Strategy — 10 Yes/No Questions
These are the toughest unsolved problems for the Next Chapter signal engine and deal model. Circle Y or N on each. These decisions shape how the engine is built.
1. Sell-intent vs business health — should we score BOTH as separate layers, requiring both to fire before a company makes the shortlist? (A healthy business whose owner isn't ready to sell is useless to us.) Y  / N
2. For v1, should we accept we have NO reliable way to verify $15M–$50M revenue without paying ZoomInfo-class providers, and instead rank by probability-of-fit proxies (employees, locations, permits)? Y  / N
3. Given deal cycles run 12+ months, should the engine run on Ewing / CII / Mark intuition weights for year 1 and only let the math take over after ~20 closed outcomes accumulate? Y Â /Â N
4. Should "took our call" and "opened the response letter" count as partial positive outcomes so the math has real data faster than waiting for closes? Y Â /Â N
5. Should we maintain ONE master do-not-contact list that applies across every search, every vertical, and every partner — permanently? Y  / N
6. Should each vertical partner OWN their vertical's signal list (CII designs CII's, HVAC partner designs HVAC's), rather than NC owning all signal design centrally? Y Â /Â N
7. Should owner-operator vs investor-owner detection happen BEFORE the letter drops — with investor-owned companies auto-skipped? (Owner-operators are sellers; investors rarely are on our timeline.) Y  / N
8. Should a company that fits multiple verticals get exactly ONE outreach, routed to the single best-fit partner, to protect the seller experience? Y Â /Â N
9. Should PE-backed companies be auto-excluded from our list in v1, even when signals are strong? Y Â /Â N
10. Should the engine be blocked from auto-deprecating any signal until it has seen at least N real outcomes tied to that signal? (Protects us from killing signals before they've had a fair test.) Y Â /Â N
Upload back with your Y/N answers. Each one locks a design decision in the engine.