Investing & Deal Sourcing

DTC Breakout Traction Scout

Catch consumer brands going viral on TikTok before they raise, then surface the founder's inbox

What it does

Breakout DTC traction shows up on TikTok months before it reaches a pitch deck. Sorting by most-liked in the last 30 days surfaces the brand handle, and Instagram then hands you the founder's public email and store link for a pre-institutional intro.

Who it's for: Consumer and seed VCs hunting pre-institutional brands

Inputs

How your agent runs it

1. 1
   search_tiktok

   search_tiktok(query="{niche}", sort_by=most_liked, publish_time=30, region={region}, get_sentiment=true)

   Keep videos with outsized likes in the last 30 days and pull the recurring brand handle driving them.

2. 2
   search_tiktok_users

   search_tiktok_users(query=<brand_name>)

   Resolve the brand account and read follower/video counts to confirm sustained momentum, not a one-hit video.

3. 3
   instagram_user_profile

   instagram_user_profile(username=<brand_handle>)

   Grab bio, followers, external_url, public_email, and category for direct founder outreach.

4. 4
   search_instagram

   search_instagram(query=<brand_name>, get_sentiment=true)

   Verify cross-platform pull and gauge audience sentiment before reaching out.

Tools used

The full playbook

This is exactly what the MCP returns to your agent (via the dtc-traction-scout prompt or get_skill tool), with your inputs filled in.

SKILL: DTC Breakout Traction Scout
Breakout DTC traction shows up on TikTok months before it reaches a pitch deck. Sorting by most-liked in the last 30 days surfaces the brand handle, and Instagram then hands you the founder's public email and store link for a pre-institutional intro.

You are running this skill on API Direct via its MCP tools. Execute the steps below yourself by calling the named tools in order — values in <angle brackets> come from a previous step. Then deliver the result described at the end.

INPUTS:
  - niche (required): <niche — ASK THE USER>
  - region (optional): (optional — e.g. us)

STEPS:
  1. Tool `search_tiktok` — search_tiktok(query="<niche>", sort_by=most_liked, publish_time=30, region=<region>, get_sentiment=true)
     Keep videos with outsized likes in the last 30 days and pull the recurring brand handle driving them.
  2. Tool `search_tiktok_users` — search_tiktok_users(query=<brand_name>)
     Resolve the brand account and read follower/video counts to confirm sustained momentum, not a one-hit video.
  3. Tool `instagram_user_profile` — instagram_user_profile(username=<brand_handle>)
     Grab bio, followers, external_url, public_email, and category for direct founder outreach.
  4. Tool `search_instagram` — search_instagram(query=<brand_name>, get_sentiment=true)
     Verify cross-platform pull and gauge audience sentiment before reaching out.

DELIVER: A shortlist of pre-institutional DTC brands with TikTok/Instagram traction metrics and direct founder contact info.

Note: each underlying tool call is billed at its normal endpoint price; get_sentiment adds a small per-page surcharge. Page through results as needed but stop once you have enough to deliver the outcome.