Agent Income Lab

Published October 20, 2026 | AgentIncomeLab.com

Business research is one of the most promising applications of AI agents.

Entrepreneurs, consultants, sales teams, and business owners constantly need reliable information about competitors, customers, suppliers, markets, and emerging opportunities.

Traditionally, this work requires manually visiting websites, collecting information, checking sources, creating spreadsheets, and writing reports.

An AI agent can potentially assist with several of these activities.

Meta Muse, introduced by Meta in September 2026, is designed to perform multistep tasks using its own browser and supported connected applications.

Rather than simply answering a question, Muse can help gather information, organize findings, and prepare documents.

But how can you turn these capabilities into a reliable business research workflow?

And, more importantly, how can you use the resulting research to build a paid service?

In this practical tutorial, we’ll develop a complete business research process using Meta Muse.

We’ll demonstrate how to define research objectives, discover companies, analyze competitors, verify sources, organize results, prepare reports, and develop a commercial service.

The example focuses on IT service providers, but the methodology can be adapted to many industries.

1. What Is Automated Business Research?

Automated business research is the use of software to assist with collecting, organizing, analyzing, and presenting information relevant to business decisions.

Common applications include:

• Competitor analysis.
• Supplier identification.
• Customer and market research.
• Product comparisons.
• Industry monitoring.
• Business opportunity discovery.
• Pricing research.
• Technology evaluation.

Not every part of the process should be automated.

For example, a software system may successfully collect advertised product prices but fail to recognize that one price excludes implementation fees.

Similarly, an AI agent might identify a company as a potential competitor when the company actually serves a different market.

A reliable process therefore combines automation with verification and professional judgment.

Traditional Research vs. AI-Assisted Research

Activity	Traditional Process	AI-Assisted Process
Company discovery	Manual web research	Agent-assisted discovery
Website analysis	Read each website	Agent prepares summaries
Data organization	Manual spreadsheet entry	Structured draft tables
Source recording	Copy URLs manually	Request source references
Comparisons	Manually analyze findings	AI-assisted comparison
Report drafting	Write from scratch	Draft from verified evidence
Quality assurance	Human review	Human review remains essential

The objective is not to eliminate the researcher.

It is to reduce repetitive activities so the researcher can spend more time on accuracy, interpretation, and customer value.

2. Why Use Meta Muse for Business Research?

Meta Muse is a personal AI agent capable of working through multistep tasks.

According to Meta’s official documentation, Muse can browse the web using its dedicated virtual computing environment, create documents, and interact with supported applications.

These functions make it relevant to business research.

For example, you could instruct Muse to investigate several software providers and prepare a preliminary comparison.

The task may require researching company websites, locating product information, examining public pricing, and organizing findings.

Muse can potentially assist with multiple steps within one task.

The Advantage of Agentic Research

With a conventional chatbot, a user may need to collect much of the information manually.

An agentic research workflow can delegate some of the collection and organization.

However, Muse’s ability to access a specific website, follow a particular link, or save a document depends on the environment and permissions available.

The examples in this tutorial should be tested before being used for a paying customer.

What You Need to Begin

You need access to Meta Muse, a clearly defined research objective, permitted information sources, and a way to review the results.

A spreadsheet or document editor is also useful.

For first experiments, use public company-level information rather than sensitive customer records.

3. Our Example: Researching IT Service Providers

Let’s work through a realistic scenario.

Imagine that a business consultant wants to understand the competitive landscape for managed IT services in the Netherlands.

The consultant wants a report identifying relevant providers and comparing how they position their offerings.

Research Objective

Project: Managed IT Services Competitive Landscape.

Market: Netherlands.

Target companies: Managed service providers and business IT support companies.

Research sample: Five companies.

Requested output: A structured competitor comparison and concise research report.

Required Information

For each company, we want to identify:

1. Official company name.
2. Website.
3. Geographic coverage.
4. Main service categories.
5. Target customer segments.
6. Published pricing or packages.
7. Relevant specializations.
8. Supporting source URLs.

We also want to understand which services are common across the companies and where meaningful differences exist.

The research should describe public information, not speculate about internal operations or confidential commercial data.

4. Step One: Define the Research Scope

The quality of business research depends heavily on the initial instructions.

A vague request such as “research IT companies” is unlikely to produce a consistent report.

Instead, prepare a detailed research brief.

Reusable Meta Muse Prompt 1: Research Planning

Copy and adapt the following prompt.

Prompt:

“Act as a professional B2B market research assistant.

I want to conduct a competitive landscape study for managed IT service providers operating in the Netherlands.

Research objective: Identify and compare five relevant companies that provide managed IT services to business customers.

The comparison must cover:

1. Official company name.
2. Website and headquarters location.
3. Advertised managed IT services.
4. Geographic service coverage.
5. Target customer segments.
6. Microsoft cloud or infrastructure specializations.
7. Publicly available pricing.
8. Main positioning messages.
9. Relevant source URLs.

Use legitimate publicly accessible sources and respect website access restrictions.

Do not invent missing information.

Distinguish confirmed facts from interpretations.

Do not access private accounts, contact companies, or collect personal contact details.

First, create a research plan and explain how the information will be verified.

Do not begin the full research until the scope has been reviewed.”

Why This Prompt Works

The prompt specifies the objective, industry, geography, research fields, source requirements, and permitted behavior.

It also introduces a human review checkpoint before execution.

This reduces the risk that the agent collects information outside the intended scope.

5. Step Two: Discover Relevant Companies

Once the research plan is approved, you can investigate possible competitors.

Company discovery should follow consistent inclusion criteria.

For our example, a company qualifies if it publicly advertises managed IT services for business customers and operates within the target geographic market.

Reusable Meta Muse Prompt 2: Company Discovery

Prompt:

“Using the approved research plan, identify up to ten candidate managed IT service providers operating in the Netherlands.

For each company, provide:

• Company name.
• Official website.
• Evidence of managed IT service offerings.
• Geographic relevance.
• Short business description.
• Source URL.

Exclude companies that do not advertise relevant services.

Do not include duplicates.

Do not assume a company offers nationwide coverage unless supported by a reliable source.

Do not invent company names, employee counts, or certifications.

Return a candidate table for review.

Do not contact any organization.”

Review the Candidate List

Before proceeding, confirm that the companies exist and meet the inclusion criteria.

Check official websites rather than relying exclusively on third-party descriptions.

If a company is primarily a software vendor rather than a managed IT services provider, decide whether it fits your study.

Select the five most relevant companies based on your defined research scope.

Avoid choosing companies simply because the AI agent ranked them highly.

The ranking may reflect incomplete information or search visibility rather than actual competitive significance.

6. Step Three: Collect Structured Company Information

Now we can collect comparable information about the selected businesses.

The key is to use the same fields for every company.

This makes the final comparison more consistent.

Recommended Research Data Structure

Field	Data Type
Company ID	Text
Company Name	Text
Official Website	URL
Country	Text
Service Categories	List
Geographic Coverage	Text
Target Customers	Text
Public Pricing	Text / Unknown
Specializations	List
Positioning Summary	Text
Evidence URLs	List
Research Date	Date
Verification Status	Text

Reusable Meta Muse Prompt 3: Company Profiling

Prompt:

“Research the following approved companies:

[INSERT COMPANY NAMES AND OFFICIAL WEBSITES]

For each company, prepare a structured profile using these fields:

Company name, official website, service categories, target customer segments, geographic coverage, specializations, public pricing, and positioning summary.

Use official company websites as primary sources where available.

Include supporting source URLs for material claims.

Do not infer employee counts, customer numbers, revenue, certifications, or service coverage unless reliable evidence exists.

Mark missing information as Unknown.

Record the research date.

Do not contact companies or modify external data.

Return a consistent comparison table.”

Important Research Principle

Missing information should remain missing.

For example, if a competitor does not publish prices, do not estimate a monthly subscription and present it as factual.

Instead, write:

“Public pricing not identified during research.”

This is a valid research finding.

It is better than a confident but unsupported number.

7. Step Four: Analyze Competitor Positioning

Collecting company information is useful, but analysis is where a research service becomes more valuable.

The objective is to identify meaningful patterns.

For example, several providers may offer Microsoft 365 support.

However, they may emphasize different benefits.

One company might focus on fast local response times.

Another may highlight cybersecurity and compliance.

A third might emphasize cloud migration expertise.

These positioning differences can influence how customers perceive the companies.

Reusable Meta Muse Prompt 4: Competitive Analysis

Prompt:

“Using only the verified company research supplied below, prepare a competitive positioning analysis.

Compare the five companies across:

1. Primary value proposition.
2. Main advertised services.
3. Target customer segments.
4. Geographic positioning.
5. Published service packages or pricing.
6. Technical specializations.
7. Distinctive marketing messages.

Identify similarities and meaningful differences.

For each important conclusion, explain which observations support it.

Do not claim that a company has better service quality unless supported by reliable evidence.

Distinguish facts from analytical interpretations.

Identify areas where insufficient information prevents a meaningful comparison.

Return:

A. A comparison table.

B. Five key findings.

C. Three potential strategic implications.”

Turn Findings into Useful Recommendations

Suppose four competitors emphasize cloud migration while one focuses heavily on onsite hardware services.

Your report might highlight the difference as a positioning observation.

It should not automatically conclude that onsite services are an underserved market.

That would require additional customer demand research.

A professional report separates what companies advertise from what customers actually want.

8. Step Five: Verify Research Sources

This is the most important step before commercial delivery.

AI agents can produce plausible but incorrect claims.

They may also confuse companies with similar names, use outdated pages, or misinterpret information.

Every significant factual statement needs a reliable source.

Source Verification Checklist

For each finding:

• Confirm that the URL resolves to the intended source.
• Check that the source supports the actual claim.
• Record when the information was published or reviewed.
• Identify whether the source is official or third-party.
• Distinguish advertisements from independently established facts.
• Remove unsupported claims.
• Flag conflicting information.
• Recheck especially important figures.

Example

Suppose the agent writes:

“Company A provides 24/7 onsite support throughout the Netherlands.”

You should locate evidence for both parts of the claim.

A company may advertise 24/7 monitoring but only offer onsite visits during business hours.

These are not interchangeable services.

A misleading conclusion could affect the customer’s procurement decisions.

Reusable Meta Muse Prompt 5: Evidence Audit

Prompt:

“Audit the following draft research findings.

For each factual statement:

1. Identify the supporting source URL.
2. Explain whether the source directly supports the claim.
3. Flag unsupported or ambiguous statements.
4. Identify potentially outdated information.
5. Recommend corrections where necessary.

Use three classifications:

Verified: The supplied source directly supports the statement.

Partially Verified: Some information is supported, but the statement needs qualification.

Unverified: No sufficient supporting evidence is available.

Do not invent citations or claim that a source was checked unless it was actually accessed.

Return a verification table for human review.”

This AI-assisted audit is an additional screening layer.

It does not replace your own checks.

9. Step Six: Create the Business Research Report

Once the evidence is verified, you can prepare a client-facing document.

For a small competitive study, a report of approximately six to ten pages may be sufficient.

Recommended Report Structure

Page 1 — Cover

Title, client name, research period, and consultant or agency name.

Page 2 — Executive Summary

Describe the objective, findings, and limitations.

Page 3 — Methodology

Explain company selection, data sources, and verification procedures.

Pages 4–5 — Company Profiles

Summarize the selected businesses.

Page 6 — Comparison Matrix

Present key differences in a structured format.

Page 7 — Competitive Insights

Discuss patterns and positioning differences.

Page 8 — Recommendations

Describe practical next steps supported by the findings.

Page 9 — Sources

List the references and research dates.

Reusable Meta Muse Prompt 6: Report Generation

Prompt:

“Prepare a professional B2B competitive landscape report using only the verified research supplied below.

Audience: Owner of a small managed IT services company.

Structure:

1. Executive Summary.
2. Research Objective.
3. Methodology.
4. Competitor Profiles.
5. Comparison Table.
6. Key Findings.
7. Strategic Implications.
8. Recommended Next Steps.
9. Sources and Limitations.

Use a clear, professional writing style.

Preserve relevant source URLs.

Do not invent additional market data.

Distinguish verified information from interpretation.

Keep recommendations realistic and proportionate to the available evidence.

Create a draft report for human review.

Do not distribute the document externally.”

Before delivery, review the entire report for errors, consistency, and readability.

10. Make the Workflow Repeatable

A one-time research project is useful.

A repeatable workflow can become the foundation of a business.

The goal is to standardize the steps so each new project requires less administrative setup.

Standard Operating Procedure

Your research SOP could contain:

1. Receive the client brief.
2. Confirm the research scope.
3. Prepare the project checklist.
4. Discover candidate companies.
5. Approve the research sample.
6. Collect structured company data.
7. Prepare comparison analysis.
8. Verify claims and sources.
9. Draft the report.
10. Complete quality assurance.
11. Deliver the final document.
12. Collect client feedback.

Muse may assist with several steps, but external communications and consequential actions should be performed only under appropriate authorization.

What Can Be Automated?

Low-risk activities such as formatting structured data and preparing draft summaries may be suitable for automation.

More consequential activities, such as publishing findings, communicating with clients, or modifying business systems, require stronger controls.

Do not assume that background task functionality means the entire research process will complete correctly without supervision.

11. How to Make Money with AI Business Research

Now let’s examine the commercial opportunity.

There are several ways to sell research services.

Business Model 1: One-Time Competitor Reports

Provide research on a defined number of competitors.

An illustrative entry-level service might cost $199–$499 per report.

Pricing should reflect the research scope, quality requirements, and time involved.

Business Model 2: Monthly Competitor Monitoring

Customers may want recurring updates about competitor services, public prices, and positioning.

You could offer a monthly subscription with a fixed number of monitored companies.

An illustrative monthly price might be $199–$799.

Business Model 3: Supplier Research

Help businesses identify and compare appropriate suppliers.

The deliverable could include verified company profiles, service coverage, and qualification considerations.

Prices would depend on project complexity.

Business Model 4: Market Entry Research

Companies entering a new region may require an overview of competitors, customers, distribution channels, and publicly available market information.

This work generally requires more expertise and deeper verification.

Business Model 5: Research-as-a-Service

A consulting firm or agency could outsource recurring research projects to your business.

You would provide standardized deliverables under an agreed commercial arrangement.

This can potentially create repeat revenue, but it also requires reliable production capacity.

12. Example Pricing Packages

Here is a possible three-tier offer structure.

Feature	Starter	Professional	Premium
Illustrative price	$199	$499	$999
Competitors analyzed	3	5	10
Company profiles	Basic	Detailed	Detailed
Positioning comparison	Yes	Yes	Yes
Source verification	Yes	Yes	Yes
Recommendations	3	5	Custom
Review meeting	No	30 minutes	60 minutes
Delivery	PDF	PDF + spreadsheet	PDF + spreadsheet

These are hypothetical offers, not verified market rates.

Each package needs a clear scope and realistic delivery commitment.

For example, complex procurement research should not automatically be sold at the same price as a straightforward website comparison.

13. Calculate Your Potential Profit

Suppose you sell four Professional reports per month at $499 each.

Gross monthly revenue:

4 × $499 = $1,996.

Now assume these illustrative monthly costs:

Cost Item	Monthly Amount
AI software and research tools	$100
Website and business software	$40
Payment and administrative expenses	$60
Total cash expenses	$200

Cash surplus before labor and taxes:

$1,996 − $200 = $1,796.

Suppose each report requires five hours of research, verification, analysis, and delivery.

Four reports would require 20 hours.

If you value your time at $30 per hour, the economic labor cost is $600.

The remaining illustrative margin is:

$1,196 before taxes and other unlisted expenses.

This scenario assumes all four reports are sold and delivered successfully.

It does not account for customer acquisition time, unpaid revisions, or exceptional research complexity.

There is no guarantee that Muse will reduce delivery time to the assumed level.

Test the workflow and measure your actual effort.

14. How to Find Paying Research Clients

The first challenge is identifying customers with a genuine need.

Start with One Industry

Choose a sector where you understand the business environment.

For example, IT service providers, marketing agencies, commercial service companies, or business consultants.

Create a Demonstration Report

Prepare a sample report using public information.

Include genuine source references and explain the methodology.

The goal is to demonstrate the quality of your deliverable.

Create a Service Landing Page

Your website should explain who the service is for, what customers receive, how the process works, and what it costs.

Make the buying process straightforward.

Publish Supporting Content

Useful articles could include:

• How to Analyze Your Competitors.
• How Much Does Competitor Research Cost?
• What Should a Market Research Report Include?
• How to Compare B2B Service Providers.
• How to Build a Competitive Intelligence Dashboard.

Use Professional Relationships

Speak with relevant business contacts, consultants, and potential referral partners.

Explore paid pilot projects where there is genuine interest.

Do not use AI automation to send unsolicited bulk messages or collect prohibited personal information.

15. How to Improve the Research Workflow Over Time

Your first project will reveal inefficiencies.

Some information may be hard to locate.

Certain company websites may be inaccessible.

Verification may take longer than expected.

Rather than increasing automation immediately, improve the research methodology.

Track Research Performance

Useful internal metrics include:

Task Completion Rate: Percentage of assigned research tasks completed to specification.

Source Verification Rate: Percentage of material claims with verified supporting evidence.

Correction Rate: Percentage of draft findings requiring correction.

Research Time per Company: Average time required to complete one company profile.

Cost per Report: Direct software and delivery costs.

Client Acceptance Rate: Percentage of deliverables accepted under the agreed quality criteria.

These metrics help assess whether AI assistance is genuinely improving the service.

When Should You Build Custom Software?

Once you repeatedly perform similar research, you may benefit from a dedicated application.

For example, a system could manage customer briefs, research jobs, company records, evidence, verification status, and report templates.

A possible implementation could use Python, FastAPI, PostgreSQL, and an AI research component.

However, software development introduces additional costs.

Validate recurring demand before investing in a sophisticated platform.

16. Privacy, Copyright and Source Reliability

Business research must be conducted responsibly.

Respect Website Restrictions

Public visibility does not automatically authorize unrestricted automated extraction.

Observe applicable website terms, access restrictions, and database rights.

Minimize Personal Data

Company-level research often does not require personal information about employees.

If identifiable personal data is processed, applicable privacy laws such as GDPR may apply.

Respect Intellectual Property

Do not copy large passages from external websites into commercial reports without appropriate rights.

Summarize facts accurately, cite sources, and create original analysis.

Maintain Confidentiality

Do not submit confidential client documents to AI tools unless you have permission and appropriate data handling arrangements.

Avoid Unsupported Claims

Research findings should be traceable to evidence.

Never fabricate source URLs, statistics, company capabilities, or commercial information.

17. A Seven-Day Practical Implementation Plan

You can use the following schedule to build your first research workflow.

Day 1 — Define the Research Market

Choose one industry and geographic region.

Write a clear research objective.

Day 2 — Design the Research Template

Create the required company profile fields and source verification checklist.

Day 3 — Test Company Discovery

Use Muse to produce a small candidate list.

Review accuracy and completeness.

Day 4 — Test Company Profiling

Research three companies using consistent fields.

Verify material observations.

Day 5 — Produce a Comparison

Prepare a structured competitor analysis.

Check whether the conclusions follow from the evidence.

Day 6 — Create a Sample Report

Produce a professional PDF or document.

Record the time spent on each step.

Day 7 — Evaluate the Business Opportunity

Review total costs, output quality, research limitations, and likely customer value.

Use the sample to gather feedback from relevant businesses.

This is a workflow development exercise, not a promise of acquiring clients within seven days.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can Meta Muse perform business research?

Yes. Meta documents web browsing, task execution, and document creation capabilities. Individual research workflows should be tested and reviewed for accuracy.

Can Muse research competitors automatically?

Muse may assist with competitor research across permitted public sources. However, company selection, source verification, and commercial interpretation still require human oversight.

Can I sell reports produced with Meta Muse?

Potentially, subject to relevant product terms, source rights, customer agreements, and applicable laws. You remain responsible for the quality and legality of the deliverable.

Does Meta Muse provide verified business databases?

Muse is an AI agent, not automatically a licensed or verified commercial business database. Research quality depends on the sources and integrations available.

How much should I charge for business research?

Pricing depends on the depth of research, number of companies, verification requirements, industry expertise, and delivery costs.

Can I automate research reports every month?

Recurring workflows may be possible using supported agent and automation features. However, availability, reliability, source access, and approval requirements must be tested.

What is the biggest risk in AI business research?

A major risk is presenting inaccurate or unsupported information as fact. Verification is essential, particularly when customers rely on research for commercial decisions.

Do I need programming skills?

Not necessarily. Basic research workflows can be attempted with natural-language instructions and document tools. Custom automation and SaaS development require additional technical expertise.

Can I use Muse with spreadsheets?

Muse can create documents and interact with supported tools. Confirm the available spreadsheet functionality and export options in your account before promising spreadsheet deliverables.

Can this become a full-time business?

Potentially, but there is no guaranteed income. Commercial sustainability depends on demand, customer acquisition, pricing, delivery efficiency, and retention.

Final Thoughts: Research Quality Is the Real Product

Meta Muse provides an interesting foundation for AI-assisted business research.

Its ability to browse websites, handle multistep tasks, and create documents could reduce some of the administrative effort involved in research projects.

However, technology alone does not create a valuable research service.

Customers need accurate information, transparent methodology, relevant analysis, and recommendations they can trust.

The strongest approach is to combine AI-assisted execution with systematic verification and professional expertise.

Start with one industry.

Develop one repeatable workflow.

Prepare one high-quality sample report.

Then investigate whether businesses will pay for the result.

The opportunity is not simply to automate research. It is to deliver reliable business intelligence more efficiently.

That is how AI-assisted research can become the foundation of a sustainable service business.

---

Continue Learning on Agent Income Lab

How to Make Money with Meta Muse in 2026

What Is Meta Muse? Features, Pricing and How It Works

How to Start an AI-Powered Lead Generation Business with Meta Muse

How to Make Your First $100 with Meta Muse

How to Start a One-Person AI Agency Using Meta Muse

Official Sources and References

1. Meta — Official Muse Website
2. Meta — Muse for Small Business
3. Meta — Introducing Muse
4. NIST — AI Risk Management Framework
5. European Commission — Data Protection Rules for Businesses

Editorial disclosure: AgentIncomeLab.com is an independent educational website and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Meta. Research workflows, business models, pricing examples, and financial calculations are illustrative. No income is guaranteed, and all commercially delivered research should be independently verified.