Automate Company Research: Build a Smart Data Enrichment Workflow with n8n and Explorium

Researching companies manually is a time sink. You open multiple tabs, copy-paste data into spreadsheets, cross-reference LinkedIn profiles, hunt down revenue figures, and repeat this process dozens of times. By the time you finish enriching your prospect list, half your day is gone.

What if your spreadsheet could research companies for you? This n8n workflow does exactly that. Drop a company name and website into Google Sheets, and watch as it automatically fetches employee counts, revenue ranges, NAICS codes, LinkedIn profiles, and even generates personalized outreach strategies. No manual lookups. No tab switching. Just clean, enriched data ready for action.

Prerequisites: What You'll Need to Get Started

Before building this automation, make sure you have access to the following tools and credentials:

• n8n instance (cloud or self-hosted)
• Google Sheets API credentials with read and write permissions
• Explorium MCP API access with authentication token
• OpenAI API key for GPT-4 model access

Key Components: The Building Blocks

This workflow combines several powerful n8n nodes to create an intelligent data pipeline:

• Google Sheets Trigger: Monitors your spreadsheet for new entries every minute
• Filter (IF Node): Ensures only valid rows with name and website get processed
• Split in Batches: Processes companies one at a time to avoid API overload
• AI Agent with Explorium MCP: The intelligence layer that researches company data
• Output Parser: Structures the AI response into consistent JSON format
• Code Node: Formats the enriched data for spreadsheet updates
• Second AI Agent: Generates personalized outreach strategies based on company data
• Google Sheets Update Nodes: Writes enriched data and strategies back to your sheet

Step 1: Set Up the Google Sheets Trigger

The workflow starts by watching your Google Sheet for changes. Configure the Google Sheets Trigger node to poll your spreadsheet every minute. This creates a near real-time automation that springs into action whenever you add a new company to your list.

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The trigger connects to a specific sheet using its document ID and monitors the first sheet (Sheet1). Every time the polling interval hits, it checks for new rows and passes them downstream for processing.

Step 2: Filter Out Invalid Entries

Not every row deserves processing. The Filter Valid Rows node acts as a gatekeeper with four conditions that must all be true:

• Company name must not be empty
• Website must not be empty
• Business ID must be empty (indicating this is a new entry)
• Outreach Strategy must be empty (confirming it hasn't been processed yet)

This filtering prevents duplicate processing and ensures the workflow only enriches fresh data. Rows that fail these checks get silently ignored, while valid entries continue to the next stage.

Step 3: Enrich Company Data with AI and Explorium

Here's where the magic happens. The Loop Over Items node processes companies one at a time, feeding each to an AI Agent powered by OpenAI's GPT-4.1-mini model.

The AI Agent receives clear instructions: take the company name and website, then use Explorium's tools to extract firmographic data. The agent follows a two-step process. First, it calls the match-business tool to find the unique business ID. Then, it uses enrich-businesses-firmographics to pull comprehensive company details.

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The Explorium MCP node provides three specialized tools to the AI agent: web search for general research, match-business for company identification, and enrich-business for detailed firmographic data. These tools give the AI agent real-world data access, transforming it from a text generator into a research assistant.

An Output Parser ensures the AI returns data in a consistent structure matching this schema: name, website, business_id, naics code, employee count range, revenue range, industry category, LinkedIn profile, and business description. This structure guarantees that every enrichment follows the same format, making downstream processing predictable.

Step 4: Format and Write Enriched Data

The Code node takes the AI's structured output and prepares it for Google Sheets. It maps each field to the corresponding spreadsheet column, handling any missing values by providing empty strings as fallbacks.

The Update Company Row node performs an "append or update" operation, matching rows by company name. If a company already exists, it updates the row with new data. If it's genuinely new, it appends the enriched information. This prevents duplicate entries while keeping your data fresh.

Step 5: Generate AI-Powered Outreach Strategies

Data enrichment is valuable, but actionable insights are priceless. The second AI Agent takes the enriched company data and generates a customized outreach strategy for ATM Labs, an AI automation agency.

This agent receives company context including employee count, industry category, yearly revenue, and business description. Armed with this information, it crafts a structured approach for how ATM Labs can provide business process automation solutions tailored to that specific company's profile.

The outreach strategy gets written back to the Google Sheet in the Outreach Strategy column, completing the enrichment cycle. Now each row contains both hard data and a strategic playbook for engagement.

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Why This Workflow Changes the Game

This automation solves multiple pain points in one elegant flow. Sales teams no longer waste hours on manual research. Marketing teams can segment prospects with accurate firmographic data. Business development teams get ready-made outreach strategies that reference specific company details.

The workflow scales effortlessly. Whether you're enriching 10 companies or 1,000, the process remains the same. Add names and websites to your sheet, and let the automation handle the rest. The batching logic ensures APIs don't get overwhelmed, while the filtering prevents redundant processing.

Real-world use cases span multiple scenarios. Recruitment agencies can research potential client companies before outreach. Investors can quickly gather firmographics on portfolio companies. Consultants can build comprehensive company profiles for pitch decks. Anyone who needs to transform basic company information into actionable intelligence benefits from this workflow.

Taking It Further

This workflow is just the foundation. You can extend it by adding email enrichment to find decision-maker contacts. Integrate with your CRM to automatically create enriched lead records. Add a Slack notification when new companies get processed. Connect to a web scraping tool for additional data points like recent news or funding rounds.

The combination of n8n's flexibility, Explorium's data capabilities, and OpenAI's intelligence creates a research assistant that never sleeps, never complains, and never forgets to update your spreadsheet. Build it once, and it works for you forever.

Your Google Sheet just became your smartest team member.