# How a solo consultant uses a market research agent Source: https://soloconsultantaiteam.com/guides/market-research-agent Updated: 9 November 2026 Author: The Solo Consultant's AI Team. Written by a working solo consultant who runs her business with a team of AI agents. A market research agent collects sources on one question you chose and drafts a short brief you can read in a sitting. You open the sources that matter, and you decide what you believe. The [AI agent](https://soloconsultantaiteam.com/glossary#ai-agent) saves the first pass through tabs. It does not settle the question for you. ## What question is worth a brief? Pick one question tied to a decision. Who buys this offer. What adjacent firms charge, if you can find public figures. What a client's industry is arguing about this month. A vague topic produces a vague brief. Write the question in one sentence, plus what you will do with the answer. If you cannot name the decision, wait. Research without a decision becomes a pile of links. ## What should the brief contain? A useful brief has the question, five to ten sources with links, two sentences on what each source actually says, and the gaps. It separates what a source stated from what the draft infers. Ask for dates on every source. A report from several years ago can still matter, and you should see the year before you lean on it. If the agent cannot find a date, the brief should say that. ## How do you check the sources? Open every source you might repeat to a client. Skim the others. If a link is dead or the page says something else, drop it and tell the role. That correction is part of the [routine](https://soloconsultantaiteam.com/glossary#routine). Do not pass a brief to a client as your own research until you have opened the sources behind the lines you keep. The [approval gate](https://soloconsultantaiteam.com/glossary#approval-gate) is that reading. ## How do you set up the research agent? 1. Write the question template. One sentence for the question, one sentence for the decision it serves, and the maximum length of the brief. 2. Require links and dates. Put that in the persona. No source line without a link. No link without a date, or an explicit note that the date was missing. 3. Separate statement from inference. Ask for two labels: what the source says, and what you might conclude. You edit the second. 4. Run one real question. Use a decision you actually have this month. Open the top sources the same day. 5. Keep a source you trusted. Add one brief you checked to the example file, with your notes in the margin of what you cut. 6. File the brief with the decision. Store it next to the proposal or the offer note it was meant to inform, so you can see later whether it helped. ## What does a research routine look like? One question at a time, not a standing news scan. - When a decision needs it: Write the question and run the brief. One active question is the limit. - Same day: Open the sources you might cite. Cut lines you cannot trace. - Month end: If no decision needed research, skip the role. An empty month is a fine outcome. - Next upkeep: If a source type keeps failing, say so in the persona. Trade press, filings, or your own past proposals may be the better input. ## What are the approval rules? The research agent may collect sources and draft the brief. You decide what is solid enough to use. It may not present the brief to a client. You do that after you have opened the sources behind the lines you keep. It may not invent a statistic, a quote, or a citation. A missing source stays missing. It may not collapse inference into fact. The two stay labeled. It may not run a second question until you have finished or dropped the first. ## Common questions ### Can I use the brief in a proposal? Use the lines you checked. Cite the source in the proposal the same way you would if you had found it yourself. Cut the rest. ### What if the links disagree? Leave the disagreement in the brief. Name both sources. You choose which one fits the decision, or you look further. ### Should this role watch the news every day? A daily scan is a different habit, and it crowds out client work. Tie the role to a decision. Skip it when you have no question. ### Which playbook has the setup? The full kit includes the market research role. The free PDF shows it on the org chart next to the other seven roles. ## Read next - [The Solo Consultant's Agent Org Chart](https://soloconsultantaiteam.com/free-org-chart): Free PDF. The map of the eight roles. - [The Full Agent Team Kit](https://soloconsultantaiteam.com/team-kit): The full kit. Launch price $79. Regular price $99. - [How to build an AI agent team as a solo consultant](https://soloconsultantaiteam.com/guides/how-to-build-an-ai-agent-team) - [How a solo consultant uses a content agent](https://soloconsultantaiteam.com/guides/content-agent) - [How a solo consultant uses a finance agent](https://soloconsultantaiteam.com/guides/finance-agent) Published by The Solo Consultant's AI Team.