pp-company-goat

What this skill does

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# Company GOAT — Printing Press CLI

## Prerequisites: Install the CLI

This skill drives the `company-goat-pp-cli` binary. **You must verify the CLI is installed before invoking any command from this skill.** If it is missing, install it first:

1. Install via the Printing Press installer. It defaults binaries to `$HOME/.local/bin` on macOS/Linux and `%LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\PrintingPress\bin` on Windows:
   ```bash
   npx -y @mvanhorn/printing-press-library install company-goat --cli-only
   ```
2. Verify: `company-goat-pp-cli --version`
3. Ensure the reported install directory is on `$PATH` for the agent/runtime that will invoke this skill.

If the `npx` install fails (no Node, offline, etc.), fall back to a direct Go install (requires Go 1.26.3 or newer):

```bash
go install github.com/mvanhorn/printing-press-library/library/developer-tools/company-goat/cmd/company-goat-pp-cli@latest
```

If `--version` reports "command not found" after install, the runtime cannot see the binary directory on `$PATH`. Do not proceed with skill commands until verification succeeds.

## When to Use This CLI

Use Company GOAT when an agent or human needs structured company-research data on a small or midsize startup — fundraising, engineering signal, mention timeline, legal entity, domain age — without paying for Crunchbase Pro. Best for one-company-at-a-time deep research. Not for bulk discovery (sources don't scale to thousands of queries) and not for global private-market funding-graph queries (no source has that for free).

### The killer feature: SEC Form D, free

Most US startups raising priced equity rounds (Series Seed → Series C, Reg D 506(b)/506(c)) file **Form D** with the SEC within 15 days of first sale. The filing names the issuer, the offering amount, the exemption claimed, and the related persons (officers, directors, promoters). Crunchbase Pro charges $999/year for a wrapper around this same source; this CLI extracts it directly from EDGAR for free. Reach for `funding` when an agent needs to verify a US startup's actual fundraising history rather than quote Crunchbase Free's empty "undisclosed" rows.

### Coverage at a glance

- **SEC Form D / `funding` / `funding-trend`** — US-only. Reg D priced rounds. Pre-Series-A SAFEs are not covered. Empty filings + a `coverage_note` is the expected response for non-US companies, pre-priced-round companies, and companies that just haven't filed yet. When Form D is empty, `funding` falls back to a broader EDGAR full-text search and surfaces mentions binned by signal class: subsidiary (10-K parent mentions), debt (Venture Lending and Leasing portfolio mentions), acquisition (8-K parent disclosures), and other. `funding --who` also searches across all form types, not just Form D. **Disambiguation:** EDGAR's full-text search matches by name fragment, so "Notion" hits both Notion Labs and Notion Capital VC. The result includes `cik_summaries` and `is_ambiguous: true` whenever multiple distinct CIKs match. Re-call with `--cik <id>` (CIK from the summary) to filter to the correct entity. The compound commands (`snapshot`, `compare`, `signal`) propagate the ambiguity flag through their output and refuse to synthesize a side-by-side number when ambiguous — the agent decides which CIK is correct using broader context (Wikidata founders, GitHub org alignment, the user's intent) and re-runs `funding --cik` to confirm. `signal` surfaces `Form D match is ambiguous` as its own signal class so cross-source consistency checks aren't trusted blindly.
- **Companies House / `legal --region uk`** — UK Ltd / PLC only. Requires `COMPANIES_HOUSE_API_KEY` (free at developer.companieshouse.gov.uk).
- **GitHub / `engineering`** — Any public org. Optional `GITHUB_TOKEN` raises rate limits from 60/hr to 5000/hr.
- **Hacker News / `mentions` / `launches`** — Algolia full-text search across HN since 2007. No auth. `mentions` returns both a year-month histogram AND the top-N stories sorted by points (use `--top N` to widen, default 5). `launches` is the Show-HN-only flavor — use it for "did this company ever post a Show HN" questions; use `mentions` for "what do people say about this company on HN."
- **YC directory / `yc`** — YC-backed companies only.
- **Wikidata / `wiki`** — Sparse on early-stage; mostly useful for established companies.
- **RDAP / DNS / `domain`** — Any registered domain.

## When Not to Use This CLI

Do not activate this CLI for requests that require creating, updating, deleting, publishing, commenting, upvoting, inviting, ordering, sending messages, booking, purchasing, or changing remote state. This printed CLI exposes read-only commands for inspection, export, sync, and analysis.

## Unique Capabilities

These capabilities aren't available in any other tool for this API.

### Multi-source orchestration
- **`snapshot`** — Look up a company across SEC Form D, GitHub, Hacker News, Companies House, YC, Wikidata, and DNS in one command — rendered as a unified terminal summary in seconds.

  _When you need to evaluate a startup quickly, this is the one command that tells you whether they raised, are shipping code, are talked about, and are legitimate — without 8 browser tabs._

  ```bash
  company-goat-pp-cli snapshot --domain stripe.com --json
  ```
- **`signal`** — Surface suspicious cross-source patterns. Example: 'Form D says raised $5M in 2024 but GitHub org has 0 commits since 2022' or 'YC entry says Active but website domain expired'.

  _When deciding whether to engage with a startup, this command flags zombie companies and stale fundraising stories without you having to open every tab._

  ```bash
  company-goat-pp-cli signal --domain acme-corp.com --json
  ```

### Killer feature
- **`funding`** — See structured SEC Form D filings for a US private company — offering amount, filing date, exemption claimed (Reg D 506(b) vs 506(c)), related entities, and state of incorporation.

  _When an agent needs to verify a US startup's actual fundraising history, this is the single most reliable free signal. Avoid agents quoting Crunchbase Free's empty 'undisclosed' rows._

  ```bash
  company-goat-pp-cli funding --domain stripe.com --json
  ```
- **`funding-trend`** — Time series of Form D filings for a company across years — shows fundraising cadence and gaps. Useful for spotting 'they haven't raised since 2022' silently.

  _Use this when an agent needs to summarize a company's fundraising arc, not just the latest round._

  ```bash
  company-goat-pp-cli funding-trend --domain stripe.com --since 2018 --json
  ```
- **`funding --who`** — Show every Form D filing that names a given person (officer, large holder). Reveals serial founders, repeat advisors, prolific investors.

  _Use when an agent needs to map who's behind a constellation of startups, or verify a founder's actual filing history._

  ```bash
  company-goat-pp-cli funding --who 'Patrick Collison' --json
  ```

### Local state that compounds
- **`search`** — Search the YC directory by free text + --batch and --industry filters. Free-text matches against name, one-liner description, industry, and location.

  _An agent tasked with 'find a YC fintech with "agent" in the description' has a one-shot query rather than scrolling the YC directory._

  ```bash
  company-goat-pp-cli search 'agent' --industry fintech
  ```
- **`compare`** — Two snapshots aligned column-by-column for direct comparison. Free in this CLI; paid feature elsewhere.

  _When evaluating two competing startups, this is the one-shot comparison that doesn't require flipping between tabs._

  ```bash
  company-goat-pp-cli compare s