Find Complementary
Collaborators Skill
Build Your Own Collab Research Tool
Stop spending hours listening to podcasts and reading blogs just to sound prepared. This skill finds genuinely complementary partners — and does the homework for you.
Keep this guide open in one tab. Open Claude.ai in another. You'll paste each prompt directly into your Claude chat.
Who you are and what you actually do.
Every search needs to know what it's searching for. Open a new Claude chat and paste the prompt below.
I'm building a custom skill that finds genuinely complementary collaboration partners for my business — people and platforms I should be pitching. Let's start by getting clear on how I'm actually positioned. Answer these — be specific, not generic: 1. What's your core service or expertise? (One sentence. The main thing you do.) 2. Who do you serve? (List 3–5 specific types of people or businesses. Be narrow.) 3. What problem do you solve for them? (The transformation or outcome they get.) 4. How long have you been doing this? (Credibility matters — lived experience counts.) Once I answer, ask me follow-ups if anything's vague. Help me get crystal clear on how I actually show up for clients — not how I wish I were positioned.
The person you most want to reach.
This is who every collab needs to actually put you in front of. Paste this into the same Claude chat.
Now let's get specific about my ideal client — the person or business I most want to reach through these collaborations. 1. Who is your absolute ideal client? Describe them — industry, business size, stage, personality, challenges. 2. What's their biggest pain point? The one that keeps them up at night. 3. Is it one clear profile, or a few different types? Once I answer, help me refine this. Push back if it's too broad. A vague "small business owner" isn't helpful — I need to know exactly who I'm trying to reach.
The gaps that define "complementary."
This is the part that actually defines what makes a partner complementary instead of a competitor. Paste this into the same Claude chat.
This is the part that actually defines what makes a partner "complementary" instead of a competitor. Help me map it: 1. What are the top 3–5 things my ideal client needs that I don't deliver? (Marketing, copywriting, design, bookkeeping, paid ads — whatever it is.) 2. For each one, do I touch it but not specialize, or avoid it completely? 3. Who would I happily send a referral to for those things? Once I answer, help me spot which gaps are the greenest green flags — these become the search criteria for who to go find.
What you can actually offer in return.
This tunes which categories the search even looks in. Paste this into the same Claude chat.
Let's map where I have reach, so we search for opportunity types that actually fit me. 1. Do I have a podcast, newsletter, email list, blog, or membership? (Yes/no for each — roughly how many people?) 2. Which of these do I actively use and could offer in a swap or collab? 3. Am I open to guesting on other people's platforms (podcasts, blogs), swapping newsletter placements, or exploring joint venture/affiliate arrangements — any I want to rule out? Answer clearly — this tunes which categories the search actually looks in.
Where it all comes together.
Claude goes and finds real, currently-active opportunities based on everything you've said. Paste this into the same Claude chat.
Based on everything I've told you — my positioning, my ideal client, my gaps, and my reach — go find real, currently-active collaboration opportunities for me. Search across these categories: - Podcast guest opportunities (shows that interview people in my space and are actively accepting pitches) - Newsletter collabs or ad swaps (newsletters serving my audience, open to cross-promotion) - Blog guest posts (sites accepting guest contributors in my space) - Joint venture or affiliate partnerships (complementary brands open to referral or revenue-share arrangements) - Networking communities or directories (groups worth joining for warm connections) For each candidate: fetch the actual website or page yourself — don't rely on search snippets — and verify it's genuinely open right now. Skip anything that's already passed, on a hiatus, hasn't published or posted in 3+ months, or whose audience doesn't actually overlap with mine. Find me 3-6 of the strongest, most genuinely complementary opportunities — quality over quantity. For each one give me: - Who they are and what type of opportunity it is - Their estimated audience or reach, if findable - The direct link - Why it's a strong fit for me specifically — not a generic reason - A specific pitch angle. If it's a podcast or blog, find one real, recent episode or post to reference by name so my pitch sounds like I've actually been following them — never invent one - The one clear next action
Save your finder as a Claude skill.
The best way to keep this is to install it as your own Claude skill — so it's always there, ready anytime you want new opportunities.
Please format this as a SKILL.md file I can upload as a custom skill. Give it a short name, a clear description of when to use it (so it triggers when I want to find new collaboration opportunities to pitch), and put my search criteria and process in as the instructions.
Your finder is built.
You're not buying a black box. You thought through your real positioning, your real gaps, and your real reach — and you walked away with something that goes and does the legwork for you.