Company Event Signals

Company events are firmographic triggers from the signal taxonomy (Category V). They indicate organizational change, new priorities, and buying windows. These include M&A activity, geographic expansion, product launches, leadership changes, and public market events.

Reference Files

• Read signal-taxonomy.md for Category V: Firmographic Triggers (15 triggers)
• Read buying-signals.md for expansion signal (#5 by purchase correlation)

15 Firmographic Triggers

Financial Events

1. IPO - Major transformation, compliance needs, new reporting requirements
2. Funding raised - See funding sub-skill for detailed playbook
3. Financial reports released - Public data on priorities and challenges

M&A Activity

4. Acquired another company - Integration pain, tech consolidation, new headcount
5. Was acquired - Leadership change, vendor review, stack consolidation
6. Merged - Duplicate tools, standardization mandate, new org structure

Growth Signals

7. Hypergrowth - Scale pain, process breaks, need for automation
8. Started hiring - See hiring sub-skill for detailed playbook
9. Headquarters move - New market, possible rebrand, vendor re-evaluation
10. New locations opened - Geographic expansion, regional needs

Product and Marketing

11. New product released - GTM needs, new team formation
12. New feature released - Engineering investment signals priorities
13. New integration released - Tech ecosystem expansion, partnership signals
14. Impactful marketing move - Budget available, growth mindset
15. Competitor made impactful move - Competitive pressure, urgency to respond

Scoring by Event Type

Event	Points	SLA	Rationale
Acquisition (acquirer)	35	< 72h	Integration creates tool needs
Was acquired	40	< 72h	Vendor review inevitable
Merger	40	< 72h	Stack consolidation
IPO	50	< 72h	Compliance + transformation
New location	25	This week	Regional expansion needs
HQ move	20	This week	Possible vendor switch
New product launch	30	< 72h	GTM team forming
Competitor move	15	This week	Urgency catalyst

Detection Sources

• Press releases - TechCrunch, PR Newswire, company blogs
• Crunchbase / PitchBook - M&A data, funding
• LinkedIn - Leadership announcements, company updates
• Clay enrichment - Auto-detect company news events
• Google Alerts - Set up for target accounts
• SEC filings - IPO, financial reports (public companies)

Key Rules

• Company events are public information - no privacy concerns
• M&A signals have a 2-6 week optimal outreach window after announcement
• IPO = highest-scoring company event (50pts) due to transformation scope
• Stack with leadership changes (job-changes skill) for compound scoring
• Always reference the business challenge the event creates, not the event itself

Examples

Example 1: "A target account just acquired a company" -> 35pts signal. Outreach within 72h. Reference integration pain (duplicate tools, process alignment, new headcount onboarding). Position your solution as the consolidation layer. Check for new leadership hires post-acquisition

Example 2: "Monitor M&A activity in my target market" -> Clay: Set up Crunchbase/news monitoring on ICP accounts, filter for acquisition/merger events, enrich with decision-maker contacts, trigger SDR alerts for qualified matches within 72h

Example 3: "A company just opened a new office in EMEA" -> 25pts signal. Reference regional expansion challenges (compliance, local processes, team coordination). Lighter touch - this week SLA. Stack with any hiring signals for the new location

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