--- title: "TRACE | The Verified Research Loop" description: "TRACE is a five-step research loop: Target, Retrieve, Assess, Cross-check, Export. Target locks stakes, scope, and output format before a search runs. Retrieve gathers independent sources instead of one confident pass. Assess tiers each source so weight follows credibility. Cross-check requires a second source before a load-bearing claim can enter the memo. Export is a claim ledger a co-founder can act on without redoing the work. Fluent collection is not research. TRACE is the verification structure." image: "https://lenvanderhof.com/photos/len-portrait-1.jpg" --- Framework # TRACE The Verified Research Loop TRACE is a five-step research loop: Target, Retrieve, Assess, Cross-check, Export. Target locks stakes, scope, and output format before a search runs. Retrieve gathers independent sources instead of one confident pass. Assess tiers each source so weight follows credibility. Cross-check requires a second source before a load-bearing claim can enter the memo. Export is a claim ledger a co-founder can act on without redoing the work. Fluent collection is not research. TRACE is the verification structure. The moves 5 ## When to use it Use it when a clean, confident answer is about to move a market, a hire, a regulation check, or a deal, and nobody can point at the source behind the number. ## The moves 1. 01 ### Target Lock stakes, scope, and output format before a single search runs. 2. 02 ### Retrieve Gather independent sources instead of trusting one confident pass. 3. 03 ### Assess Tier each source (primary, secondary, advocacy, anonymous) so weight follows credibility. 4. 04 ### Cross-check Require a second source before a load-bearing claim earns a place in the memo. 5. 05 ### Export Ship a claim ledger and a memo a co-founder or investor can act on without redoing the work. ## The book Available now ### The Verified Research Loop Deep Online Research for Entrepreneurs Using AI Without Trusting It Blindly Open the bookThe series ## Related frameworks CALIBRATE ### The Calibrated Mind CALIBRATE is the practice of matching the strength of a judgment to the strength of the evidence, then updating when the facts move. Confidence is a report, not a personality trait. A loud claim with a thin source is a calibration failure, not conviction. GRAIN ### The RAG Engineer GRAIN is a retrieval loop: Gather, Rank, Assemble, Inspect, Navigate. Gather collects candidate passages. Rank orders them for the question actually asked. Assemble builds the context the model may see. Inspect checks that the cited chunk is the one used. Navigate decides the next lookup or the refusal. If you cannot point at the passage, you do not have retrieval. You have a fluent guess. SENSE ### AI Agents for Startup Strategy SENSE is a five-move strategic intelligence layer: Scan, Evaluate, Navigate, Simulate, Execute. It turns agent work from a productivity shortcut into a sourced claim that changes a watchlist, an assumption register, or a Monday decision. ## Terminology - [TRACE](https://lenvanderhof.com/glossary/trace/) - [CALIBRATE](https://lenvanderhof.com/glossary/calibrate/) - [GRAIN](https://lenvanderhof.com/glossary/grain/) - [SENSE](https://lenvanderhof.com/glossary/sense/) - [AI agent](https://lenvanderhof.com/glossary/ai-agent/) - [Human in the loop](https://lenvanderhof.com/glossary/human-in-the-loop/) - [Override doctrine](https://lenvanderhof.com/glossary/override-doctrine/) Not a vendor research product, not RAG, and not a generic “research loop” slogan. TRACE is the named system in The Verified Research Loop, available now in English and Dutch paperback, hardcover, and Kindle. ## Citation TRACE (The Verified Research Loop). 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