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PitchSource Methodology

Built on Insider Knowledge,
Not AI Guesswork

Five proprietary layers transform prospect data into strategic pitch memos: knowledge frameworks, verified data, authentic voice, real-time research, and agentic refinement working together.

Five Layers of Authentic Intelligence

Each memo draws from five integrated layers. Strategic knowledge informs positioning. Verified data grounds every claim. Firm voice ensures authenticity. Live research surfaces prospect context. Agentic refinement calibrates output to buyer perspective.

01

Knowledge

50 strategic principles from academic research and practitioner interviews. Context-aware recommendations for offensive vs. defensive campaigns.

02

Data

Verified lobbyist rosters, client portfolios, committee relationships from Senate LDA filings. Multi-stage verification eliminates errors.

03

Voice

Firm-specific tone profiles extracted from your marketing. Signature phrases, intensity levels. Memos that sound like your firm.

04

Research

Real-time LDA API queries surface prospect's current lobbying relationships and active issues. Current intelligence, on demand.

05

Refinement

Four-stage agentic workflow with prospect perspective feedback. AI evaluates your pitch from the buyer's viewpoint.

The Knowledge Framework

Not a list of tactics. A structured understanding of how advocacy outcomes unfold, drawn from peer-reviewed research and practitioner experience that generic AI has never seen.

Consolidated from Real Expertise

We distilled 50 strategic principles from peer-reviewed research on lobbying effectiveness and interviews with senior practitioners. This is a decision framework that understands context.

The principles encode hard-won lessons: why 60% of lobbying campaigns fail to change policy, how defenders hold structural advantages, when coalition diversity matters more than size, and why resources alone explain less than 5% of success.

Each principle includes conditional logic. Status quo defense requires different positioning than offensive campaigns. High-salience issues demand different tool selection than quiet regulatory fights. The framework adapts recommendations to your prospect's specific situation.

Most importantly, these principles stay invisible in your output. The memo doesn't cite research or drop academic jargon. It applies the insights naturally, the way a seasoned BD partner would: informed by deep knowledge, but speaking the language of your prospect.

The difference: Generic AI summarizes what lobbying is. PitchSource knows when to recommend grasstops mobilization versus quiet inside-game engagement, when to emphasize coalition breadth versus depth, and how to position defensive versus offensive campaigns.

50 Strategic Principles
Coalition Dynamics

Coalition composition, strange bedfellows, broker function, business unity effects

Competitive Dynamics

Counteractive lobbying, salience management, access depreciation, response imperatives

Information & Intelligence

Credibility dynamics, agenda setting, issue framing, pre-proposal engagement

Strategic Positioning

Venue shopping, visibility calibration, inside vs. outside game, regulatory vs. legislative

Structural Context

Status quo advantage, offense vs. defense asymmetry, resource limitations, partisan environment

Tactical Execution

Tool selection matrix, grassroots vs. grasstops, research validation, preparation dominance

Timing & Rhythm

Policy windows, legislative rhythm, crisis response, budget cycle leverage

Verified Data, Not Guesswork

Every lobbyist name, client relationship, and committee connection traced to official Lobbying Disclosure Act filings. Multi-stage verification ensures you're never pitching with outdated or fabricated credentials.

Lobbyist Credentials
Verified Names
Cross-referenced against LD-203 filings to eliminate departed staff
Covered Positions
Former government roles extracted with entity recognition
Seniority Detection
Partner, Principal, VP flagged for team highlights
Client Intelligence
Portfolio Analysis
Active clients from LD-2 quarterly reports
Industry Classification
Sector alignment for prospect matching
Issue Mapping
79 LDA codes linked to committee jurisdiction
Relationship Context
Committee Connections
Jurisdiction mapped to prospect's issue areas
Engagement Patterns
Filing frequency, activity levels, focus areas
Billing Context
Income ranges from disclosure for fee positioning

Your Voice, Not Ours

Every firm has a distinct way of positioning itself. We extract those patterns from your existing marketing and ensure generated memos maintain your authentic tone, not generic AI prose.

Extracted From Firm Website

"We don't just advocate; we architect outcomes. Our approach combines deep policy expertise with strategic communications that move markets and shape legislation."

Applied In Generated Memo

"For [Prospect], we would architect a multi-track engagement that combines direct legislative outreach with strategic communications designed to shift the policy environment in your favor."

What We Extract

Tone markers, signature phrases, positioning language, value proposition framing, competitive differentiation themes.

  • Action verbs and intensity levels
  • Relationship vs. results emphasis
  • Formal vs. conversational register
  • Unique selling propositions

What We Avoid

Generic AI tells that undermine credibility: em-dashes, passive constructions, hedging language, obvious template patterns.

  • No em-dashes (strong AI indicator)
  • No academic citations in client output
  • No "leverage synergies" boilerplate
  • No generic paragraph templates

Real-Time Research

Skip the manual research. When you enter a prospect, PitchSource queries the Senate LDA API to surface their current lobbying relationships, active issues, and existing representation before generating your memo.

Step 1

Prospect Lookup

Enter prospect name. System queries LDA database for matching client filings with fuzzy name matching.

Step 2

Preview Results

Review discovered lobbying issues, current representation, and recent activity. Select what's relevant.

Step 3

Enrich Context

Selected intelligence automatically populates your prospect profile. Memo generation proceeds with current data.

What We Surface

Real intelligence from official disclosure filings, not web scraping or stale databases.

  • Current lobbying relationships and firms
  • Active issue areas from LD-2 reports
  • Specific lobbying issues (parsed from filings)
  • Recent filing activity and engagement level

Why It Matters

Eliminate 4-6 hours of manual prospect research. Walk into every pitch with current intelligence.

  • Know who they're already working with
  • Understand their active policy priorities
  • Position against their current approach
  • Never pitch blind again

The advantage: Most BD conversations start cold. PitchSource lets you walk in knowing exactly what issues the prospect is already lobbying on, who they're working with, and where gaps in their current approach might exist.

Agentic Refinement

Not just generation: evaluation. A four-stage workflow where AI models collaborate to draft, critique from the prospect's perspective, plan revisions, and refine the final memo.

Stage 1

Draft

Claude Opus

Generate initial pitch memo using all five layers of intelligence

Stage 2

Critique

Claude Sonnet

Roleplay as prospect. Identify gaps, weak claims, missing proof points

Stage 3

Plan

Claude Sonnet

Analyze feedback. Prioritize material revisions. Create improvement roadmap

Stage 4

Refine

Claude Sonnet

Execute targeted revisions. Maintain length discipline. Output final memo

Why Multi-Stage Matters

Single-pass generation optimizes for completeness. Multi-stage refinement optimizes for persuasion. The critique stage asks questions your prospect will actually ask.

"Do they actually have experience in my sector?" "Why should I believe they can deliver on this timeline?" "What makes them different from my current firm?"

Three Generation Modes

Choose your workflow based on time and quality needs.

  • Draft: Single-stage generation. Fastest output.
  • Standard: Full 4-stage workflow in background.
  • Detailed: Watch each stage stream. Intervene if needed.

The result: Memos that have already been stress-tested against the hardest questions. When you walk into the pitch, you've already heard the objections and addressed them.

How It Comes Together

When you enter a prospect, PitchSource doesn't just fill in blanks. It reasons through which principles apply, which team members and clients to highlight, and how to frame the pitch in your firm's authentic voice, informed by real-time research and refined through adversarial critique.

Knowledge

50 strategic principles matched to prospect context

Data

Verified credentials, clients, committees

Voice

Authentic firm tone and positioning

Research

Real-time prospect intelligence

Refinement

Multi-stage adversarial review

Strategic Pitch Memo

Tailored positioning that demonstrates fit, highlights relevant experience, and makes the case for why your firm wins this business.

Ready to See It in Action?

Generate a pitch memo for a real prospect and see how five layers of authentic intelligence translate into competitive advantage.

Generate a Memo