# Research Stage — Elaboration

## Criteria Guidance

### Good criteria — concrete and verifiable

- "Prospect brief identifies the company's top 3 strategic priorities with supporting evidence"
- "Competitive landscape covers at least 3 incumbent vendors with strengths and weaknesses"
- "Pain point analysis maps each identified pain to a specific product capability"

### Bad criteria — vague (no clear check)

- "Research is complete"
- "Prospect is understood"
- "Competitive analysis is done"

