What a search holds
The brief, the research and the outcome, in one place.
A search is the pursuit, not the paperwork. Open one the day you decide to chase something — months before there is a mandate, a client or a signed brief. Everything you commission against it stays filed there, and carries forward if it converts.
That is the whole reason the container exists. The alternative is a folder of unrelated reports and a partner trying to remember which market read belonged to which pitch.
The brief
The market, the geography, the size band, the ownership structure, the off-limits list. Typed once, on the search — everything commissioned from it inherits it, so you are not re-typing the same market for each piece of research about the same seat.
The research
Every report built against this search, in the order it was delivered. A pursuit you opened in March and a map you commissioned in July sit in one history.
The outcome
Whether it converted, and what it was worth. That is what turns a shelf of reports into a record of what your firm actually chases and wins.
Opening one
New search from the Searches page. A name and a stage is enough — every brief field is optional, deliberately. A partner who knows only what they want and where should be able to open a search in twenty seconds, and a field filled in to get past it produces worse research than one left blank.
You can edit any of it later, and the change applies to the next thing you commission rather than rewriting what has already been delivered.
What it costs
Opening a search spends one of the searches your plan includes. That is the only moment anything is charged: every report you then commission against it is free, so a market map in March and a talent map off the same pursuit in July are two documents and one search.
If your balance is empty the wizard says No searches left instead of opening one, tells you when the plan refills, and offers an extra search you can buy immediately. Nothing you typed is lost.
Closing one
Placement made or Close as lost, from the search's overview. Neither deletes anything: the research stays readable, and a lost pursuit is as much a part of the record as a won one.