads before you spend outreach. - [The Buying-Committee Roster: Naming Every Seat Before First Contact](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/buying-committee-roster-before-contact) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/buying-committee-roster-before-contact.md)) - Turn one target logo into a named, seat-by-seat buying committee roster from public evidence, with a confidence tag on every name, before you send one message. - [The Champion Move Playbook: From Watchlist to a Warm Meeting](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/champion-move-playbook) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/champion-move-playbook.md)) - A tool-agnostic operating procedure to track when buyers change jobs, re-qualify their new company, verify a safe email, and book a warm meeting. - [The Meeting Acceptance Standard for SDR-Sourced Opportunities](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/meeting-acceptance-standard-sdr-opportunities) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/meeting-acceptance-standard-sdr-opportunities.md)) - Grade any SDR-booked meeting as accept, send-back, or reject against a written bar, with required fields, a rejection taxonomy, and SLA windows. - [Pinning the Economic Buyer Behind a Champion, Start to Finish](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/pinning-the-economic-buyer) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/pinning-the-economic-buyer.md)) - A teardown that takes one live deal from a champion's reply to a named, evidence-backed budget-holder, separating them from the signatory and the top title. - [Timing Account Outreach to the Buyer's Budget Cycle](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/timing-outreach-budget-cycle) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/timing-outreach-budget-cycle.md)) - Reconstruct any target account's fiscal year and budget-approval window from public evidence, then convert it into a dated per-account outreach schedule. - [The Event Roster Playbook: From Speaker List to Ranked Accounts](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/event-roster-to-ranked-accounts) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/event-roster-to-ranked-accounts.md)) - Turn a public conference speaker, sponsor, and exhibitor roster into a ranked account plan with named contacts and reasons to meet before you book the trip. - [The Cold Cadence Blueprint: Sequencing Email, Phone, and Social](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/cold-cadence-blueprint-multichannel) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/cold-cadence-blueprint-multichannel.md)) - Turn a named prospect list into a day-by-day multichannel cadence with a defensible touch count, branching on intent, and a deliverability guardrail. - [Reconstructing a Target Account's Tech Stack From Public Signals](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/reconstruct-account-tech-stack) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/reconstruct-account-tech-stack.md)) - Assemble a confidence-rated tech-stack profile of one target account from free public evidence, corroborate every component, and turn it into an opening line. - [The Company Trigger-Event Reference: Proof and Shelf Life](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/company-trigger-event-reference) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/company-trigger-event-reference.md)) - Look up any company trigger event and get what it proves, its false positive, its decay window in days, and the response speed it demands before it goes cold. - [The First-90-Day Executive Play: Reading a New Leader's Real Mandate](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/first-90-day-executive-play) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/first-90-day-executive-play.md)) - A step-by-step play for reaching a newly appointed executive inside the openness window with a mandate-specific first touch, not a congratulations note. - [The Buying-Signal Yield Score: Keep, Demote, or Retire a Trigger](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/buying-signal-yield-score) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/buying-signal-yield-score.md)) - Score any buying signal on its measured conversion yield from your own pipeline and rule it Keep, Demote, or Retire using thresholds two people apply the same way. - [Widening a Single-Threaded Deal While Your Champion Is Warm](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/widening-single-threaded-deal) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/widening-single-threaded-deal.md)) - Detect single-thread risk on a live deal, find the economic buyer and lateral stakeholders you have no contacts for, and sequence outreach to a defensible coverage threshold. - [The Inbound Hand-Raiser Score: Route Now, Nurture, or Disqualify](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/inbound-hand-raiser-score) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/inbound-hand-raiser-score.md)) - Score any inbound form-fill on identity, fit, and intent from public signals, then land on route, nurture, or disqualify before the speed-to-lead window closes. - [The Fresh-Raise Play: Sequencing Contacts Before the Window Closes](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/fresh-raise-sales-play) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/fresh-raise-sales-play.md)) - Take one funding announcement and produce a ranked, correctly-timed set of named contacts, each matched to the right week of the post-raise window and a message angle. - [Reading a Public Target's Earnings Call and 10-K for Outreach Hooks](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/earnings-call-10k-outreach-hooks) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/earnings-call-10k-outreach-hooks.md)) - Turn a public target account's latest earnings call and 10-K into a ranked list of outreach hooks, each tied to a quote, a named buyer, and a why-now. - [The Renewal-Risk Score: Reading Churn From Public Signals](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/renewal-risk-score-public-signals) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/renewal-risk-score-public-signals.md)) - Score which live customer accounts are drifting toward non-renewal from public evidence like champion exits and reorgs, weeks before the renewal conversation. - [The Expansion-Readiness Score for Installed-Base Accounts](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/expansion-readiness-score-installed-base) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/expansion-readiness-score-installed-base.md)) - Score existing customer accounts on expansion readiness from public signals and account context, then sort your installed base into expand-now, nurture, and hold. - [The Look-Alike Account List: From Closed-Won to Ranked Net-New](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/lookalike-account-list-closed-won) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/lookalike-account-list-closed-won.md)) - Turn your closed-won deals into a ranked, deduplicated list of net-new look-alike accounts with a stated match reason on every row. A full playbook. - [Turning a Target Account's Job Postings Into a Timed Outreach Queue](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/job-postings-timed-outreach-queue) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/job-postings-timed-outreach-queue.md)) - Convert live job postings at target accounts into a recency-windowed, buyer-mapped outreach queue with a role-to-need rationale and a defensible send-by date. - [Re-Threading a Stalled Deal When Your Champion Goes Dark](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/re-threading-stalled-deal) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/re-threading-stalled-deal.md)) - A start-to-finish method to diagnose a silent deal, find a reachable alternate stakeholder from public signals, and re-enter without burning the account. - [The Account Whitespace Map: One Logo to Every Buying Center](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/map-account-whitespace-buying-centers) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/map-account-whitespace-buying-centers.md)) - A search-first playbook to turn one existing customer into a ranked list of untapped departments, units, and subsidiaries, each with a named decision-maker. - [Scoring a Closed-Lost Deal: Reopen, Nurture, or Bury](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/scoring-closed-lost-deals) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/scoring-closed-lost-deals.md)) - Score any closed-lost deal on loss reason, ICP fit, elapsed time, live trigger, and reachability, then sort it into reopen, nurture, or bury. - [The Repo-Signal Qualification Standard: When a GitHub Lead Is Sales-Ready](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/repo-signal-qualification-standard) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/repo-signal-qualification-standard.md)) - A pass/fail standard for deciding when a GitHub star, fork, issue, or PR clears the bar to become an outbound lead a rep actually works. - [The GitHub Buying-Signal Reference: What Each Repo Event Proves](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/github-buying-signal-reference) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/github-buying-signal-reference.md)) - Look up any GitHub repository event, read what it proves about buying intent, its intent tier, its false-positive traps, and how to confirm it before routing to a rep. - [The Account Disqualification Standard: When to Cut a Company](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/account-disqualification-standard) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/account-disqualification-standard.md)) - A gradeable standard for disqualifying accounts from a target list: the disqualifier categories, the public field that proves each, and the verification checklist. - [From Repo Stargazers to a Qualified Meeting List](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/stargazers-to-meeting-list) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/stargazers-to-meeting-list.md)) - Turn one repository's stargazers into a deduplicated, outreach-ready meeting list, with the real intermediate counts and drop-off yield at every stage. - [The Competitive Displacement Signal Reference](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/competitive-displacement-signal-reference) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/competitive-displacement-signal-reference.md)) - A per-signal reference for finding accounts that already run a competitor and are ready to switch: what each signal proves, how it misleads, and how to weight it. - [Ranking Named Contacts at One Account for First Touch](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/ranking-contacts-first-touch) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/ranking-contacts-first-touch.md)) - A five-dimension framework to tier named contacts at one account, decide send order, and split hand-written outreach from templated sequences before you touch a cold prospect. - [From Badge-Scan Export to a Ranked Outreach Queue](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/attendee-list-to-outreach-queue) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/attendee-list-to-outreach-queue.md)) - Turn a messy multi-company conference attendee export into a deduplicated, ICP-filtered, contact-resolved outreach queue ranked by fit and intent with a defensible count at every stage. - [The DevTool Outreach Queue: From GitHub Activity to Ranked Sends](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/github-devtool-outreach-queue) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/github-devtool-outreach-queue.md)) - Build a repeatable weekly pipeline that turns GitHub stars, forks, issues, and dependency adoption into a deduped, account-resolved, lawful-send outreach queue. - [Scoring an Account's Open-Source Footprint for Buying Intent](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/scoring-repo-footprint-buying-intent) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/scoring-repo-footprint-buying-intent.md)) - A weighted scoring model that turns a company's activity on your open-source repo into a defensible intent tier: reach now, nurture, or skip. - [The Outreach-Ready Contact Standard: When a Record Is Safe to Send](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/outreach-ready-contact-standard) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/outreach-ready-contact-standard.md)) - A pass/fail standard for grading one contact record on identity, role currency, deliverability, and reachability before it enters an outbound sequence. - [The Buyer Readiness Signal Reference: Reading One Person's Footprint](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/buyer-readiness-signal-reference) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/buyer-readiness-signal-reference.md)) - Look at one prospect's public footprint and decide what each signal proves about receptivity, how fast it decays, and whether it justifies a touch now. - [Buying-Committee Mapping: Finding Everyone Who Has to Say Yes](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/buying-committee-mapping) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/buying-committee-mapping.md)) - A framework for turning a target account into a named list of the people who decide, block, and champion, with role scoring and coverage checks. - [The Job-Change Trigger Playbook: Turn a Champion's Move Into Pipeline](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/job-change-trigger-playbook) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/job-change-trigger-playbook.md)) - A field playbook to track when customers change jobs, detect a champion move fast, qualify the new employer, and run a warm first-touch that opens the account. - [Scoring an Account's Fit Before It Earns Rep Time](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/scoring-account-fit-before-rep-time) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/scoring-account-fit-before-rep-time.md)) - A per-account rubric to score one named company on structural fit and buying window from public evidence, then assign a defensible pursue, nurture, or pass tier. - [The Account Brief Standard: What a Rep Needs Before First Touch](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/account-brief-standard) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/account-brief-standard.md)) - A fixed evidence bar and stop rule for grading whether an account brief is ready to hand a rep for outbound, so two graders reach the same verdict. - [From One Account to the Person Who Owns the Problem](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/account-to-problem-owner) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/account-to-problem-owner.md)) - Take a single named account and produce one verified, current name plus the right first contact, with the exact searches and tenure checks that got you there. - [One Target Account List: From ICP to the Reps' Queue](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/icp-to-reps-queue-account-list) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/icp-to-reps-queue-account-list.md)) - Carry one ideal customer profile through query, dedup, scoring, and tiering into a defensible, tiered account list your reps can work this quarter. - [The Warm Intro Path Playbook: From Target Account to Forwarded Ask](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/warm-intro-path-playbook) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/warm-intro-path-playbook.md)) - A per-account procedure to surface every connector path into a target account, rank paths by real relationship strength, and send a forwardable ask that gets passed along. - [Building a Reseller Partner Pipeline From Public Evidence](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/reseller-partner-pipeline-from-evidence) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/reseller-partner-pipeline-from-evidence.md)) - Turn an ideal partner profile into a ranked pipeline of reseller and referral companies scored on public evidence of overlap, offering, and sales capacity. - [The Outbound Trigger Reference: What to Watch and When to Move](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/outbound-trigger-reference) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/outbound-trigger-reference.md)) - A per-signal lookup table for sales triggers, with the decay window, proof of intent, false-positive trap, and public source for each. Jump to a row and act. - [Scoring a Buying Committee by Power, Stance, and Coverage](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/scoring-buying-committee-power-stance-coverage) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/scoring-buying-committee-power-stance-coverage.md)) - A scoring rubric that turns one target account into a named committee roster with decision-role, power, stance, confidence, and a coverage verdict. ## Investing and deal sourcing Spotting companies and founders early, and diligencing the team behind a round. - [The Technical-Founder Build Read: Advance, Probe, or Pass](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/technical-founder-build-read) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/technical-founder-build-read.md)) - Score a technical or AI founder's public engineering footprint across defined dimensions and reach a defensible advance, probe, or pass verdict before any private access. - [Sourcing Academic Founders Before They Leave the Lab](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/sourcing-academic-founders-pre-spinout) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/sourcing-academic-founders-pre-spinout.md)) - Turn a target field or lab set into a ranked, contact-ready watchlist of pre-incorporation academic founders, each tagged with its public signal and outreach window. - [Tracing a Claimed Founder Exit to the Real Outcome](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/tracing-claimed-founder-exit) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/tracing-claimed-founder-exit.md)) - A forensic trail for turning a founder's "founded X, exited for $Y" deck line into a documented verdict on the real sale, the role, and personal proceeds. - [The AI Defensibility Read: Durable Moat, Wrapper, or Feature](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/ai-defensibility-read) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/ai-defensibility-read.md)) - Score an AI startup on five externally-observable moat dimensions and reach a verdict before the IC, using only public signals the founder never has to hand you. - [The Co-Investor Syndicate Read: Lean In, Discount, or Pass](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/co-investor-syndicate-read) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/co-investor-syndicate-read.md)) - A scored framework for grading the existing investor syndicate on a round you have been offered allocation in, reaching a defensible Lean In, Discount, or Pass verdict. - [The Hiring Pullback Read: Distress, Pivot, or Normal Slowdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/hiring-pullback-read) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/hiring-pullback-read.md)) - Score a target or portfolio company's shrinking job board from its public feed, classify the pullback as distress, pivot, or normal slowdown, and decide. - [The Pro-Rata Verdict: Exercise, Waive, or Sell the Follow-On](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/pro-rata-exercise-waive-sell) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/pro-rata-exercise-waive-sell.md)) - Score a portfolio company's next-round notice on ownership math, momentum, round quality, and reserves, then land on exercise, waive, or sell before the window closes. - [Sourcing Co-Investors to Fill a Round You Are Leading](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/sourcing-co-investors-to-fill-a-round) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/sourcing-co-investors-to-fill-a-round.md)) - A staged method for the lead investor to turn an open allocation into a tiered, conflict-screened co-investor shortlist with an intro path mapped for every top name. - [The Back-Channel Customer Check: Sourcing a Startup's Real Users Before You Wire](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/back-channel-customer-check) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/back-channel-customer-check.md)) - An investor-side procedure to reconstruct a startup's customer base from public signals, reach real users without the founder, and run calls that surface churn. - [The Co-Founder Durability Read: Backable, Watch, or Walk](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/co-founder-durability-read) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/co-founder-durability-read.md)) - Score a founding pair's relationship durability from public history alone and return a Backable, Watch, or Walk verdict before you take the diligence call. - [Diligencing a Secondary Share Offer Before You Wire](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/diligencing-a-secondary-share-offer) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/diligencing-a-secondary-share-offer.md)) - An ordered procedure to vet a secondary share purchase: seller motivation, transfer restrictions, share class, and a defensible price to a wire-or-walk verdict. - [Sourcing the Off-List References to Call on a Founder](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/off-list-founder-references) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/off-list-founder-references.md)) - A sourcing procedure for early-stage investors: turn a founder's public history into a ranked list of independent references the founder never handed you. - [Sourcing Companies Before the Round Is Announced](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/sourcing-companies-before-the-round) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/sourcing-companies-before-the-round.md)) - A pre-announcement sourcing playbook for early-stage investors: detect pre-seed and seed companies from public signals weeks before a funding database confirms them. - [Tracing a Stacked SAFE Deal to Your Real Converted Ownership](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/stacked-safe-converted-ownership) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/stacked-safe-converted-ownership.md)) - Take a SAFE, the existing stack, and a cap table, and compute your true fully diluted ownership after every conversion and the option pool refresh. - [The Pre-IC Deal Readiness Standard: Verified, Conditional, or Not Ready](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/pre-ic-deal-readiness-standard) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/pre-ic-deal-readiness-standard.md)) - A claim-by-claim grading rubric that decides whether a sourced deal's diligence packet is complete enough for the partner vote, or still needs corroboration. - [The Form D Field Reference: Reading a Raise Before the Press](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/form-d-field-reference) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/form-d-field-reference.md)) - A field-by-field lookup for the SEC Form D and D/A that separates what each item proves about a raise from what it only appears to prove. - [Separating a COSS Repo's Real Adoption From Bought Stars](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/coss-repo-real-adoption-vs-bought-stars) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/coss-repo-real-adoption-vs-bought-stars.md)) - Walk one commercial open-source repo from a suspiciously smooth star chart to a defensible go or no-go using only public data and adoption signals a bought campaign cannot fake. - [The Open-Source Investability Standard: Fundable, Conditional, or Pass](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/open-source-investability-standard) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/open-source-investability-standard.md)) - Grade any open-source repository against license, governance, contributor concentration, and adoption to reach a Fundable, Conditional, or Pass verdict. - [Verifying a Consumer App's Traction Claims From Public Store Signals](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/verify-app-traction-store-signals) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/verify-app-traction-store-signals.md)) - Take one consumer app from raw store signals to a traction verdict, with modeled download bands, a stated confidence level, and the deck claims store data cannot touch. - [Tracing a Founder Factory's Alumni to Their Next Startups](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/founder-factory-alumni-startups) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/founder-factory-alumni-startups.md)) - Turn one founder factory's diaspora into a ranked, deduplicated list of pre-round startups founded by its alumni, each founder resolved and each company scored. - [The Repo Traction Signal Reference: Proof, Gaming, Shelf Life](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/repo-traction-signal-reference) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/repo-traction-signal-reference.md)) - A per-metric lookup for investors diligencing an open-source startup: what each repository signal proves, exactly how it gets inflated, and how often to re-verify it. - [The Portfolio Departure Watch: Catching a Key-Person Exit Early](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/portfolio-departure-watch) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/portfolio-departure-watch.md)) - Build a named-seat watchlist across your portfolio, wire it to the public signals that move first, and triage a routine exit from a same-week distress cluster. - [The Private-Company Momentum Signal Reference](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/private-company-momentum-signal-reference) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/private-company-momentum-signal-reference.md)) - Look up any external momentum signal for a private company: what it proves, how it is gamed, its lead time over financials, and how often to re-pull it. - [The Stealth-Founder Watchlist: From First Signal to Timed Outreach](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/stealth-founder-watchlist) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/stealth-founder-watchlist.md)) - A weekly procedure to detect a named person founding a company before any entity exists, correlate weak signals, filter false positives, and time outreach. - [The Founder Background Verification Standard](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/founder-background-verification-standard) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/founder-background-verification-standard.md)) - A gradeable evidence bar for founder background diligence, with the public source that clears each claim type and the severity tiers separating Conditional from Block. - [The Founder Background Signal Reference: What Each Credential Proves](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/founder-background-signal-reference) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/founder-background-signal-reference.md)) - A row-by-row reference for diligencing a founder from public sources, with the measured base rate, failure mode, and shelf life for each background signal. - [The Pre-Round OSS Scan: From Repository Momentum to a Ranked Deal List](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/pre-round-oss-scan) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/pre-round-oss-scan.md)) - A weekly procedure to source company-backed open source startups showing pre-round repository momentum, filtered for license class, backing, and real growth. - [From SBIR Award to a Ranked Deep-Tech Deal List](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/sbir-award-deal-sourcing) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/sbir-award-deal-sourcing.md)) - Turn federal grant-award databases into a ranked, timed outreach list of pre-round deep-tech founders, filtering out grant mills and already-funded firms. - [The Fork-Risk Score: Rating a COSS Project Before You Wire](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/fork-risk-score-coss-diligence) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/fork-risk-score-coss-diligence.md)) - Score any repo-backed open source company on fork-and-relicense exposure from public evidence, then translate the score into a keep, price-in, or walk decision. - [The First-Screen Clearance Standard for Sourced Companies](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/first-screen-clearance-standard) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/first-screen-clearance-standard.md)) - A gradeable definition of done for the VC first screen, so two analysts on the same deal reach the same advance-or-pass verdict against fixed gates. - [The Founder Talent-Magnet Score: Grading Recruiting Pull From Public Hires](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/founder-talent-magnet-score) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/founder-talent-magnet-score.md)) - A scoring framework to judge whether a founder can pull A-players into a risky startup, using only public hiring evidence, before you sign a term sheet. - [The Why-Now Score: Grading a Deal's Market Timing From Public Signals](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/why-now-score-market-timing) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/why-now-score-market-timing.md)) - Score a startup's why-now claim across five catalyst dimensions using public evidence, and land on one verdict: real inflection, too early, or no catalyst. - [The Re-Founder Readiness Score: Timing an Exited Founder's Next Company](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/re-founder-readiness-score) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/re-founder-readiness-score.md)) - Score any exited founder 0 to 100 across five weighted dimensions, attach an estimated free-to-build date, and sort them into reach now, watch, or not yet. - [The Founder-Market Fit Score: Grading a Founder's Edge From Public History](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/founder-market-fit-score) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/founder-market-fit-score.md)) - Score any founder against their market on four sourced dimensions using only public history, then turn the score into an advance, dig-deeper, or pass verdict. - [The Exit-Path Map: Ranking Realistic Acquirers Before You Invest](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/exit-path-map-ranking-acquirers) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/exit-path-map-ranking-acquirers.md)) - Build a ranked, evidence-tiered list of who would actually buy a startup before you invest, and write an exit-path verdict you can defend in an IC memo. - [The Comparable-Round Set: Sanity-Checking a Valuation Ask](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/comparable-round-set-valuation) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/comparable-round-set-valuation.md)) - Build a defensible set of comparable recent rounds from public signals, adjust for how the target differs, and turn it into a valuation range for your IC. - [Verifying an Emerging Manager's Deal Attribution From Public Records](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/verify-gp-deal-attribution-public-records) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/verify-gp-deal-attribution-public-records.md)) - Classify each logo on a first-time GP's track-record slide as verified-led, verified-participated, timeline-corroborated, or unsubstantiated using only public records first. - [Reaching Research Spinout Founders Before the Round](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/sourcing-research-spinout-founders) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/sourcing-research-spinout-founders.md)) - A weekly method to turn public academic signals into a ranked list of named, reachable university and lab spinout founders before the round is competitive. - [Scoring an AI Startup's Defensibility From Public Evidence](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/scoring-ai-startup-defensibility) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/scoring-ai-startup-defensibility.md)) - A framework to score any AI startup's moat across six dimensions using only public evidence and land on invest, dig deeper, or pass with a reason. - [The Follow-On Conviction Score: Double Down, Hold, or Pass](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/follow-on-conviction-score) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/follow-on-conviction-score.md)) - A per-company framework for deciding whether to exercise pro-rata, go beyond it, or let the allocation lapse, scored from public trajectory signals before the IC meeting. - [Building a Targeted LP List for a First-Fund Raise](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/targeted-lp-list-first-fund) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/targeted-lp-list-first-fund.md)) - Turn a fund thesis into a tiered, mandate-matched LP prospect list from public filings, with fit evidence and warm-intro paths sized to a first close. - [The Runway-Risk Score: Reading Distress From Public Signals](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/runway-risk-score) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/runway-risk-score.md)) - Score a tracked company's distress risk on weighted public signals, place it in a decision band, and defend the score against a blind second scorer. - [The Co-Investor Invite List: Filling an Open Allocation](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/co-investor-invite-list) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/co-investor-invite-list.md)) - Turn a committed lead position and open allocation into a ranked, sequenced list of funds and angels to invite, scored on fit, check size, and odds of yes. - [The Co-Founder Breakup-Risk Read From Public History](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/cofounder-breakup-risk-read) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/cofounder-breakup-risk-read.md)) - Score a co-founder pair's breakup risk across named relationship dimensions from public evidence, then land on a defensible back it, dig deeper, or pass. - [The Warm-Intro Path Map: Reaching a Founder Before the Round Closes](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/warm-intro-path-to-founder) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/warm-intro-path-to-founder.md)) - A repeatable method to map, rank, and trigger the shortest credible warm-intro path from your network to a founder you want to back before the round closes. - [Customer Reference Calls: Verifying Traction Before You Wire](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/customer-reference-calls-verify-traction) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/customer-reference-calls-verify-traction.md)) - Run customer reference calls on a seed or Series A deal that test real demand and retention, sequenced to the term-sheet window without burning the founder's base. - [Founder Reference Calls: From First List to Go or No-Go](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/founder-reference-call-program) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/founder-reference-call-program.md)) - Build and run a complete founder reference program: source on-list and backchannel names, sequence the calls, ask the right questions, and reach a defensible verdict. - [The Pre-Wire Diligence Standard for Seed Deals](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/pre-wire-diligence-standard-seed) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/pre-wire-diligence-standard-seed.md)) - Grade any seed deal's confirmatory diligence as ready-to-wire or not-yet, against named founder, traction, and reference criteria two partners can score alike. - [The Diligence Red-Flag Reference: Walk Away, Price It In, or Ignore](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/diligence-red-flag-reference) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/diligence-red-flag-reference.md)) - A graded lookup for early-stage investors: take any warning sign found during diligence and classify it as walk-away, price-it-in, or noise, with what it proves. - [The Build-Versus-Wrapper Read: One Startup's Repos, Start to Finish](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/build-versus-wrapper-repo-read) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/build-versus-wrapper-repo-read.md)) - Carry one target startup's public repos through to a defensible read of proprietary engineering versus open-source and API glue, with evidence for each claim. - [The Commercial Open Source Readiness Standard](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/commercial-open-source-readiness-standard) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/commercial-open-source-readiness-standard.md)) - A pass/fail standard for grading whether an open-source project clears the bar to become a venture-backable company, before you take the founder call. - [Sourcing Companies Before the Round Is Announced](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/sourcing-before-round-announced) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/sourcing-before-round-announced.md)) - A pre-seed and seed sourcing playbook for finding companies weeks before they show up in a funding database, using people, registry, and code signals. - [Mapping the Real Competitive Set Behind One Pitch](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/mapping-competitive-set-behind-pitch) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/mapping-competitive-set-behind-pitch.md)) - Take one pitch deck's "no competition" claim to a documented map of named competitors, including stealth and incumbent efforts, and a defensible verdict. - [The Open-Source Traction Metric Reference for Deal Screening](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/open-source-traction-metric-reference) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/open-source-traction-metric-reference.md)) - A lookup for screening open-source startups: what each repository metric proves about adoption, how it gets inflated, and the counter-check to run before you price traction. - [The Early-Hire Team-Quality Score for Seed and Series A Deals](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/scoring-early-hires-team-signal) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/scoring-early-hires-team-signal.md)) - Score a seed or Series A company's first ten to twenty non-founder hires from public profiles and produce a defensible team-quality read before the partner meeting. - [The Imminent-Raise Signal Reference for Watchlist Companies](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/imminent-raise-signal-reference) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/imminent-raise-signal-reference.md)) - A row-by-row lookup of public signals that a watchlisted startup is about to raise, scored by lead time and by the exact way each one misleads. - [Grading a Deck's Traction Claims Against Public Signals](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/grading-deck-traction-claims) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/grading-deck-traction-claims.md)) - Take a pitch deck's stated MRR, user count, and growth rate and grade each claim plausible, inflated, or unverifiable from public signals in under an hour. - [The Founder Claim Verification Standard: When a Track Record Checks Out](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/founder-claim-verification-standard) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/founder-claim-verification-standard.md)) - Grade every material founder claim as confirmed, unconfirmed, or contradicted against an independent source, and decide when the background clears the bar to wire. - [Building a Living Sector Map for Deal Sourcing](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/living-sector-map-deal-sourcing) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/living-sector-map-deal-sourcing.md)) - Turn an investment thesis into a maintained sector map with measured coverage, a refresh cadence tied to field decay, and a ranked contact list. - [The Stealth Founder Signal Reference: Reading One Person's Pre-Launch Footprint](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/stealth-founder-signal-reference) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/stealth-founder-signal-reference.md)) - Read any single pre-formation founder signal on one person and know what it proves, how it misleads, and how fast it decays before you rank them. - [The Public-Repo Technical Diligence Read for Early-Stage Deals](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/public-repo-technical-diligence-read) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/public-repo-technical-diligence-read.md)) - Run a same-day technical read of a startup from its public repos, with named red flags, evidence, and go/flag/stop thresholds before a term sheet. - [Grading Whether a Repo's GitHub Traction Is Real](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/grading-github-traction-real) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/grading-github-traction-real.md)) - A weighted scoring framework for early-stage investors to decide whether a dev-tools repo's GitHub popularity is real, mixed, or inflated before partner review. - [The Deal Screen Standard: What a Company Must Prove Before Partner Review](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/deal-screen-standard) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/deal-screen-standard.md)) - A gradeable bar for the single gate between a sourced company and a partner meeting, so two associates reach the same pass-or-advance verdict from one record. - [The Off-List Reference List: Who to Call Before You Wire](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/off-list-reference-list-founder) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/off-list-reference-list-founder.md)) - Build a ranked list of 8 to 15 off-list references on a founder before you wire, using employment-spine reconstruction and alumni search. Carried through one worked example. - [The Public-Signal Momentum Score for Early-Stage Triage](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/public-signal-momentum-score) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/public-signal-momentum-score.md)) - Score any early-stage company on public momentum signals and land a defensible pursue-now, watch, or pass decision before you spend a warm intro on it. - [The Solo Talent Partner's Monthly Portfolio Hiring Cycle](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/solo-talent-partner-portfolio-cycle) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/solo-talent-partner-portfolio-cycle.md)) - A monthly operating cycle for the only talent person at a fund: triage every open portfolio role, pick the few to source hands-on, and batch one search across many companies. - [Grading a Founding Team on Public Evidence](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/grading-founding-team-public-evidence) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/grading-founding-team-public-evidence.md)) - A scored framework for judging a founding team from public sources alone, so you can reach a defensible go/hold/pass call before you spend partner time. - [The Pre-Announcement Deal Sourcing Playbook](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/pre-announcement-deal-sourcing-playbook) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/pre-announcement-deal-sourcing-playbook.md)) - A weekly routine that names forming pre-seed and seed companies from public signals before they hit any funding database, so you reach the founder first. ## Engineering and open source Reading code, repositories, and contribution history as evidence of what someone can do. - [The Code-Review Behavior Read: Mentor, Gatekeeper, or Rubber-Stamp](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/code-review-behavior-read) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/code-review-behavior-read.md)) - Score an engineer's public code-review history across four dimensions, discount AI-written comments, and land on a Mentor, Gatekeeper, or Rubber-Stamp verdict. - [The AI-Engineer Footprint Reference: What Each LLM Artifact Proves](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/ai-engineer-llm-artifact-reference) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/ai-engineer-llm-artifact-reference.md)) - A lookup reference for screening an engineer's public AI and LLM work: what each artifact proves about production skill, how it misleads, and how long the signal stays fresh. - [The Kaggle Profile Read: Applied Skill, Contest Overfit, or Noise](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/kaggle-profile-read-hiring) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/kaggle-profile-read-hiring.md)) - Score a data-science candidate's Kaggle profile across its four categories, discount upvote-farmed and overfit tiers, and land a defensible hiring verdict. - [The Vulnerability-Disclosure Read: Deep Skill, Padded, or Noise](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/vulnerability-disclosure-hiring-read) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/vulnerability-disclosure-hiring-read.md)) - Score a security candidate's CVE credits, advisory acknowledgments, and bug-bounty profile across defined dimensions and land on a defensible hiring verdict. - [The AI-Authorship Discount: Reading Whose Skill a Repo Proves](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/ai-authorship-discount-reading-code) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/ai-authorship-discount-reading-code.md)) - Score a candidate's public code on authorship-confidence dimensions and reach a defensible verdict: own skill, AI-assisted, or inflated, before you spend an interview slot. - [Reproducing a Repo's Headline Benchmark Before You Trust It](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/reproduce-repo-headline-benchmark) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/reproduce-repo-headline-benchmark.md)) - A worked reproduction of one library's speedup claim, from clone to verdict, so you can return holds, hardware-inflated, or unreproducible with evidence attached. - [The Pull-Request Signal Reference: What Code Really Proves](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/pull-request-signal-reference) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/pull-request-signal-reference.md)) - A lookup reference for reviewing a candidate's public pull requests: each in-PR signal, what it proves about engineering judgment, and how it misleads you. - [The Hugging Face Footprint Read: Real Output, Fork, or Noise](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/hugging-face-footprint-read) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/hugging-face-footprint-read.md)) - Score any machine-learning engineer's Hugging Face profile into interview, thin, or noise by weighting each artifact for what it proves and discounting gamed metrics. - [Recruiting Design Partners for a Developer Tool From Public Signals](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/design-partners-from-public-signals) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/design-partners-from-public-signals.md)) - A start-to-finish method for going from a written pain profile to a ranked shortlist of design partners and the named engineer who owns the pain. - [The Maintainer Outreach Acceptability Standard: Send, Revise, or Hold](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/maintainer-outreach-acceptability-standard) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/maintainer-outreach-acceptability-standard.md)) - A gradeable pre-send checklist for messaging open-source maintainers, converting scattered community norms into a Send, Revise, or Hold verdict two teammates share. - [The MCP Server Trust Score: Connect, Sandbox, or Reject](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/mcp-server-trust-score) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/mcp-server-trust-score.md)) - Score any MCP server across six trust dimensions and reach a defensible connect, sandbox, or reject verdict you can record in a ticket. - [The Open-Weight Model Selection Playbook: Self-Host, Route, or Stay on API](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/open-weight-model-selection-playbook) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/open-weight-model-selection-playbook.md)) - Pick one open-weight model to self-host for a production workload, tested on your own data, and produce a self-host, route, or stay-on-API verdict. - [The Repository License Reference: Commercial Use and Copyleft Triggers](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/repository-license-reference) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/repository-license-reference.md)) - Read any repo's LICENSE and dependency tree to decide if you can ship it in a commercial or SaaS product, and know exactly what obligation triggers. - [The Public-Work Interview Verdict: Interview, Screen, or Pass](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/public-work-interview-verdict) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/public-work-interview-verdict.md)) - Score an engineer's public code across weighted dimensions and reach a defensible interview, phone-screen, or pass verdict two reviewers can reproduce. - [The Vendor Reliability Score: Grading an API From Its Incident History](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/vendor-reliability-score) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/vendor-reliability-score.md)) - Turn a vendor's public status page and SLA into a defensible 0-100 reliability score across seven dimensions, then decide: build, add a fallback, or reject. - [The Outsourced-Build Partner Standard: Cleared, Conditional, or Walk Away](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/outsourced-build-partner-standard) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/outsourced-build-partner-standard.md)) - Grade a software agency and its named engineers against fixed, evidence-backed criteria and return a Cleared, Conditional, or Walk Away verdict a second reviewer can match. - [The Developer-Authority Signal Reference: Talks, Writing, and Standards](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/developer-authority-signal-reference) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/developer-authority-signal-reference.md)) - Judge whether an engineer is a real technical authority and whether a company is a talent magnet, using non-code signals with a built-in pay-to-play filter. - [The Maintainer Bus-Factor Score for a Dependency You Rely On](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/maintainer-bus-factor-score) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/maintainer-bus-factor-score.md)) - A repeatable method to score how concentrated an open source dependency's knowledge is on one person, correct the aliasing error, and pick keep, mitigate, or replace. - [Reading an Acqui-Hire Target's Engineers From Their Public Work](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/reading-acqui-hire-engineers-public-work) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/reading-acqui-hire-engineers-public-work.md)) - Work an acqui-hire target end to end from public code: resolve the roster, rank engineers by real contribution, flag the load-bearing person, and reach a go/no-go. - [The Third-Party Service Security Standard: Clear, Conditional, or Block](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/third-party-service-security-standard) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/third-party-service-security-standard.md)) - A gradeable security bar for third-party services and APIs, built from public evidence, so a vendor review ends in a defensible Clear, Conditional, or Block verdict. - [The Switching-Cost Score: Grading Vendor Lock-In Before You Build](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/switching-cost-score-vendor-lock-in) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/switching-cost-score-vendor-lock-in.md)) - A repeatable rubric for scoring vendor lock-in from public artifacts, so you land on a defensible low, medium, or high exit-cost verdict before you build. - [Building a Technical Advisory Bench From the Engineers Who Solved It](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/technical-advisory-bench-playbook) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/technical-advisory-bench-playbook.md)) - A playbook for lining up technical advisors who provably shipped your exact build, qualified from public artifacts, then papered with a defensible equity offer. - [Diligencing a Startup's Engineering Org Before You Sign](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/diligence-startup-engineering-org) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/diligence-startup-engineering-org.md)) - A repeatable read of a startup's public engineering signals - GitHub cadence, incident discipline, tenure, and provenance - to reach a defensible join, negotiate, or pass verdict. - [The Engineering-Signal Reference: What Each Public Artifact Proves](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/engineering-signal-artifact-reference) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/engineering-signal-artifact-reference.md)) - Look up any public engineering artifact a company emits and read what it proves about real practice and the exact way a polished version can lie. - [Tracing a Candidate's Real Role in the Project They Claim](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/tracing-candidate-real-role) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/tracing-candidate-real-role.md)) - Confirm from public git evidence how much of a claimed project a candidate personally built, with the real queries, commit counts, and forks where the claim breaks. - [The Benchmark-Score Trust Reference for Model Selection](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/benchmark-score-trust-reference) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/benchmark-score-trust-reference.md)) - Classify any model benchmark score as earned capability, memorization, or harness artifact, and name the one independent check that confirms or breaks it. - [The Build Provenance Bar for Package Versions](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/build-provenance-bar-package-versions) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/build-provenance-bar-package-versions.md)) - Grade any package version's build provenance and reach a repeatable accept-or-hold verdict on trusted publishing, SLSA attestation, and release-age cooldown. - [The Coding-Agent Trial: Shortlist to Adoption Verdict on Your Repo](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/coding-agent-trial-adoption-verdict) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/coding-agent-trial-adoption-verdict.md)) - Run a bounded, controlled trial of an AI coding agent on your own repository and reach a defensible adopt, hold, or reject verdict with numbers behind it. - [Vetting a Platform Vendor Before You Build a Core Feature on Its API](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/vetting-platform-vendor-core-feature) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/vetting-platform-vendor-core-feature.md)) - An ordered method to vet a third-party API vendor from public evidence and reach a defensible build, build-with-abstraction, or walk-away decision. - [Vetting a New Dependency Before It Runs on Your Machine](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/vetting-a-new-dependency) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/vetting-a-new-dependency.md)) - The consumer-side procedure to screen a never-before-used package for supply-chain malware, before install runs its code, ending in a three-way verdict. - [The Compromised-Package Runbook: From Advisory to Contained Blast Radius](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/compromised-package-blast-radius) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/compromised-package-blast-radius.md)) - The first-hour runbook for a compromised npm package or GitHub Action: enumerate exposure, decide contain-or-wait, and rotate the exact secrets attackers reach for. - [The Vulnerable-Dependency Triage: Fix Now, Schedule, or Accept](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/vulnerable-dependency-triage-tiers) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/vulnerable-dependency-triage-tiers.md)) - Score any flagged dependency vulnerability across KEV, EPSS, reachability, exposure, and fix effort, then place it in one of four remediation tiers with an auditable rationale. - [Building a Structured Interview From a Candidate's Public Code](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/interview-from-candidate-public-code) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/interview-from-candidate-public-code.md)) - Turn one engineer's public repos, pull requests, and talks into a candidate-specific, scorable interview with an AI-authorship check, in 60 to 90 minutes. - [The Release Trust Read: Accept, Hold, or Block a Dependency Update](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/release-trust-read-accept-hold-block) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/release-trust-read-accept-hold-block.md)) - Score a single new release of a dependency you already trust across identity, provenance, and behavior, then reach an accept, hold, or block verdict. - [Sourcing a Developer Advocate From Public Teaching Signals](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/sourcing-developer-advocate-teaching-signals) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/sourcing-developer-advocate-teaching-signals.md)) - An executable method to source and rank developer advocate candidates by scoring public talks, tutorials, docs, and community answers instead of job titles. - [The Contribution Weight Read: Core, Substantive, or Cosmetic](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/contribution-weight-read-tiers) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/contribution-weight-read-tiers.md)) - Score one contributor's work in a shared repository into Core, Substantive, Peripheral, or Cosmetic using git blame ownership, merge outcomes, and file centrality. - [The Stalled-Dependency Verdict: Hold, Vendor, Fork, or Migrate](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/stalled-dependency-verdict) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/stalled-dependency-verdict.md)) - Score a dead or dying dependency on blast radius, exit cost, and forkability, then produce a defensible verdict: hold, vendor, fork, or migrate off it. - [The Library Bake-Off: Scoring Two Dependencies to Pick One](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/library-bake-off-scoring) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/library-bake-off-scoring.md)) - A head-to-head scoring method for choosing between two open-source libraries: weighted dimensions, a documented tie-break, and a fallback plan. - [Scoring Staff-Level Design Judgment From Public Writing](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/scoring-design-judgment-public-writing) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/scoring-design-judgment-public-writing.md)) - A framework for grading a staff or principal engineer's public RFCs, KEPs, ADRs, and design docs to a defensible per-dimension design-judgment score. - [Confirming a Flagged Dependency Is Compromised or Clean](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/confirming-flagged-dependency-compromised) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/confirming-flagged-dependency-compromised.md)) - Carry one flagged package release through a no-execution triage - publisher history, tarball diff, install hooks, provenance - to a defensible verdict. - [Human or Agent: Reading Authorship in a Developer's Commits](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/human-or-agent-commit-authorship) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/human-or-agent-commit-authorship.md)) - A lookup for classifying each commit and PR in a developer's public GitHub as human-authored, AI-assisted, or agent-authored, with the signals that mislead. - [Scoring Agentic-Development Skill From a Candidate's Public Repos](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/scoring-agentic-development-skill) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/scoring-agentic-development-skill.md)) - Score any engineer's agentic-development skill from public GitHub evidence, then convert the score into an advance, probe-in-interview, or pass decision. - [The Collaboration Score From Public GitHub Review History](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/github-collaboration-score) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/github-collaboration-score.md)) - Score how a senior or staff engineer collaborates using only public GitHub review comments, issue threads, and discussions, with evidence and overturning checks. - [The Pre-Offer Authenticity Standard for Remote Engineers](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/pre-offer-authenticity-standard-remote-engineers) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/pre-offer-authenticity-standard-remote-engineers.md)) - A pre-offer definition of done for grading a remote engineering candidate as clear, recheck, or reject against organized identity fraud, consistently. - [The MCP Server Approval Standard: Connect, Remediate, or Reject](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/mcp-server-approval-standard) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/mcp-server-approval-standard.md)) - A gradeable pass or fail bar for approving a third-party MCP server before it touches a production agent that holds real credentials. Reach a defensible verdict. - [Vetting an Open-Weights Model Before You Build On It](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/vetting-open-weights-model) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/vetting-open-weights-model.md)) - Score any open-weights model across license, provenance, benchmarks, cost, and maintenance, then turn the score into an adopt, price-it-in, or reject decision. - [Scoring an Inbound PR: Genuine Work or AI Slop](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/scoring-inbound-pr-ai-slop) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/scoring-inbound-pr-ai-slop.md)) - A graded rubric to triage each unsolicited pull request or issue on reputation, effort, and code signals and reach a defensible verdict in minutes. - [The Model-Hub Signal Reference for Reading an ML Engineer](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/model-hub-signal-reference-ml-engineer) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/model-hub-signal-reference-ml-engineer.md)) - Decode Hugging Face and Kaggle signals one by one: what each proves, what it does not, and how re-uploads and bot inflation make it lie. - [The Elevated-Access Grant Standard for Open-Source Contributors](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/elevated-access-grant-standard) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/elevated-access-grant-standard.md)) - Grade any commit, maintainer, or publish access request against fixed criteria and land on grant, probation, or deny with the same verdict a teammate would reach. - [The Open-Source Control Signal Reference: Who Governs a Project](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/open-source-control-signal-reference) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/open-source-control-signal-reference.md)) - Read the public governance signals on any open-source project and state in writing who controls the name, license, and releases, and what happens to you if they change them. - [Reading a Repository: The Maintainer-Signal Reference](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/reading-a-repository-maintainer-signals) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/reading-a-repository-maintainer-signals.md)) - A lookup reference for judging what a GitHub repository actually proves about the people who work on it, with each signal's limit and how it misleads. - [Verifying the Real Team Behind a Dev Shop Before You Sign](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/verify-dev-shop-real-team) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/verify-dev-shop-real-team.md)) - Take one dev shop proposal and confirm from public evidence that the pitched engineers exist, work there, and wrote the code, before you sign. - [The Company-Backed Dependency Standard: Safe to Build On](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/company-backed-dependency-standard) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/company-backed-dependency-standard.md)) - Grade a company-backed open-source project pass, conditional, or fail on relicensing and single-vendor continuity risk before you commit to it. - [Scoring a Vendor's Engineering Reliability From Public Signals](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/scoring-vendor-engineering-reliability) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/scoring-vendor-engineering-reliability.md)) - Score a prospective API or platform vendor on weighted engineering-health dimensions from public evidence alone, then turn the total into a build, sandbox, or avoid decision. - [The Employer-Concentration Read: Elephant Factor Before You Adopt a Dependency](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/employer-concentration-elephant-factor) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/employer-concentration-elephant-factor.md)) - Map a dependency's core contributors to their employers, compute its Elephant Factor, and assign a single-vendor capture and abandonment risk tier you can defend. - [Developer Public Evidence: What Each Source Proves](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/developer-public-evidence-sources) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/developer-public-evidence-sources.md)) - A source-by-source reference for locating one engineer's public technical evidence and judging what each platform proves, how it misleads, and how fresh it must be. - [Reading an Acquihire Target's Engineering Team From Public Evidence](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/reading-acquihire-engineering-team) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/reading-acquihire-engineering-team.md)) - Turn one acquihire target from company name into a ranked engineering roster that names load-bearing builders and flags who is likely to walk, using only public code. - [Reading a Company's Engineering Org From Public Signals](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/reading-engineering-org-public-signals) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/reading-engineering-org-public-signals.md)) - A signal-by-signal reference for reading a company's stack, engineering team size, and technical maturity from public sources, with what each proves and how it lies. - [Resolving a GitHub Handle to a Verified, Reachable Person](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/resolve-github-handle-to-person) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/resolve-github-handle-to-person.md)) - A teardown that carries one handle-only GitHub contributor to a verified name and a confirmed contact channel, with the spoof and false-match checks the shortcuts skip. - [Scoring Maintainer Concentration Risk Before You Depend on a Repo](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/scoring-maintainer-concentration-risk) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/scoring-maintainer-concentration-risk.md)) - Score any open-source repo's maintainer concentration risk from public commit and review history, and land on safe, depend-with-mitigation, or avoid. - [Scoring a GitHub Profile: Genuine, Gamed, or Borrowed](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/scoring-genuine-vs-gamed-github-profile) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/scoring-genuine-vs-gamed-github-profile.md)) - Score any developer's GitHub profile for authenticity before you trust it in a shortlist, and learn the one check that confirms authorship of the code. - [From Package Name to Account List: Who Runs Your Library](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/package-to-company-account-list) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/package-to-company-account-list.md)) - Turn your open-source library's public dependents into a deduplicated, ranked list of companies to hand DevRel or sales, each tagged with adoption depth. - [Mapping the Repository Landscape Around One Seed Project](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/mapping-repository-landscape-seed-project) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/mapping-repository-landscape-seed-project.md)) - An end-to-end procedure to turn one seed repository into a deduplicated, ranked landscape map of alternatives, dependents, and adjacent tools. - [The Developer Champion List From Public Build Signals](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/developer-champion-list-public-signals) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/developer-champion-list-public-signals.md)) - A repeatable procedure to find external developers using your SDK or API from public signals alone, then rank and lawfully invite them into a beta or advocacy program. - [The Dependency Adoption Standard: Grade a Library Before You Add It](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/dependency-adoption-standard) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/dependency-adoption-standard.md)) - A gradeable standard for deciding whether to adopt an open-source library as a production dependency, with named thresholds and a reproducible review checklist. - [Tracing Who Actually Wrote a Library From Its Commit History](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/who-wrote-the-library-commit-forensics) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/who-wrote-the-library-commit-forensics.md)) - Take any public repository and name the engineer who owns its core, separating real authorship from bot noise and squash merges, then verify before you reach out. - [The Maintainer Outreach Send Standard: Grade a Draft Before You Send](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/maintainer-outreach-send-standard) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/maintainer-outreach-send-standard.md)) - A pass or fail standard for grading outreach to open-source maintainers as send, fix, or kill before you hit send, so two reviewers reach the same verdict. - [The Public-Work Interview Screen for Engineers](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/public-work-interview-screen) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/public-work-interview-screen.md)) - A framework for deciding whether to interview an engineer from their public code and writing, including when the trail is too thin to score at all. - [Reading a Repository: What Each Signal Proves About a Contributor](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/reading-a-repository-contributor-signals) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/reading-a-repository-contributor-signals.md)) - A signal-by-signal reference for evaluating a GitHub profile: what stars, commits, and merged PRs prove about a person, and the one check that separates truth from noise. ## Market and talent intelligence Mapping a market, a competitor, or a talent pool, and turning the map into a decision. - [Reading a Competitor's Next Build From Open Reqs and Exits](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/competitor-next-build-reqs-exits) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/competitor-next-build-reqs-exits.md)) - Carry one competitor from a raw req pull to a dated, evidence-cited hypothesis of its next move, pairing roles coming in with people going out to separate a net-new team from churn. - [The Competitor Weakness Map: Mining Public Reviews Into Ranked Evidence](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/competitor-weakness-map-from-reviews) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/competitor-weakness-map-from-reviews.md)) - A research method to turn scattered public competitor reviews into a ranked, dated, evidence-backed weakness map that retires itself when a changelog fixes it. - [The LCA Disclosure Field Reference: What Each Record Proves](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/lca-disclosure-field-reference) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/lca-disclosure-field-reference.md)) - Read any employer's public H-1B LCA disclosure records field by field, state what each proves about roles, pay, and worksites, and name the biases that mislead. - [Reconciling a Headline Talent-Pool Count to a Defensible Number](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/reconcile-talent-pool-count) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/reconcile-talent-pool-count.md)) - Carry one inflated talent-pool count backwards through title, staleness, coverage, and active-share deductions to a defensible addressable number you can hand a stakeholder. - [The Role Fillability Read: Hire as Written, Relax One Constraint, or Rethink](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/role-fillability-read) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/role-fillability-read.md)) - Score one role brief against public labor-market signals and return a verdict - fillable as written, fillable if one constraint moves, or not fillable - with a ratio. - [The Competitive Threat Tier: Deep-Monitor, Watch, or Ignore a Rival](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/competitive-threat-tier-rubric) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/competitive-threat-tier-rubric.md)) - A weighted, public-signal rubric that scores any competitor into a monitoring tier and matching review cadence, so two analysts reach the same verdict. - [The Capability Gap Map: Benchmarking a Competitor's Team Skill Depth](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/competitor-capability-gap-map) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/competitor-capability-gap-map.md)) - A step-by-step method to score where a named competitor's team is deeper, at parity, or weaker than yours, skill by skill, using only public data. - [Estimating a Competitor's Attrition Rate From Public Profiles](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/estimate-competitor-attrition-public-profiles) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/estimate-competitor-attrition-public-profiles.md)) - An outside-in method to estimate a competitor's annual attrition rate by function and seniority from public profiles, and decide if it is elevated, normal, or low. - [Mapping a Competitor's Real Location Footprint, Metro by Metro](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/competitor-location-footprint-map) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/competitor-location-footprint-map.md)) - An outside-in procedure for building a defensible metro-by-function workforce map of a rival, with a remote correction and a confidence flag on every cell. - [The Outside-In Revenue-per-Employee Read: Leaner, On-Band, or Bloated](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/outside-in-revenue-per-employee-read) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/outside-in-revenue-per-employee-read.md)) - Estimate a private competitor's revenue per employee from public signals, correct the headcount, band the revenue, and defend a leaner or bloated verdict. - [Mapping the Corporate Backers Behind an Open-Source Project](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/mapping-corporate-backers-open-source) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/mapping-corporate-backers-open-source.md)) - A step-by-step method to turn one open-source project's contribution graph into a ranked map of the companies funding its engineering and how captured it is. - [The Skill-Demand Trajectory Score: Rising, Plateauing, or Fading](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/skill-demand-trajectory-score) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/skill-demand-trajectory-score.md)) - Score any skill's demand trajectory from public job-posting data and defend a rising, plateauing, or fading verdict with normalized, seasonally adjusted evidence. - [Building a Defensible Bottom-Up TAM From an ICP Definition](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/bottom-up-tam-from-icp) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/bottom-up-tam-from-icp.md)) - Turn an ICP definition into a counted account universe and a dollar TAM that survives executive and investor questioning, with named sources and a cross-check. - [The Decision-Grade Intelligence Standard: Brief It, Caveat It, or Hold](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/decision-grade-intelligence-standard) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/decision-grade-intelligence-standard.md)) - A rubric for grading a single market or talent finding as decision-grade, directional, or hold before it enters a brief a decision-maker will act on. - [The Repo-Corpus Readiness Standard: Ship, Patch, or Rebuild](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/repo-corpus-readiness-standard) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/repo-corpus-readiness-standard.md)) - Grade any repository-and-contributor corpus against fixed pass/fail criteria and land on Ship, Patch, or Rebuild before a market or talent claim leaves the building. - [The Talent-Competitor Set: Ranking Who You Fight for Hires](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/talent-competitor-set-ranking) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/talent-competitor-set-ranking.md)) - Turn one skill, level, and location into a ranked, evidence-backed talent-competitor set that catches cross-industry bidders and stays current on a refresh cadence. - [Calling a Category's Default From Competing Open-Source Repos](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/calling-a-categorys-default) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/calling-a-categorys-default.md)) - Rank a field of rival open-source projects and defend one verdict on which is becoming the category default, using downloads, dependents, and contributors, not stars. - [The Competitor Profile Readiness Standard: Publish, Patch, or Hold](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/competitor-profile-readiness-standard) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/competitor-profile-readiness-standard.md)) - A grading rubric for competitive intelligence teams to score any finished competitor profile on coverage, sourcing, and freshness and reach a reproducible verdict. - [The Management-Load Score: Grading Spans and Layers From Public Profiles](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/management-load-score-spans-layers) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/management-load-score-spans-layers.md)) - Score a target company's management load from public profiles against a stage-matched peer set, correct the manager-title error, and render a verdict with bounds. - [Building a Defensible Pay Band From Posted Salary Ranges](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/pay-band-from-posted-ranges) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/pay-band-from-posted-ranges.md)) - A repeatable method to build a role-level-location pay band from public posted salary ranges, with sample size, junk-range filtering, geo adjustment, and a freshness date. - [The Bellwether-Repo Score: Track It, Corroborate It, or Drop It](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/bellwether-repo-score) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/bellwether-repo-score.md)) - A weighted scoring model for deciding which open-source repository to trust as a proxy for a technology category's trajectory, or to drop. - [The Title-to-Level Reference for Cross-Company Talent Maps](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/title-to-level-talent-map-reference) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/title-to-level-talent-map-reference.md)) - Resolve any raw job title to one normalized seniority level and function so a talent map lines up across companies, with the titles that lie built in. - [Estimating Talent-Pool Representation From Public Data](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/talent-pool-representation-estimate) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/talent-pool-representation-estimate.md)) - A method to produce a defensible aggregate representation estimate for an external talent pool, with subgroup error bounds and a market-versus-sourcing verdict. - [The Repository Provenance Signal Reference: Employer and Region](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/repository-provenance-signal-reference) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/repository-provenance-signal-reference.md)) - Look up any repository provenance signal and know exactly what it proves about a contributor's employer or geography and how it misleads. - [The Competitor Org-Chart Reconstruction: Reporting Lines and Headcount by Function](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/competitor-org-chart-reconstruction) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/competitor-org-chart-reconstruction.md)) - A public-data playbook to reconstruct a competitor's reporting lines and headcount by function, with every node and count tagged by confidence and evidence. - [The Talent-Map Completeness Standard for a Named-Candidate List](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/talent-map-completeness-standard) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/talent-map-completeness-standard.md)) - A pass/fail rubric for grading a named-candidate talent map on coverage, per-person evidence, deduplication, and staleness so two analysts agree. - [The Talent-Flow Map: Ranking Where a Company's People Go and Come From](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/talent-flow-map-ranking) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/talent-flow-map-ranking.md)) - Build a directional talent-flow map for one company, with a per-counterpart inflow-to-outflow ratio that flags rising talent magnets before headcount moves. - [Sizing a Technology's Contributor Talent Pool From Public Repositories](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/sizing-contributor-talent-pool) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/sizing-contributor-talent-pool.md)) - A repeatable method to count the active contributor base for a named technology, segmented by region and depth, with stated confidence bounds and a refresh cadence. - [The Pre-Posting Hiring Watchlist: Ranking Companies About to Open Roles](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/pre-posting-hiring-watchlist) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/pre-posting-hiring-watchlist.md)) - Build a ranked watchlist of companies likely to open roles in a target function within 30 days, before any public posting appears, and refresh it weekly. - [The Market-Entry Signal Reference: What Each Move Proves and For How Long](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/market-entry-signal-reference) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/market-entry-signal-reference.md)) - A graded lookup table for market-entry signals: take one public move, state what it proves about a competitor's expansion, what it doesn't, and its shelf life. - [Forecasting a Competitor's Next Product From Public Signals](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/forecasting-competitor-next-product) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/forecasting-competitor-next-product.md)) - A weekly method to turn a competitor's hiring, patents, trademarks, and documentation changes into a ranked, dated, confidence-scored product roadmap forecast. - [Choosing a Second Engineering Hub From the Talent Numbers](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/choosing-second-engineering-hub) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/choosing-second-engineering-hub.md)) - Size a specific engineering role across candidate cities, discount for competitor lock, and defend one recommended hub to a leadership review. A worked teardown. - [The Job-Posting Decoder: What Each Element Proves](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/job-posting-decoder-reference) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/job-posting-decoder-reference.md)) - A row-level reference that pairs every job-posting element with what it proves, at what confidence, and the specific way it misleads, ghost jobs included. - [Reconstructing a Competitor's Hidden Price From Public Evidence](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/reconstruct-hidden-competitor-pricing) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/reconstruct-hidden-competitor-pricing.md)) - Reconstruct a "contact sales" competitor's price range and packaging tiers from public evidence, with a confidence label attached to every figure. A worked teardown. - [The Transfer-Distance Score: Ranking Adjacent Talent Pools](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/transfer-distance-score-adjacent-pools) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/transfer-distance-score-adjacent-pools.md)) - Score each adjacent talent pool for a hard-to-fill role as source-now, source-with-a-filter, or no-go, using overlap, direction of transfer, and public evidence. - [Sourcing a Skill Before It Has a Job Title](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/sourcing-skill-before-job-title) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/sourcing-skill-before-job-title.md)) - A repeatable playbook to build a validated, searchable talent pool for an emerging capability that companies hire for before it has a standard job title. - [Benchmarking One Role's Pay From Public Visa Filings](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/pay-range-from-visa-filings) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/pay-range-from-visa-filings.md)) - Produce a defensible percentile pay range for one role and one city from public DOL labor-condition disclosure files, handling the traps that break a naive median. - [Turning a Competitor's Public Reviews Into a Weakness Map](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/competitor-review-weakness-map) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/competitor-review-weakness-map.md)) - Carry one competitor's public reviews end to end into a ranked, aspect-level weakness map with severity, prevalence, recency, and quoted evidence sales will act on. - [Mapping a Competitor's Partner Ecosystem to Read Its Next Move](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/competitor-partner-ecosystem-map) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/competitor-partner-ecosystem-map.md)) - Turn a competitor's public partner and integration signals into a dated map that predicts the segment or geography it enters next, before the announcement. - [Reading a Company's Go-to-Market Motion From the Outside](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/reading-gtm-motion-from-outside) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/reading-gtm-motion-from-outside.md)) - A weighted-signal method to classify any company as product-led, sales-led, or hybrid from public evidence, name the dominant motion, and attach a confidence level. - [The Defensible Attrition Rate: Estimating a Competitor's Turnover From Public Profiles](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/defensible-competitor-attrition-rate) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/defensible-competitor-attrition-rate.md)) - A repeatable method to estimate a competitor's annual attrition rate from public profile movement, with denominator, bias correction, and a confidence range. - [The Hiring-Difficulty Score: Rating a Role Against a Market](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/hiring-difficulty-score-by-market) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/hiring-difficulty-score-by-market.md)) - Score how hard a single role is to fill in each target market from public supply and demand signals, then map the score to one sourcing decision. - [Reconstructing a Competitor's Customer Base and Market Share](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/reconstruct-competitor-customer-base) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/reconstruct-competitor-customer-base.md)) - Reconstruct one competitor's customer footprint from public sources and convert it into a market-share estimate with a stated confidence band and a lawful line. - [Estimating a Private Competitor's Revenue From Public Signals](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/estimate-private-competitor-revenue) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/estimate-private-competitor-revenue.md)) - Turn public signals into a defensible annual revenue estimate for a private competitor, with a confidence band, each input traced and each multiplier justified. - [Scoring a Competitor Hiring Spike: Real Acceleration or Noise](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/scoring-competitor-hiring-spike) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/scoring-competitor-hiring-spike.md)) - Normalize and de-noise a competitor's open-role count against a per-company baseline, then return a defensible verdict of real acceleration, ambiguous, or noise. - [The Build, Buy, or Borrow Read for a Capability Gap](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/build-buy-borrow-capability-read) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/build-buy-borrow-capability-read.md)) - Score a single capability gap on six talent-market dimensions and resolve it to build, buy, or borrow, with the supply, time, and cost evidence behind every score. - [The Briefing Readiness Standard: When Talent and Market Findings Can Ship](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/briefing-readiness-standard) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/briefing-readiness-standard.md)) - A claim-level definition of done for competitor-and-talent briefings, so two reviewers reach the same ship-or-hold decision on the same draft. - [The Adoption Read Standard: When an Open-Source Trend Holds Up](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/adoption-read-standard) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/adoption-read-standard.md)) - Grade any open-source adoption read against fixed acceptance criteria so two analysts return the same publish, fix, or kill verdict on the same evidence. - [The Talent Market Map That Survives a Leadership Review](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/talent-market-map-leadership-review) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/talent-market-map-leadership-review.md)) - A start-to-finish method to size and segment a talent pool, anchor it to a citable baseline, and defend every number when leadership pushes back. - [Telling Real Category Adoption From Manufactured Momentum](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/real-adoption-vs-manufactured-momentum) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/real-adoption-vs-manufactured-momentum.md)) - A teardown that carries one AI agent framework category through every check, so you can tell real open-source adoption from fake star velocity before you file a report. - [The Market Sizing Standard: When a TAM Estimate Is Defensible](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/defensible-tam-estimate-standard) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/defensible-tam-estimate-standard.md)) - A pass/fail rubric and verification checklist for grading a TAM, SAM, and SOM estimate so two analysts reach the same verdict before it goes into a deck. - [The Demand-Signal Reference for Sizing a Market Category](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/demand-signal-market-sizing-reference) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/demand-signal-market-sizing-reference.md)) - Pick the right public proxy for each part of a market-size estimate, convert it into a defensible number, and state how far to trust it before you accept a TAM. - [Placing a Technology Category on Its Adoption Curve](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/category-adoption-curve-oss-signals) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/category-adoption-curve-oss-signals.md)) - A framework to score an emerging technology category from its open-source footprint and place it into a defensible adoption state for a strategy review. - [Reading a Competitor's Talent Outflow From Public Departures](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/reading-competitor-talent-outflow) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/reading-competitor-talent-outflow.md)) - Build a dated departure list for a target company, compute a defensible public-signal attrition read for one function, and classify it with a stated confidence tier. - [The Domain-Authority Signal Reference: What Proves Someone Shapes a Field](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/domain-authority-signal-reference) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/domain-authority-signal-reference.md)) - Name the handful of people who genuinely shape a niche field, using only public evidence, and defend every rank against the way each authority signal misleads. - [The Talent-Competitor Ranking Standard: Tiering Rivals by Public Movement](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/ranking-talent-competitors-public-movement) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/ranking-talent-competitors-public-movement.md)) - Score any company on net talent flow, skill and role overlap, geography, and hiring velocity, then tier it into a competitor class that drives a specific action. - [The Ecosystem Adoption Signal Reference for Technology Trend Reads](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/ecosystem-adoption-signal-reference) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/ecosystem-adoption-signal-reference.md)) - A signal-by-signal reference for reading open-source ecosystem adoption: what star velocity, downloads, dependents, and job postings each prove, and how each one lies. - [The Competitive Set Inclusion Standard: Direct, Adjacent, Substitute, or Out](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/competitive-set-inclusion-standard) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/competitive-set-inclusion-standard.md)) - Score whether a company you just surfaced belongs in your competitive set and at which tier, using public product, buyer, geography, and hiring signals two analysts can reproduce. - [The Pay Benchmark Standard: When a Salary Range Is Ready to Post](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/pay-benchmark-post-ready-standard) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/pay-benchmark-post-ready-standard.md)) - Grade any draft salary range as post-ready or not-yet against fixed criteria, and produce the one-page evidence trail that survives a legal or Finance challenge. - [Sizing a Private Company From Public Headcount Signals](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/sizing-private-company-headcount) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/sizing-private-company-headcount.md)) - A vendor-neutral method to estimate a private company's headcount, department mix, and growth rate from public signals, with a stated confidence range. - [Sizing a Skill's Talent Pool From Its Open-Source Ecosystem](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/sizing-skill-talent-pool-open-source) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/sizing-skill-talent-pool-open-source.md)) - A start-to-finish method to count and geolocate the people who genuinely work in a niche technology by traversing its repository graph, then reconcile it. - [Reconstructing a Competitor Org Chart From Public Profiles](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/reconstruct-competitor-org-chart) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/reconstruct-competitor-org-chart.md)) - A tool-agnostic method to rebuild one competitor's reporting structure from public data, with every inferred line graded by confidence and evidence. - [The Talent-Market Signal Reference: What Each Data Point Proves](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/talent-market-signal-reference) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/talent-market-signal-reference.md)) - A lookup reference for labor-market signals: what a posting spike, duration, supply-demand ratio, or tenure drop proves, and the confound to rule out first. - [Turning a Raw Candidate Count Into a Defensible Pool Estimate](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/defensible-talent-pool-estimate) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/defensible-talent-pool-estimate.md)) - A scoring model that corrects a raw candidate count into a talent pool estimate with a stated confidence grade and reachable subset, defensible line by line. - [Choosing a Second Engineering Hub From the Talent Numbers](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/second-engineering-hub-talent-numbers) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/second-engineering-hub-talent-numbers.md)) - A teardown that carries candidate cities through a specialty-level talent count so you can pick a second engineering hub on depth, not a cost spreadsheet. - [Reading a Competitor's Roadmap From Its Open Roles](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/competitor-roadmap-from-open-roles) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/competitor-roadmap-from-open-roles.md)) - Reconstruct a competitor's next two to three product and market bets from one quarter of its public job postings and departures, with a confidence level on each. - [Building a Talent Market Map That Survives a Leadership Review](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/talent-market-map-defensible) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/talent-market-map-defensible.md)) - A step-by-step method to size and segment a talent pool, deduplicate across sources, and attach a confidence band that holds up when an executive pushes back. ## Process, data, and compliance Keeping a search operation clean: data hygiene, lawful sourcing, measurement, and handoffs. - [The AI-Inferred Field Standard: Trust, Flag, or Reject](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/ai-inferred-field-standard) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/ai-inferred-field-standard.md)) - A field-by-field pass/fail standard for deciding which AI-inferred CRM fields you can auto-write, which to hold for human review, and which to reject. - [The Candidate-Scoring Tool Clearance Standard: Deploy, Restrict, or Hold](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/candidate-scoring-tool-clearance-standard) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/candidate-scoring-tool-clearance-standard.md)) - Grade any AI candidate-ranking tool against NYC, Illinois, Colorado, and EU rules and return a defensible deploy, restrict, or hold verdict before first use. - [The Jurisdiction Reference for Lawful Sourcing and First Contact](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/jurisdiction-reference-lawful-sourcing) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/jurisdiction-reference-lawful-sourcing.md)) - Decide per recipient country whether you may source public data and send a first message, under which lawful basis, with which mandatory elements and penalties. - [The Retention-Clock Reference: How Long to Keep Each Sourced Record](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/sourced-record-retention-clock-reference) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/sourced-record-retention-clock-reference.md)) - Look up any sourced candidate record by type, lawful basis, and jurisdiction, then set a defensible retention period with a named clock-start event. A reference. - [The Database-Health Metric Reference: Formula, Benchmark, Blind Spot](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/database-health-metric-reference) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/database-health-metric-reference.md)) - Define every data-quality metric for a sourced people-and-company database with one formula, a benchmark, and the failure mode that makes the number lie. - [The Person Match-Key Reference: What Each Identifier Pins Down](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/person-match-key-reference) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/person-match-key-reference.md)) - A lookup reference grading every person match key on uniqueness, survival through a job change, normalization, and its named false-merge mode. Pick a match rule fast. - [The Enrichment Waterfall Playbook: Provider Order and Blended Cost](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/enrichment-waterfall-provider-order) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/enrichment-waterfall-provider-order.md)) - A vendor-neutral method to sequence enrichment sources by cost per valid result, gate dead data, govern write-back, and score sources monthly for replacement. - [The Job-Change Reconciliation Playbook: Moved Contact to Clean Record](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/job-change-reconciliation-playbook) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/job-change-reconciliation-playbook.md)) - A CRM-agnostic procedure to turn detected job changes into correct records: new employer, verified email, re-assigned owner, old history intact, zero duplicates. - [The Email Deliverability Verdict: Send, Verify, or Drop an Address](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/email-deliverability-verdict) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/email-deliverability-verdict.md)) - A seven-signal rubric to score a single sourced email address and land on a defensible Send, Verify, or Drop verdict with a handling rule. - [The Data-Source Onboarding Playbook: Sample Test to Verified Backfill](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/data-source-onboarding-playbook) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/data-source-onboarding-playbook.md)) - Onboard a new people-and-company data feed from a controlled sample test through a staged backfill into your system of record without duplicates or unlawful records. - [The Dial-Ready List Standard: Cleared to Call, Hold, or Scrub](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/dial-ready-list-standard) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/dial-ready-list-standard.md)) - A pass/fail rubric for grading an outbound calling list as cleared, hold, or scrub against DNC, consent, calling-window, and audit-trail criteria. - [The Do-Not-Contact Sync: One Suppression List Across Every Tool](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/do-not-contact-sync-suppression-list) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/do-not-contact-sync-suppression-list.md)) - Stand up one authoritative do-not-contact list that captures every opt-out same-day, propagates to every tool, kills sequences, and blocks re-import. - [The Sourced-Database Fitness Standard: Fit, Remediate, or Quarantine](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/sourced-database-fitness-standard) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/sourced-database-fitness-standard.md)) - Grade any sourced or enriched list across six data-quality dimensions against fixed thresholds and return one reproducible verdict before you hand it to reps. - [The Sending Domain Warm-Up Ramp: From First Send to Full Volume](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/sending-domain-warmup-ramp) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/sending-domain-warmup-ramp.md)) - A vendor-neutral, scenario-based procedure to warm up a new sending domain to full cold-outbound volume with defined ramp caps and graduation gates. - [The Access-Request Response for a Cold-Sourced Contact](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/access-request-cold-sourced-contact) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/access-request-cold-sourced-contact.md)) - Run a right-of-access request end to end for someone you sourced but never spoke to: log the clock, verify identity, disclose source, redact third parties, deliver on time. - [Diagnosing a Commit-Mined Contact Batch That Bounced](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/diagnose-bounced-commit-mined-batch) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/diagnose-bounced-commit-mined-batch.md)) - Walk a bounced batch of commit-mined developer emails backward to root cause, sort every address into a named bounce bucket, recover the deliverable subset, and fix the mining step. - [The Mined-Commit Author Verdict: Keep, Verify, or Drop](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/mined-commit-author-verdict) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/mined-commit-author-verdict.md)) - Score any commit-mined author record on identity, email type, currency, spoof risk, and lawful use, then assign a Keep, Verify, or Drop verdict. - [The Repo-Sourced Field Reference: What Each Value Proves and How It Lies](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/repo-sourced-field-reference) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/repo-sourced-field-reference.md)) - A field-by-field data dictionary for repository-sourced contact records: what each value proves, its spoofing risk, personal-data sensitivity, and re-verification cadence. - [The Company Match-Key Reference: What Each Identifier Resolves](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/company-match-key-reference) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/company-match-key-reference.md)) - A field-by-field reference for choosing which identifier to match two company records on, in priority order, with where each key falsely merges or splits accounts. - [The Field-Conflict Verdict: Overwrite, Keep, or Escalate](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/field-conflict-verdict) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/field-conflict-verdict.md)) - A field-level scoring model for deciding which value survives when two matched sources disagree on a company field, with a reproducible audit trail. - [Folding an Acquired Book Into Yours: Accounts, Then Contacts](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/folding-acquired-book-accounts-first) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/folding-acquired-book-accounts-first.md)) - Merge an acquired company's accounts and contacts into your CRM in dependency order, with a recorded merge, link, or keep-separate verdict for every overlap. - [The Repo-Data Collection Clearance Standard for Lawful Use](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/repo-data-collection-clearance-standard) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/repo-data-collection-clearance-standard.md)) - Grade any repository-data collection job as cleared, needs-changes, or prohibited by access method, fields taken, and downstream use, before it runs. - [The Account-Base Refresh Cycle: Keeping Company Records Current](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/account-base-refresh-cycle) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/account-base-refresh-cycle.md)) - A repeatable operations cycle to refresh company firmographics by tier, reconcile corporate events into the hierarchy, protect verified fields, and report data-health KPIs. - [Resolving a Duplicate Person Across GitHub, LinkedIn, and the CRM](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/resolving-duplicate-person-across-sources) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/resolving-duplicate-person-across-sources.md)) - How to decide merge, link, or keep separate for an ambiguous person cluster across public sources and the CRM, with survivorship rules and a reversible audit trail. - [The Suppression Scrub Standard: Clearing a List to Send](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/suppression-scrub-standard) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/suppression-scrub-standard.md)) - A gradeable definition of done for suppression scrubbing before outbound: what to check, what to log, and how to certify a list as cleared-to-send. - [Resolving a Tangled Corporate Family Into One Clean Account Tree](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/resolve-corporate-family-account-tree) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/resolve-corporate-family-account-tree.md)) - Turn scattered account records for one enterprise into a verified parent-child tree with a cited evidence source behind every link, ultimate parent, and orphan verdict. - [The Data-Broker Registration Scope Read, State by State](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/data-broker-registration-scope-read) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/data-broker-registration-scope-read.md)) - Score your contact-sourcing operation against each state's data-broker test to reach a defensible in-scope or out-of-scope verdict with the deadline attached. - [The Commit-Log Cleanup Pipeline: Raw Author Emails to a Deduplicated Contact File](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/commit-log-cleanup-pipeline) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/commit-log-cleanup-pipeline.md)) - A repeatable pipeline to turn a raw git commit-email extract into a deduplicated, provenance-stamped contact file with one record per person. - [The Account Status Standard: Verified-Active, Re-Parent, or Retire](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/account-status-standard) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/account-status-standard.md)) - A pass/fail standard for confirming a company record still points at a live, standalone entity, with a two-reviewer checklist that survives an audit. - [The Field Decay Reference: What Goes Stale and How Often to Re-Verify](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/field-decay-reference) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/field-decay-reference.md)) - A field-by-field lookup for B2B data decay: measured rates, trigger events, silent versus loud failure, and the refresh cadence each attribute earns. - [The Universal Deletion Cycle: Processing DROP Requests Without Repopulation](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/universal-deletion-cycle-drop) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/universal-deletion-cycle-drop.md)) - Run a repeatable 45-day cycle that retrieves DROP deletion requests, cascades them to every dataset and vendor, and proves records do not repopulate. - [The Scheduled Purge Playbook: Deleting Sourced Contact Data When Its Basis Expires](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/scheduled-purge-sourced-contact-data) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/scheduled-purge-sourced-contact-data.md)) - A runnable quarterly process to set retention windows for every sourced record type and delete expired candidate and contact data with an audit trail that holds up. - [The Duplicate-Company Verdict: Merge, Link, or Keep Separate](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/duplicate-company-verdict) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/duplicate-company-verdict.md)) - Score a suspected duplicate company pair across weighted signals, place it in a confidence tier, and assign a defensible verdict another grader would reproduce. - [The First-Contact Notice Playbook for Cold-Sourced People](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/first-contact-notice-cold-sourced) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/first-contact-notice-cold-sourced.md)) - Deliver a compliant Article 14 transparency notice to every cold-sourced candidate inside the one-month deadline, folded into first outreach, with logged proof. - [The Legitimate Interest Assessment for Cold-Sourced Contacts](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/lia-cold-sourced-contacts) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/lia-cold-sourced-contacts.md)) - Complete and file an Article 6(1)(f) Legitimate Interest Assessment for a sourcing-and-outreach program that survives a data-subject objection or regulator review. - [The AI Hiring Tool Register: Inventory, Risk Tier, and Evidence](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/ai-hiring-tool-register) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/ai-hiring-tool-register.md)) - Build a deployer register that inventories every AI sourcing and screening tool, assigns each a defensible risk tier, and holds the evidence an auditor asks for. - [The Bulk-Sender Clearance Standard: When a Domain May Send Outbound](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/bulk-sender-clearance-standard) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/bulk-sender-clearance-standard.md)) - Grade any sending domain and mailbox set as cleared, remediate-first, or blocked against inbox-provider bulk-sender requirements before its first outbound send. - [The Burned Sending-Domain Recovery Playbook: Spam Folder Back to Inbox](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/burned-sending-domain-recovery) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/burned-sending-domain-recovery.md)) - Diagnose whether your outbound domain is burned, decide rehabilitate versus retire, and run a dated recovery sequence that returns mail to the primary inbox. - [The Sending-Domain Health Reference: Which Signal Means Pause](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/sending-domain-health-reference) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/sending-domain-health-reference.md)) - Look up any deliverability signal on your outreach sending domain, find its enforced numeric threshold, and pick the right action: keep sending, throttle, pause, or recover. - [The AEDT Bias Audit Standard: Publish, Remediate, or Hold](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/aedt-bias-audit-standard) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/aedt-bias-audit-standard.md)) - Grade an AI hiring tool's bias audit report against a fixed checklist and return a defensible verdict of publish, remediate, or hold. A pass/fail rubric. - [The Sourcing Agent Oversight Playbook: Check Every Slate](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/sourcing-agent-oversight-playbook) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/sourcing-agent-oversight-playbook.md)) - A per-batch oversight cycle for autonomous sourcing agents that catches fabricated and mis-ranked profiles, records reason codes, and stays audit-ready under LL144. - [The Lead-to-Account Match Standard: Ready to Route or Not](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/lead-to-account-match-standard) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/lead-to-account-match-standard.md)) - Grade any lead-to-account matching setup against fixed thresholds and rule it production-ready, needs-tuning, or manual-only, with a reproducible verdict. - [The Sourcing-Versus-Screening Line for AI Hiring Features](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/sourcing-versus-screening-ai-act) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/sourcing-versus-screening-ai-act.md)) - Classify any AI feature in a candidate-search pipeline as out-of-scope, sourcing, high-risk screening, or prohibited under the EU AI Act, with a defensible reason. - [The Enrichment Cascade: Ordering Sources for Match Rate and Cost](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/enrichment-cascade-source-ordering) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/enrichment-cascade-source-ordering.md)) - Design an ordered, multi-source enrichment cascade that computes blended match rate and cost per verified record, captures provenance, and beats any single source. - [The Candidate-Screening Tool Clearance Standard](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/candidate-screening-tool-clearance-standard) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/candidate-screening-tool-clearance-standard.md)) - Grade any automated candidate-screening or ranking tool against scope, bias-audit, notice, and oversight rules, and return one verdict: deploy, restrict, or pull. - [The Lawful-Sourcing Standard: What You May Collect, Keep, and Send](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/lawful-sourcing-standard) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/lawful-sourcing-standard.md)) - Set a candidate sourcing data policy legal will sign off and recruiters will follow, covering lawful basis, retention, cross-border transfers, and DPIAs. - [The Sourcing Funnel Leak Diagnosis Standard](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/diagnose-sourcing-funnel-leak) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/diagnose-sourcing-funnel-leak.md)) - Take one outbound search's raw stage counts, score each transition against outbound baselines, rule out false leaks, and name the one stage to fix first. - [The Data Access and Deletion Request Runbook](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/data-access-deletion-request-runbook) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/data-access-deletion-request-runbook.md)) - A start-to-finish runbook for taking a candidate or prospect data access or deletion request from intake to a verified, defensible response inside the deadline. - [The Contact Dataset Quality Standard: Release, Remediate, or Quarantine](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/contact-dataset-quality-standard) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/contact-dataset-quality-standard.md)) - A gradeable pass/fail bar for people-and-company contact datasets, with numeric cutoffs and a verification procedure, so two ops owners reach the same release verdict. - [Clearing a Commit-Mined Contact Batch for Lawful Outreach](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/clearing-commit-mined-contact-batch) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/clearing-commit-mined-contact-batch.md)) - A record-by-record clearance funnel for commit-mined GitHub contacts, ending in a per-segment go, hold, or drop decision with an auditable paper trail. - [Grading a Commit-Mined Email Before It Enters the CRM](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/grading-commit-mined-email) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/grading-commit-mined-email.md)) - A fixed rubric for scoring git-sourced email addresses on reachability, identity, and recency so you load only usable contacts into the CRM. - [The Git Commit Metadata Reference: Which Fields You Can Trust](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/git-commit-metadata-trust-reference) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/git-commit-metadata-trust-reference.md)) - A field-by-field lookup for git and GitHub commit metadata: what each field proves, how it is forged, and whether it is safe as identity evidence. - [The Company Identifier Reference: Which Key Resolves One Entity](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/company-identifier-reference) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/company-identifier-reference.md)) - Pick the right identifier to match company records across two sources, rank each by stability and coverage, and name the exact way each one produces false merges. - [The Field Conflict Rubric: Which Source Wins When Records Disagree](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/field-conflict-survivorship-rubric) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/field-conflict-survivorship-rubric.md)) - Score any single-field data conflict on five dimensions and decide, consistently, which source's value survives, when to keep both, and when to flag it. - [Auditing a Purchased Data Sample Field by Field](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/auditing-a-data-sample-field-by-field) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/auditing-a-data-sample-field-by-field.md)) - A neutral teardown of one contact-data accuracy audit, carried from a stratified sample through field-level rates to a renew, renegotiate, or replace call. - [The Lawful-Use Standard for Repository-Sourced Contact Data](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/lawful-use-repository-contact-data) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/lawful-use-repository-contact-data.md)) - Grade any repository-derived contact record as usable, restricted, or must-discard, cite the exact rule behind each verdict, and make two reviewers agree. - [The Account Universe Maintenance Cadence: Keeping a Company Master List Accurate](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/account-universe-maintenance-cadence) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/account-universe-maintenance-cadence.md)) - Run a repeating cadence that keeps your CRM account universe accurate as companies merge, rebrand, relocate, and grow, with measurable accuracy thresholds. - [Verifying a Flagged Candidate Is a Real, Single Person](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/verify-flagged-candidate-real-person) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/verify-flagged-candidate-real-person.md)) - A desk procedure for carrying one suspicious candidate through cross-platform footprint checks and reaching a defensible verdict before any interview is booked. - [The Do-Not-Contact Registry Standard: One Suppression List Every Tool Honors](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/do-not-contact-registry-standard) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/do-not-contact-registry-standard.md)) - Build a central do-not-contact registry that every sequencer, dialer, and mail tool scrubs before a send, wire opt-out capture, and prove enforcement with a seed test. - [Reconciling Two Account Lists Into One Company Universe](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/reconcile-two-account-lists) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/reconcile-two-account-lists.md)) - Merge two company lists into one deduplicated master without losing records or over-merging distinct firms, with the intermediate counts at every stage. - [From Raw Commit Log to a Defensible Count of Distinct Humans](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/commit-log-to-distinct-humans) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/commit-log-to-distinct-humans.md)) - Turn a repository's raw commit data into a deduplicated roster of distinct human contributors, using an auditable alias-merge and bot-exclusion pipeline. - [The Source Attribution Standard: One Tag, Two Graders, No Drift](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/source-attribution-standard) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/source-attribution-standard.md)) - A definition-of-done for source tagging candidate and account records, so two people credit the same record identically and channel reports reconcile. - [The Data Provider Vetting Standard: What a Source Must Prove Before You Buy](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/data-provider-vetting-standard) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/data-provider-vetting-standard.md)) - Grade any prospective people or company data provider pass or fail on sourcing, lawful basis, data-subject rights, and accuracy before you sign the contract. - [The Data Freshness Reference: How Fast Each Field Decays](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/data-freshness-field-decay-reference) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/data-freshness-field-decay-reference.md)) - A field-level lookup for B2B data decay: per-field decay rates, staleness tells, and defensible re-verify intervals for people and company records. - [The Candidate Record Retention and Deletion Reference](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/candidate-record-retention-deletion-reference) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/candidate-record-retention-deletion-reference.md)) - Look up the retention clock, start trigger, lawful basis, and required deletion action for every candidate record type you hold, including sourced prospects who never applied. - [The Company Record Match Rubric: Merge, Link, or Keep Separate](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/company-record-match-rubric) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/company-record-match-rubric.md)) - Score any pair of company records on a fixed set of signals and land on a defensible merge, link, or keep-separate decision another operator would reach the same way. - [Scoring an Outbound Contact List for Lawful Send](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/scoring-outbound-list-lawful-send) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/scoring-outbound-list-lawful-send.md)) - A per-list scoring rubric for RevOps owners to grade provenance, lawful basis, jurisdiction, and retention, then land a defensible send, fix, or hold decision. - [The Candidate Database Cleanup and Deduplication Playbook](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/candidate-database-cleanup-deduplication) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/candidate-database-cleanup-deduplication.md)) - Run a full candidate database cleanup: measure the real duplicate rate, merge without false positives, purge by retention window, and set an audit cadence. - [The Lawful Sourcing Standard for Candidate Data](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/lawful-sourcing-standard-candidate-data) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/lawful-sourcing-standard-candidate-data.md)) - Set a candidate sourcing data policy legal will sign off and recruiters will follow, and grade any record against fixed pass and fail criteria. ## Definitions and explainers - [What is a people search engine?](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/what-is-people-search) ([Markdown](https://www.refolk.ai/guides/what-is-people-search.md)) - A plain-English guide to people search engines: what they are, how they work, what they're used for, and how AI changed them.