Sponsor research

Manual lead-sheet template.

Reusable manual lead-sheet schema for approval-gated sponsor research. This is not outreach, scraping, booking, payment collection or public posting. Every row must stay internal until editor review and explicit approval.

24first batch rows

Private manual research target before review.

14fields

Columns needed before any sales-prep issue.

6statuses

Research and rejection states for each row.

Offlive actions

No outreach, scraping, booking, checkout or public posting.

Required fields and statuses

Use these columns and states before creating any Linear sales-prep issue.

Fields

  • business_name
  • segment
  • coverage_area
  • town_or_station
  • website
  • public_proof_url
  • local_offer_shape
  • reader_job
  • regulated_or_sensitive_copy_flag
  • recommended_package
  • research_status
  • review_notes
  • linear_issue
  • approval_state

Statuses

  • research_candidate
  • rejected_no_local_fit
  • rejected_no_public_proof
  • needs_manual_copy_review
  • ready_for_editor_review
  • approved_for_sales_prep

Approval states

  • internal_research_only
  • editor_review_required
  • approved_before_outreach
  • blocked_external_action

Package fit

Map each reviewed row to a package only after public proof and locality checks pass.

Founding issue sponsor

Founding issue sponsor

One practical local CTA with a date, booking window, consultation or resident offer.

Minimum proof: service area; landing page; offer terms; desired issue date

Launch week sponsor

Launch week sponsor

Higher-consideration services that need repeated morning visibility across the belt.

Minimum proof: service area; landing page; five-date schedule; copy review flag

Referral reward sponsor

Referral reward sponsor

Local prizes, vouchers and experiences that can reward verified referrals once attribution is live.

Minimum proof: reward terms; eligibility area; fulfilment owner; winner-contact review

Sample rows

These are schema examples only. Replace them with private, reviewed public-proof research before any Linear handoff.

research_candidate - Kildare

Example station cafe

Segment: Station-adjacent food and retail

Offer: Morning preorder or commuter coffee offer

Reader job: Grab breakfast or coffee before rail and school-run travel

Review: none

Package: Founding issue sponsor

needs_manual_copy_review - South Dublin

Example family activity provider

Segment: School-run family services

Offer: Camp deadline, activity booking or family appointment

Reader job: Plan parent logistics before school runs and weekend bookings

Review: childcare_or_family_review

Package: Referral reward sponsor

Rejection rules and next moves

Bad lead rows are cheaper to reject early than to clean up during sales prep.

Reject or escalate

  • Reject leads without a public website or official booking/proof page.
  • Reject leads where the service area does not clearly include Dublin suburbs, Kildare, Meath or Wicklow.
  • Reject vague offers that are not useful to residents before 9am or during weekend planning.
  • Reject or escalate medical, legal, financial, childcare and regulated claims unless a manual copy-review route exists.
  • Do not use audience size, open rate, click rate, subscriber count or sponsor-performance claims until live Buttondown and analytics proof exists.
  • Do not scrape private contact details or send outreach from cron automation.

Operator next moves

  • Create a private 24-row lead sheet from public business websites only.
  • Start with commuter sprint segments, then map each lead to one coverage area and one package.
  • Reject rows that fail locality, proof, landing-page or regulated-copy checks.
  • Open Linear sales-prep issues only after editor review; do not send outreach from this loop.