kind: signal_catalog schema_version: 2 owner: sales # What each company signal means and how it changes content. # # audience = vertical + persona + size_band(1+) + location_footprint # + systems_of_record(1+) + signal_predicate(0-4, qualifying|gating) # # This file owns interpretation. How a state is set lives in # `signal-detection.yaml`, joined on `signal_id`. This file mints the IDs. # # `id` is immutable after publication. `tag` is the vocabulary tagging # processes write and audience YAML configurations read. Every signal resolves to a # `signal_state` value. # # `implies_problems` links a signal to canonical problem records it makes more # likely. The link is a hypothesis, not a claim about an account, and a starting # set only. Problems carry no vertical scope, so whether one applies is decided # by the audience binding that selects it into `problem_ids`, tested against the # problem's own `situation`. An empty list means reviewed and none found. # # Only `qualifying` and `gating` signals belong in an audience predicate. # `contextual` signals resolve at the call card layer, per account. Signals # that mirror a persona (SG_004, SG_010, SG_011, SG_020) belong in the # vertical's persona binding; only their cross-role absences earn a slot in a # predicate. # # The list is ordered by importance for audience definition, not by ID. value_domain: signal_state signals: - id: SG_001 tag: family_owned name: 'Family owned or family controlled' polarity: gating question: 'Is the company family owned or family controlled?' derived_from: - SG_002 - SG_003 inference: >- A family owner spends their own money and carries the change personally, so incremental improvement does not clear the bar. The upside has to be roughly five times the cost before they will act. audience_use: >- Do not place a family-owned account in an audience whose problem set only promises efficiency. Route it to audiences whose proof shows step-change outcomes, and lead with the owner's own risk rather than department cost. implies_problems: [] confidence: medium origin: founder_instinct status: draft - id: SG_024 tag: privately_owned name: 'Privately owned rather than publicly traded' polarity: gating question: 'Is the company privately owned rather than publicly traded?' inference: >- A private company owes no external reporting to anyone but its lender and its owners, so a systems decision is judged against its own payback rather than against how it will read to the market. It also means the operating record is never forced into an audited external format, so it can stay inconsistent for years without any outside party noticing. audience_use: >- Gates the private-company framing: internal payback, owner or sponsor authority, and no external reporting deadline. When absent, do not use that framing at all, because a public filer's problem set starts from external reporting and audit and this library does not cover it. SG_001 and SG_021 are the two common ways this signal is true; neither is required for it. implies_problems: [] confidence: high origin: founder_instinct status: draft - id: SG_025 tag: company_age_over_3_years name: 'Operating for more than three years' polarity: gating question: 'Was the company founded more than three years ago?' inference: >- Three years is roughly how long it takes for an operating record to grow past what a spreadsheet and one person's memory can hold. Past that point the company already runs on a system of record it has outgrown, with process built around that system's limits, so there is something to displace. Under three years there is no accumulated record and no legacy to migrate, which is a different motion entirely. audience_use: >- Gates every audience whose problem set assumes accumulated operating debt or a system of record to displace. When absent, treat the account as greenfield and out of scope for this library rather than as a weaker fit. SG_019 present while this signal is absent is a data conflict worth rechecking, not a basis for inferring either state. implies_problems: [] confidence: medium origin: founder_instinct status: draft - id: SG_022 tag: operates_multiple_locations name: 'Operates more than one site' polarity: qualifying question: 'Does the company operate more than one physical location?' inference: >- Operating more than one site means results are managed per location while the general ledger usually stays single. Cost per unit is then bundled at the company level, so nobody can state which site or line actually makes money. A single-site company has no such split and does not need per-site profit and loss, so the same problem statement reads as invented. audience_use: >- Qualifies the account for audiences whose problem is cost visibility per site or per unit. Read the count from `location_footprint` to size the impact, and never use this framing against a single-site account. implies_problems: - P_00002 confidence: high origin: founder_instinct status: draft - id: SG_021 tag: pe_backed name: 'Private equity or financial sponsor backed' polarity: qualifying question: 'Does a private equity firm or financial sponsor hold ownership?' inference: >- A sponsor sets a reporting cadence and a return horizon the operating team did not choose. Systems decisions are then judged against the hold period rather than against payback in isolation, which shortens the time a buyer is willing to wait for a result. audience_use: >- Confirms directly what SG_006, SG_007, and SG_008 only infer. When present, prefer audiences whose proof shows reporting speed and auditability. When absent alongside a short chief executive tenure, treat sponsor ownership as a hypothesis to confirm on the call. implies_problems: [] confidence: high origin: founder_instinct status: draft - id: SG_004 tag: has_cfo name: 'Chief financial officer in seat' polarity: qualifying question: 'Does the company employ a chief financial officer?' inference: >- A dedicated finance officer means the company has outgrown owner-run finance and now reports on numbers it has to defend. audience_use: >- Persona precondition for P2 rather than a predicate term. Its absence is the informative case, because finance work then sits with the chief executive or an outside accountant. implies_problems: [] confidence: high origin: founder_instinct status: draft - id: SG_005 tag: has_cfo_and_controller name: 'Chief financial officer and controller both in seat' polarity: qualifying question: 'Does the company employ both a chief financial officer and a controller?' derived_from: - SG_004 inference: >- Splitting the finance function into strategy and control is a structural decision companies only make once transaction volume and audit exposure justify two salaries. It is the strongest available proxy for real size. audience_use: >- Treat as a size confirmation stronger than headcount. It also identifies the controller as the technical evaluator while the chief financial officer stays the economic buyer. implies_problems: [] confidence: high origin: founder_instinct status: draft - id: SG_016 tag: erp_named_in_job_posts name: 'A specific ERP or accounting system is named in job posts' polarity: qualifying question: >- Do the company's job postings name a specific enterprise resource planning or accounting system? inference: >- Naming a system in a hiring requirement identifies at least one system participating in the operating record and shows the company is staffing around its limits rather than replacing it. Other systems may coexist. Silence across all postings suggests spreadsheets may hold the process. audience_use: >- Detection gate for the `systems_of_record` dimension, which is what actually separates displacement audiences from greenfield ones. Record every uniquely identified controlled system in canonical catalog order. Until any system identity is established as a pre-call fact, use `[unknown]` rather than guessing. implies_problems: [] confidence: medium origin: ai_inferred status: draft - id: SG_006 tag: ceo_tenure_under_6_months name: 'Chief executive in seat under six months' polarity: qualifying question: 'Did the current chief executive start less than six months ago?' inference: >- An outside chief executive arriving at a previously owner-run company usually means the owner sold, most often to a sponsor, and the new leader has a mandate to change the operating model. audience_use: >- Opens a window where systems decisions are expected rather than resisted. Route to audiences whose problems are framed as inherited operating debt, and use proof that shows a first-year change landing. Confirm the ownership inference against SG_021 before asserting it. implies_problems: [] confidence: medium origin: founder_instinct status: draft - id: SG_007 tag: cfo_tenure_under_6_months name: 'Chief financial officer in seat under six months' polarity: qualifying question: 'Did the current chief financial officer start less than six months ago?' inference: >- A new finance officer is either a sponsor requirement or a response to numbers nobody could explain. Either way the new officer is actively looking for what the previous regime hid. audience_use: >- Route to audiences whose problems are visibility and traceability of financial data. The buyer wants to find the truth, not to save hours. implies_problems: - P_00002 confidence: medium origin: founder_instinct status: draft - id: SG_008 tag: cso_tenure_under_6_months name: 'Chief sales officer in seat under six months' polarity: qualifying question: 'Did the current chief sales officer start less than six months ago?' inference: >- Companies replace sales leadership after missed quarters, so a new sales officer is under pressure to show improvement quickly. audience_use: >- Route to audiences whose problems are pipeline and quoting speed. The buying window is short and the proof has to show near-term movement. implies_problems: [] confidence: medium origin: founder_instinct status: draft - id: SG_018 tag: ma_event_last_18_months name: 'Acquisition or merger within eighteen months' polarity: qualifying question: >- Has the company acquired, merged with, or been acquired by another company in the last eighteen months? inference: >- A completed transaction leaves two of everything and a mandate to consolidate, which creates both the requirement and the budget inside a known window. audience_use: >- Route to audiences whose problems are consolidation and reconciliation across duplicate systems. Pair with SG_006 and SG_007, which frequently appear alongside it and identify who owns the mandate. implies_problems: - P_00002 confidence: medium origin: ai_inferred status: draft - id: SG_023 tag: new_facility_last_12_months name: 'Opened a new facility within twelve months' polarity: qualifying question: 'Has the company opened a new plant, warehouse, or office in the last twelve months?' inference: >- Opening a site commits capital ahead of revenue and adds one more location to every process that was already strained at the previous count. The months right after opening are when gaps in per-site reporting become visible to leadership, because the new site's numbers cannot be compared to the others. audience_use: >- A timing signal rather than a fit signal. It justifies calling now. Pair it with SG_022, whose problem it makes urgent, and reference the opening directly in the opener. implies_problems: - P_00002 confidence: medium origin: ai_inferred status: draft - id: SG_017 tag: hiring_back_office_clerks name: 'Actively hiring back office clerical roles' polarity: qualifying question: >- Is the company currently hiring order entry, accounts payable, or other clerical back office roles? inference: >- An open clerical requisition is a company deciding to buy more manual capacity, which puts a current price on the work and proves the volume is growing faster than the process can absorb. audience_use: >- The strongest onshore counterpart to SG_013. Route to audiences whose problem is manual throughput, and size the impact against the posted salary rather than against an estimated hourly rate. implies_problems: - P_00002 confidence: medium origin: ai_inferred status: draft - id: SG_013 tag: has_india_headcount name: 'One or more employees in India' polarity: qualifying question: 'Does the company have one or more employees located in India?' inference: >- Offshore administrative headcount means the company chose to make manual data entry cheaper instead of removing it, so the volume of manual work is already known and already budgeted. audience_use: >- Strong fit for audiences whose problem is manual data entry volume. The spend is visible and the comparison is direct, so proof should be measured against the cost of the offshore team rather than against doing nothing. implies_problems: - P_00002 confidence: medium origin: founder_instinct status: draft - id: SG_009 tag: has_internal_it name: 'At least one internal IT employee' polarity: qualifying question: 'Does the company employ at least one internal IT person?' inference: >- Whoever holds internal IT carries reliability for the whole company, which makes them the person who feels every broken integration and manual workaround first. audience_use: >- Required for audiences whose solutions assume someone inside can own configuration and access. Its absence means the audience must promise a hands-off implementation. implies_problems: [] confidence: high origin: founder_instinct status: draft - id: SG_019 tag: long_median_employee_tenure name: 'Median employee tenure over seven years' polarity: gating question: 'Is the median tenure of current employees longer than seven years?' inference: >- Long tenure means the process lives in people rather than in systems. The knowledge is real and valuable, and the same people are the ones a change threatens, so change resistance and key-person risk arrive together. audience_use: >- Gates audiences that assume appetite for process change. When present, use problems framed as key-person risk and continuity, and proof that shows existing staff kept their judgment rather than being replaced by the tool. implies_problems: [] confidence: low origin: ai_inferred status: draft - id: SG_020 tag: has_operations_leader name: 'Operations leader in seat' polarity: qualifying question: >- Does the company employ a chief operating officer or a vice president of operations? inference: >- An operations leader is the only role that owns work crossing department boundaries, which is where handoff problems live and where nobody else has authority to act. audience_use: >- Persona precondition for P3 rather than a predicate term. Without this role, cross-department problems have no owner and the audience should either name a different champion or be treated as unqualified. implies_problems: [] confidence: medium origin: ai_inferred status: draft - id: SG_010 tag: has_cto name: 'Chief technology officer in seat' polarity: qualifying question: 'Does the company employ a chief technology officer?' inference: >- A technology officer at this size indicates the company already treats software as something it builds or shapes, not only something it buys. audience_use: >- Persona precondition for P6. Expect build-versus-buy resistance, so the audience needs proof about extensibility rather than only outcomes. The informative predicate term is its absence beside a finance persona. implies_problems: - P_00001 confidence: medium origin: founder_instinct status: draft - id: SG_011 tag: has_vp_sales name: 'Vice president of sales in seat' polarity: qualifying question: 'Does the company employ a vice president of sales?' inference: >- A named sales leader means revenue is managed as a function with targets and a process, so commercial workflow problems have a real owner. audience_use: >- Persona precondition for P4. Without it the commercial problem set has no owner and the audience should not be used. implies_problems: [] confidence: medium origin: founder_instinct status: draft - id: SG_002 tag: surname_cluster_present name: 'Multiple employees share a last name' polarity: contextual question: 'Do two or more employees share the same last name?' inference: >- Shared surnames across the employee list indicate family participation in the business, which is the cheapest available proxy for family ownership. audience_use: >- Input to SG_001 only. On its own it must not change audience membership, because common surnames produce false positives at scale. implies_problems: [] confidence: low origin: founder_instinct status: draft - id: SG_003 tag: eponymous_company_name name: 'Company name matches a leader name' polarity: contextual question: 'Does the company name contain the name of a current leader or founder?' inference: >- A company carrying its leader's name usually still answers to that person, so identity and reputation are attached to the operating decision. audience_use: >- Input to SG_001. It also tells the writer that the named leader reads reputational risk as personal risk, which changes the framing. implies_problems: [] confidence: medium origin: founder_instinct status: draft - id: SG_012 tag: has_marketing_function name: 'Marketing department present' polarity: contextual question: 'Does the company employ one or more dedicated marketing people?' inference: >- A marketing function means the company invests in being found online, so it accepts that its market forms opinions before contact. audience_use: >- Card layer only. Predicts that the account will respond to outbound that references its own published material. implies_problems: [] confidence: medium origin: founder_instinct status: draft - id: SG_014 tag: appears_in_pr_wire name: 'Appears in a press release wire' polarity: contextual question: 'Has the company appeared on a press release wire?' inference: >- Paying to distribute news means the company is talking to an audience beyond its customers, which usually means it has raised capital or intends to raise it. audience_use: >- Card layer only. Cite the release content in the opener, and read the release itself for SG_018, SG_021, and SG_023, which it often reports. implies_problems: [] confidence: low origin: founder_instinct status: draft - id: SG_015 tag: modern_website name: 'Website looks current and maintained' polarity: contextual question: 'Does the company have a current, well maintained website?' inference: >- A company that keeps its public face current is willing to spend on appearance and change, which correlates with willingness to adopt new tools. audience_use: >- Card layer only. A dated site does not disqualify an account, but it moves the opener toward low disruption rather than innovation. implies_problems: [] confidence: low origin: founder_instinct status: draft