Getting Started with Octave

Your Go-to-Market Team

Quick-start guide · ~5 minutes to read

Why Octave Exists

Octave is a connector that plugs directly into Claude. It contains everything your team has put together about how you sell: how you position to different buyer segments, who the personas are, what competitors can and can't do, what proof points to lead with, and how the team thinks about the market.

When you ask Octave a question, you get your team's curated point of view on the answer. It's a curated, opinionated knowledge base that gives Claude the ability to answer like a PMM who knows your business.

Instead of digging through docs and hoping you find the right positioning, you have an always-on pull model where all of your GTM context is available on demand through Claude.

What's in Octave

Everything in Octave has been loaded and structured by the GTM team. Here's what's available:

What	What it gives you
Products	How you describe what your product does, what makes it different, the core capabilities.
Personas	Buyer profiles with their priorities, pain points, and what they need to hear from you.
Playbooks	Sales plays mapped to segments. The strategy, the talk track, the value props you lead with.
Segments	Market segments with specific buying patterns and use cases.
Competitors	Competitive positioning and differentiation. How to handle specific competitors in a deal.
Use Cases	The core problems your product solves and the scenarios where it applies.
Proof Points	Quantified customer results you can reference in conversations and content.
References	Customer references you can name-drop or connect prospects to.
Alternatives	How prospects think about solving the problem without you. The status quo, manual workarounds, and competing approaches.
Buying Triggers	Signals that indicate a company is in-market or ready to buy. Events, timing, and conditions that create urgency.

How It Connects: MCP

MCP is how Claude connects to external tools like Octave. When you say "using Octave" in a prompt, Claude calls Octave's tools to pull your actual GTM data instead of guessing.

This means Claude can:

Look up your personas, playbooks, and competitive positioning
Research prospects and score them against your ICP
Run pre-built agents that use your team's specific instructions and tone

Tools are available once you connect the MCP

When you open Claude (web or desktop), Octave tools are available. Open a new chat and try: Using Octave, what playbooks do we have?

If Claude responds with generic information instead of your team's content, check that Octave shows as connected in your Claude settings under Connectors.

How to Use Octave

Three ways to work with Octave, from simple lookups to multi-step workflows.

Ask Octave Directly

The simplest way to use Octave: just ask it things. Start a chat with "Using Octave" at the start of any prompt and Claude will pull from your GTM knowledge base instead of guessing.

Take inventory

Start here. Figure out what's loaded.

What you want	Prompt
See all personas	`Using Octave, show me all our buyer personas`
See all segments	`Using Octave, what market segments do we target?`
See all playbooks	`Using Octave, list our sales playbooks`
See all competitors	`Using Octave, show me all our competitors`
See proof points	`Using Octave, what customer proof points do we have?`
See references	`Using Octave, show me our customer references`

Go deeper and learn from your elements

What you want	Prompt
Understand a persona	`Using Octave, tell me everything about our [Persona Name] persona — what do they care about, what are their pain points, what messaging resonates?`
Understand a playbook	`Using Octave, walk me through our [Playbook Name] playbook — what's the strategy, who does it target, what value props do we lead with?`
Match a prospect	`Using Octave, I'm talking to a [title] at a [type of company]. What persona do they match? What are their likely pain points and what should I lead with?`
Match a company	`Using Octave, what segment does [company.com] fit into? What playbook should I use?`

Further Self-enablement

What you want	Prompt
Competitive positioning	`Using Octave, how do we position against [Competitor]? What are our key differentiators and what trap questions can I ask?`
Learn a new segment	`Using Octave, I've never sold into [segment] before. Teach me — who are the buyers, what do they care about, and how do we position?`
Quiz yourself	`Using Octave, quiz me on our positioning for [segment/persona]. Challenge me and tell me when I get something wrong.`

What Octave tools Claude is using under the hood

You don't need to know this to use Octave, but if you're curious or building custom skills, these are the tools Claude calls when you run the prompts above:

`list_all_entities`	Lists everything by type (personas, segments, etc.)
`list_entities`	Lists entities with full detail and pagination
`get_entity`	Pulls the full details on one specific entity
`search_knowledge_base`	Searches across the whole library by meaning, not just keywords
`get_playbook`	Pulls a full playbook with its value props
`list_value_props`	Lists value props for a specific playbook
`qualify_company`	Scores a company against your ICP and matches it to a segment
`qualify_person`	Scores a person against your ICP and matches them to a persona
`enrich_company`	Full research report on a company
`enrich_person`	Full research report on a person
`find_person`	Find contacts at a company by title or role
`find_company`	Find companies matching criteria
`generate_email`	Writes an email sequence using Octave AI defaults
`generate_content`	Writes general content using Octave AI defaults
`generate_call_prep`	Writes call prep using Octave AI defaults
`run_email_agent`	Runs a saved email agent with your specific configuration
`run_content_agent`	Runs a saved content agent
`run_call_prep_agent`	Runs a saved call prep agent
`run_enrich_person_agent`	Runs a saved person enrichment agent
`run_enrich_company_agent`	Runs a saved company enrichment agent
`run_qualify_person_agent`	Runs a saved person qualification agent
`run_qualify_company_agent`	Runs a saved company qualification agent

Run Agents

Agents are for high-volume, repeatable workflows where you want pre-set configurations baked in. Someone on the team built them with specific instructions, targeting, tone, and output format. Every run follows the same rules. Use agents when you're running the same type of output against many targets — cold outreach sequences, qualification scoring at scale, standardized call prep.

Agent types

Type	Tool	What it does
Email	`run_email_agent`	Multi-step email sequences
Content	`run_content_agent`	LinkedIn messages, briefs, general content
Call Prep	`run_call_prep_agent`	Meeting preparation and talk tracks
Person Enrichment	`run_enrich_person_agent`	Research report on a specific person
Company Enrichment	`run_enrich_company_agent`	Research report on a company
Person Qualification	`run_qualify_person_agent`	Score a person against your ICP
Company Qualification	`run_qualify_company_agent`	Score a company against your ICP

Find out what agents you have

Using Octave, show me all my email agents

Using Octave, what agents do I have? List them by type.

Run an agent

For any agent targeting a person, use their LinkedIn profile URL. This gives the agent the best data to work with.

Using Octave, run the [Agent Name] email agent for [linkedin.com/in/person-name]

Using Octave, run the [Agent Name] agent for [linkedin.com/in/person-name]. Additional context: we met at [event] last week and they mentioned evaluating [competitor].

Using Octave, find the VP of Engineering at [company.com], get their LinkedIn, and run the [Agent Name] email agent for them

Using Octave, run my [Agent Name] call prep agent for a discovery call with [linkedin.com/in/person-name] tomorrow

Using Octave, qualify [company.com] against our ICP using the [Agent Name] qualification agent

Read this

If you ask Claude to "write me an email using Octave" without naming a specific agent, Claude will pull some Octave context and write you something. It may look fine. But it's not running your agent — it's not using the specific instructions, tone, or structure that were configured in that agent.

This is a valid workflow for many cases. But if you expect the output to match a specific set of instructions, name the agent. If you don't remember which one, ask first:

Using Octave, which of my email agents would be best for a cold outreach to a [Title] at a [type of company]?

Use Skills

Skills are for longer-tail, on-demand work — the kind of job you do a few times a day that involves multiple steps. Research a company before a call. Build a battlecard for a competitive deal. Generate a full campaign across channels. Skills handle the orchestration: they call the right Octave tools in the right order so you don't have to think about which tool does what.

Agents vs. Skills

Agents = high volume, repeatable, pre-set. Run the same email agent against 50 people and every output follows the same instructions.

Skills = on-demand, flexible, multi-step. Research a prospect, build a proposal, prep for a meeting. Each run adapts to the specific context.

Octave Plugin Skills

The Octave plugin for Claude (LFGTM) comes with a library of pre-built skills — slash commands that handle multi-step GTM workflows end-to-end. Each skill knows which Octave tools to call and in what order. You just type the command, provide the target, and the skill does the rest.

These are the /octave:* commands available to you right now:

Research & Prospecting

Skill	What it does	Example
`/octave:research`	Prep for a call, demo, or outreach. Pulls company intel, matches to your segments, finds the right playbook.	/octave:research acme.com --for discovery
`/octave:prospector`	Find people who match your ICP. Enriches and qualifies them.	/octave:prospector --similar-to stripe.com
`/octave:abm`	Account plan with stakeholder mapping and outreach strategy.	/octave:abm acme.com

Content

Skill	What it does	Example
`/octave:generate`	Write an email, LinkedIn message, or call prep. Can use a saved agent, Octave AI, or Claude directly.	/octave:generate email --to "VP Eng at Acme"
`/octave:campaign`	Multi-channel campaign content: email, LinkedIn, ads, social, blog.	/octave:campaign "Q2 launch" --persona "CTO"
`/octave:repurpose`	Take existing content and adapt it for a different audience or channel.	/octave:repurpose "blog post" --persona "CFO"
`/octave:brainstorm`	Idea generation for campaigns, playbooks, lead magnets.	/octave:brainstorm campaigns for enterprise

Sales Enablement

Skill	What it does	Example
`/octave:enablement`	Cheat sheets, objection guides, discovery question banks.	/octave:enablement objections --persona "CTO"
`/octave:pipeline`	Deal coaching. Good for stalled deals, multi-threading ideas, close plans.	/octave:pipeline stalled acme.com
`/octave:train`	Role-play a call or quiz yourself on positioning.	/octave:train roleplay --persona "VP Sales"
`/octave:deal-coach`	Methodology-based coaching: role-play, quizzes, microsites, decks.	/octave:deal-coach acme.com --mode roleplay

Competitive Intelligence

Skill	What it does	Example
`/octave:battlecard`	Battlecards, trap questions, displacement talking points.	/octave:battlecard --competitor "Acme"
`/octave:analyzer`	Analyze a call or email thread for messaging adherence.	/octave:analyzer --type call
`/octave:insights`	Find patterns in your calls: common objections, recurring themes.	/octave:insights --type objections
`/octave:wins-losses`	Analyze won and lost deals for patterns.	/octave:wins-losses --status lost
`/octave:icp-refine`	Refine your ICP based on deal outcomes and conversation data.	/octave:icp-refine --period 90

Document Builders

These skills produce self-contained HTML documents. Useful for sharing with prospects, bringing to meetings, or sending as follow-ups.

Skill	What it does
`/octave:brief`	Internal account dossier or call prep document
`/octave:deck`	Slide presentations
`/octave:one-pager`	Customer-facing leave-behind
`/octave:microsite`	Personalized landing page for an account
`/octave:proposal`	Formal business case or proposal
`/octave:meeting-prep`	Meeting battle plan with talk tracks
`/octave:battlecard-doc`	Visual competitive battlecard
`/octave:positioning`	Full messaging and positioning system
`/octave:win-loss-report`	Win/loss analysis with charts

Library & Admin

Skill	What it does
`/octave:library`	Browse, search, and manage library entities
`/octave:explore-agents`	Browse and run your saved agents
`/octave:workspace`	Check your Octave connection status
`/octave:audit`	Library health check: gaps, stale content, duplicates
`/octave:workflow`	Multi-step GTM workflow runner

Build Your Own Skills

You already build custom markdown skills for Claude. The same approach works with Octave. There are two ways to do it:

Option A: Start from the Octave plugin

Install the LFGTM plugin and build on top of the existing Octave skills. The advantage: these skills already have instructions for how to call Octave tools built in. You don't need to figure out which tool to call or when — the skill handles that. You just layer your own preferences on top:

Your specific tone and formatting
Sections you always want included
Templates or context specific to your workflow

How to fork an existing skill

The fastest path is to copy an existing Octave skill and modify it:

Find the closest existing skill to what you want (e.g., /octave:research or /octave:generate)

Copy its markdown file to your own skills folder

Edit the instructions — add your tone, format, sections, templates, or any custom logic

Save with a new name and call it like any other skill

This way you keep all the Octave tool-calling logic and just change what matters to you.

Option B: Build from scratch

Write your own skill that calls Octave MCP tools directly. More control, but you have to enumerate exactly which tools you want Claude to call and in what order. Don't assume Claude will figure out the right sequence on its own — tell it.

Examples of some common tool-calling patterns for Option B (not exhaustive)

Research flow

Use this when you need to understand a company before writing anything.

enrich_company — company profile, tech stack, recent activity

qualify_company — ICP score, segment match, fit reasons

search_knowledge_base — find the right playbook for that segment

get_playbook — pull the full strategy and value props

find_person — find contacts at the company

enrich_person — deep dive on the primary contact

Email generation flow

Use this when you need to write a personalized email with the right playbook behind it.

find_person / enrich_person — who you're writing to

qualify_person — which persona they match

search_knowledge_base — pull relevant playbook and proof points

run_email_agent (if you have one) or generate_email (Octave default)

Qualification flow

Use this when you want to score a company or person against your ICP.

qualify_company — company-level ICP score and fit reasons

qualify_person — person-level persona match and fit score

get_entity — full details on the matched persona

Competitive flow

Use this when a competitor comes up in a deal.

search_knowledge_base — find the competitor entity

get_entity — full competitor details and differentiators

search_knowledge_base — find proof points to counter their claims

Full tool reference in the Reference tab.

Reference

Every Octave MCP tool, organized by what it does. You don't need to memorize this — it's here when you need it.

Read Tools

These read from your knowledge base. They don't change anything.

Tool	What it does
`search_knowledge_base`	Searches across all entities and resources by meaning, not just keywords
`list_all_entities`	Lists all entities by type (quick overview, minimal detail)
`list_entities`	Lists entities with full detail and pagination
`get_entity`	Pulls everything about one specific entity
`get_playbook`	Pulls a full playbook including personas and value props
`list_value_props`	Lists value props for a specific playbook
`list_resources`	Lists uploaded docs, URLs, files
`get_resource`	Retrieves one specific resource
`search_resources`	Searches across uploaded resources
`list_agents`	Lists all saved agents
`get_agent`	Shows the configuration for a specific agent
`list_writing_styles`	Lists available writing styles

Research Tools

These reach out to external data sources to research companies and people.

Tool	What it does
`enrich_person`	Full research report on a person
`enrich_company`	Full research report on a company
`find_person`	Find contacts at a company by title or role
`find_company`	Find companies matching criteria
`find_similar_people`	Find people similar to a given person
`find_similar_companies`	Find companies similar to a given company
`qualify_person`	Score a person against your ICP and match to a persona
`qualify_company`	Score a company against your ICP and match to a segment

Generate Tools

These produce content. The generate_* tools use Octave AI defaults. The run_*_agent tools use your saved agent configurations.

Tool	What it does
`generate_email`	Writes an email sequence using Octave AI defaults
`generate_content`	Writes general content using Octave AI defaults
`generate_call_prep`	Writes call prep using Octave AI defaults
`run_email_agent`	Runs a saved email agent (your instructions, your tone)
`run_content_agent`	Runs a saved content agent
`run_call_prep_agent`	Runs a saved call prep agent
`run_enrich_person_agent`	Runs a saved person enrichment agent
`run_enrich_company_agent`	Runs a saved company enrichment agent
`run_qualify_person_agent`	Runs a saved person qualification agent
`run_qualify_company_agent`	Runs a saved company qualification agent

Intelligence Tools

These pull from calls, emails, deals, and CRM data.

Tool	What it does
`list_events`	Search across calls, emails, deals
`list_findings`	Aggregate insights from conversations
`get_event_detail`	Full details on a specific event including transcript
`find_crm_records`	Search CRM records
`find_crm_activities`	Search CRM activities
`generate_crm_context`	Synthesized summary of CRM context for an account

Write Tools Admin only

These modify your shared Octave workspace. Admin use only.

Tool	What it does
`create_entity`	Create a new entity (persona, competitor, etc.)
`update_entity`	Modify an existing entity
`delete_entity`	Delete an entity
`create_playbook`	Create a new playbook
`update_playbook`	Modify an existing playbook
`add_value_props`	Add value props to a playbook
`update_value_props`	Modify existing value props
`create_agent`	Create a new agent
`update_agent`	Modify an existing agent
`delete_agent`	Delete an agent

FAQ

Do I need to use an agent every time I write content?

No. If you're writing something one-off — a blog post, a social post, a response to a white paper — you don't need an agent. Just tell Claude to pull from Octave:

Using Octave, I'm writing a blog post about [topic]. Pull our messaging and positioning as you draft this.

Claude will call Octave tools to get your positioning, then use it while writing. No agent needed.

Agents are for when you want uniform, repeatable output — like running the same cold email sequence against a list of 50 people with specific instructions, tone, and structure baked in.

How do I get Claude to use our brand voice?

Two options, depending on how precise you need to be:

Quick (no agent): Tell Claude to apply the brand voice in the prompt. Octave provides your positioning and messaging and will apply your saved brand voice.

Using Octave, write a LinkedIn post about [topic]. Make sure to apply the Brand Voice. Use a conversational, practitioner tone — this is from our field CISO, not marketing. Pull our competitive positioning but make it sound like a personal take, not a sales pitch.

Consistent (agent): If you have a specific voice you want used every time, have your admin build an agent with the Brand Voice enabled. Then every run follows the same voice rules automatically.

Someone on my team writes varied content (blogs, social, whitepapers). Do I need a different agent for each?

No. For varied content, the natural language approach works best. The content creator describes what they want and tells Claude to grab from Octave:

Using Octave, I'm writing a response to [Author]'s white paper on [topic]. Pull our positioning on this area and help me draft a thoughtful take that references our differentiation without being salesy.

Agents are the wrong tool here. They're designed for repeatable patterns, not creative work that changes form every time.

Can I make Octave run automatically every time someone writes content?

Not today. Claude doesn't have an org-level setting to force a specific MCP connector to run on every prompt. The team needs to learn to say "using Octave" when they want company context pulled in.

"Claude wrote the email but it doesn't sound like our other emails"

You probably didn't name a specific agent. Claude used Octave data but applied its own judgment on tone and structure. Name the agent: run the [Agent Name] email agent for...

"I don't know which agent to use"

Ask Claude: Using Octave, list all my email agents. It'll show you what's available and what each one is configured for.

"Claude gave me generic information, not my team's content"

Octave might not be connected. Check Settings → Connectors and make sure Octave shows as configured. You can also ask: Using Octave, verify my connection.

"I want Claude to use a specific playbook"

Say so explicitly: Using Octave, use the [Playbook Name] playbook to write an email for...

What's the simplest thing I can tell my team to get them started?

All our latest messaging, positioning, competitive intel, and playbooks live in Octave. When you're writing anything GTM-related in Claude, start your prompt with "using Octave" and Claude will pull the latest source of truth from Octave.