Investing & Deal Sourcing

DTC Breakout Traction Scout

Catch consumer brands breaking out across TikTok, Reddit and YouTube 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 surfaces the brand handle, and optional Reddit and YouTube passes widen the net to brands generating organic, pre-ad-spend buzz and video momentum. 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, get_sentiment=true)

   Core breakout signal: keep videos with outsized likes in the last {lookback} days (default 30) and pull the recurring brand handle driving them.

2. 2
   search_reddit

   search_reddit(query="{niche}", sort_by=top, get_sentiment=true)

   Only run if {platforms} includes reddit: surface brands getting organic, upvoted community buzz in the niche and add any recurring handles to the candidate set — pre-ad-spend demand a deck won't show yet.

3. 3
   search_youtube

   search_youtube(query="{niche}", upload_date=this_month, get_sentiment=true)

   Only run if {platforms} includes youtube: catch brands trending in hauls and review videos this month and add them as additional breakout candidates.

4. 4
   search_tiktok_users

   search_tiktok_users(query=<brand_name>)

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

5. 5
   instagram_user_profile

   instagram_user_profile(username=<brand_handle>)

   Contact engine: grab bio, followers, external_url, public_email, and category for direct founder outreach.

6. 6
   search_instagram

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

   Verify cross-platform pull and gauge audience sentiment before reaching out; drop brands with weak or negative sentiment.

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 surfaces the brand handle, and optional Reddit and YouTube passes widen the net to brands generating organic, pre-ad-spend buzz and video momentum. 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>
      The consumer category to scout
  - platforms (optional): (optional — e.g. tiktok, instagram, reddit, youtube)
      Comma-separated list of platforms to run — options: tiktok, reddit, youtube, instagram. Omit to run all of them; name specific platforms to limit the run.
  - lookback (optional): 30 (default — override if you like)
      How many days back to scan TikTok for breakout videos (maps to publish_time). Valid values: 7, 30, 90, 180. Defaults to 30 if omitted.
  - region (optional): (optional — e.g. us)
      2-letter region code for TikTok search

PLATFORM SELECTION: some steps are gated with "Only run if {platforms} includes X". If the user supplied a `platforms` value, run only the steps whose platform is listed. If the user did NOT supply `platforms`, run ALL steps — every platform the skill supports.

STEPS:
  1. Tool `search_tiktok` — search_tiktok(query="{niche}", sort_by=most_liked, publish_time=30, get_sentiment=true)
     Core breakout signal: keep videos with outsized likes in the last 30 days (default 30) and pull the recurring brand handle driving them.
  2. Tool `search_reddit` — search_reddit(query="{niche}", sort_by=top, get_sentiment=true)
     Only run if {platforms} includes reddit: surface brands getting organic, upvoted community buzz in the niche and add any recurring handles to the candidate set — pre-ad-spend demand a deck won't show yet.
  3. Tool `search_youtube` — search_youtube(query="{niche}", upload_date=this_month, get_sentiment=true)
     Only run if {platforms} includes youtube: catch brands trending in hauls and review videos this month and add them as additional breakout candidates.
  4. Tool `search_tiktok_users` — search_tiktok_users(query=<brand_name>)
     Resolve each candidate brand account and read follower/video counts to confirm sustained momentum, not a one-hit video.
  5. Tool `instagram_user_profile` — instagram_user_profile(username=<brand_handle>)
     Contact engine: grab bio, followers, external_url, public_email, and category for direct founder outreach.
  6. Tool `search_instagram` — search_instagram(query=<brand_name>, get_sentiment=true)
     Verify cross-platform pull and gauge audience sentiment before reaching out; drop brands with weak or negative sentiment.

DELIVER: A shortlist of pre-institutional DTC brands with TikTok (plus optional Reddit/YouTube) traction signals, Instagram 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.