Find Management Consultant

find-management-consultant

Drive the ServiceGraph API (https://api.servicegraph.co) to find, shortlist, and enrich US management consulting firms via the pro_services dataset. The catalog tags firms with industry:management_consulting and a 7-tag service sub-taxonomy: strategy-consulting, operations-consulting, executive-coaching, leadership-development, organizational-development, pmo-project-management, sales-revenue-consulting.

Always pin industry:management_consulting. Sub-services are structured service_provided tags — confirm exact names via /v1/datasets/pro_services/fields?include_values=1.

Any HTTP client works (curl, fetch, requests). Examples below use curl.

When NOT to use this skill

• "Help me build a strategy / write a plan / make a recommendation" — do-the-work, not procurement.
• In-house strategy/operations hires (Chief Strategy Officer, COO).
• Life or career coaching for an individual — the catalog's executive-coaching tag is for B2B (the firm hires the coach for their executives), not for the user themselves.
• Framework explanations (Lean vs Agile, Porter's Five Forces).
• MBA program questions, academic research.
• Non-US firms / individual freelance consultants.

MCP server (preferred for authed calls)

If your harness has the ServiceGraph MCP server loaded (tools containing servicegraph), prefer those — OAuth 2.1 + PKCE keeps the token in the harness sandbox. Otherwise use the REST flow below.

API surface (dataset id: pro_services)

Every endpoint requires the bearer (Authorization: Bearer vk_…). No anonymous tier.

Cost model. Discovery / validation / search / brief reads are free. Detail (url, phone, email, social, address, full platforms map) costs 10 credits per firm and lasts 30 days.

Auth

vk_* API keys minted in the dashboard. Keep the token out of the LLM context — never read .env* into your context; dispatch via shell.

1. Try the call first through a shell wrapper that sources .env.local:

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   ( set -a; [ -f .env.local ] && . ./.env.local; set +a;
     curl -sS -H "Authorization: Bearer $SERVICEGRAPH_API_KEY" \
          'https://api.servicegraph.co/v1/datasets/pro_services/fields' )
   

2. On 401 prompt the user:

   "Open https://servicegraph.co/profile/api-keys, create a key, and add SERVICEGRAPH_API_KEY=vk_… to .env.local here (or export it). Tell me when done. Please don't paste the key into chat."

3. Retry after the user signals ready.

Filter DSL

GitHub-search-style.

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filter   := orExpr
orExpr   := andExpr ("OR" andExpr)*
andExpr  := notExpr (("AND")? notExpr)*    # whitespace = implicit AND
notExpr  := ("NOT" | "-") notExpr | atom
atom     := "(" filter ")" | predicate
predicate:= IDENT op valueOrList | bareword
op       := ":" | "=" | ">=" | "<=" | ">" | "<"
valueOrList := value ("," value)*
value    := IDENT | NUMBER | tagAtEvidence
tagAtEvidence := IDENT "@" ("low"|"medium"|"high")
bareword := IDENT | NUMBER          # → keyword:<bareword>

Four rules that bite: AND binds tighter than OR (use parens); comma list = OR within one predicate; negation is -x or NOT x; bareword = keyword search (quote multi-word phrases).

Management-consulting examples (validate yours with /check):

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industry:management_consulting service_provided:strategy-consulting@high
industry:management_consulting service_provided:operations-consulting state:NY
industry:management_consulting service_provided:executive-coaching
industry:management_consulting (service_provided:strategy-consulting@high OR service_provided:operations-consulting@high)
industry:management_consulting service_provided:organizational-development change
industry:management_consulting service_provided:strategy-consulting@high rating>=4 has:clutch
industry:management_consulting service_provided:pmo-project-management

Sub-service tag → typical user phrasing:

Identifying firms — apex

Firms are identified by their apex domain (mckinsey.com, not www.mckinsey.com/about).

Recipes

A. Strategy consultancy in a state

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GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/search?filter=industry:management_consulting+state:CA+service_provided:strategy-consulting@high&limit=10
# Present, get pick of 3. "Unlocking 3 = 30 credits, 30-day TTL."
POST /v1/datasets/pro_services/unlocks
  { "apexes": ["firm-a.com", "firm-b.com", "firm-c.com"] }

B. Boutique ops consulting + vertical

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GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/search?filter=industry:management_consulting+service_provided:operations-consulting+healthcare+-company_size_signal:large_50plus&limit=10

C. Executive coach for a CEO

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GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/search?filter=industry:management_consulting+service_provided:executive-coaching@high&limit=10

D. Indirect intent — post-merger / change

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GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/search?filter=industry:management_consulting+service_provided:organizational-development+(merger OR integration)&limit=10

If thin, drop the keywords — organizational-development@high alone captures change-management work.

E. Indirect intent — "fractional COO"

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GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/search?filter=industry:management_consulting+service_provided:operations-consulting+fractional&limit=10

F. Quality threshold + Big-3 alumni

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GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/search?filter=industry:management_consulting+service_provided:strategy-consulting@high+rating>=4+(mckinsey OR bcg OR bain)&limit=10

The "alumni" angle isn't structured — keyword the firm names of the shops the alumni came from; many spinout consultancies advertise it in bio text.

G. BYO apex list — enrich domains

User pastes 8–20 consulting-firm domains:

1. GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/:apex per domain — free brief (404 = not in catalog, no charge).
2. User picks N to fully enrich. POST /unlocks = 10×N credits, atomic, detail returned.
3. Re-runs within 30-day TTL are free.

Gotchas

• Always pin industry:management_consulting. Without it, service_provided:strategy-consulting surfaces marketing or IT firms that list "strategy" as a sub-service.
• executive-coaching is for B2B. When a firm hires a coach for their executives, this skill applies. When an individual asks for a life coach or career coach for themselves, it's out of scope.
• "Help me build a strategy" is do-the-work, not procurement.
• Framework comparisons (Lean vs Agile) and MBA questions are knowledge, not procurement.
• In-house hires (CSO, COO) are NOT procurement.
• Briefs DO include apex, name, location, ratings. They DON'T include url, phone_primary, email_primary, legal_name, address_full, full platforms — those require an unlock.
• not_found / not_in_dataset 404 = not in pro_services. Skip; not charged.
• Unlock is atomic. N apexes either all charge (up to 10×N credits) or none on 402.
• Within-TTL re-views are free (was_cached:true).

Errors

JSON envelope: {"error": {"code": "...", "message": "..."}}.

End-to-end example

User: "Three top management-consulting firms in California focused on strategy, with strong third-party ratings."

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GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/fields?include_values=1
GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/check?filter=industry:management_consulting+state:CA+service_provided:strategy-consulting@high+rating>=4+review_count_total>=20
GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/search?filter=...&limit=10
# Present briefs. "Unlocking 3 = 30 credits, 30-day TTL."
POST /v1/datasets/pro_services/unlocks
  { "apexes": ["firm-a.com", "firm-b.com", "firm-c.com"] }
GET /v1/me/credits