Updated
Where the signals come from
When a company adds or drops a software tool, the change rarely stays private. The tool often needs a script on the website, a setting on the company's domain or a new web address, and the company may add it to its list of vendors or name it in a job post. Data about the technology a company uses is often called technographic data. Coolie's comes from public traces like these:
- Website code: the scripts a tool asks a company to add to its website (for a chat window, analytics or ads, for example), and their removal when the company stops using it.
- DNS records: the public settings of a company's domain. Many tools ask the company to add a record, to prove it owns the domain or to let the tool send email for it.
- New subdomains: addresses such as gitlab.example.com, which often appear when a team sets up a new tool.
- Certificate logs: the security certificates that websites use are recorded in public logs, so a new address shows up there when it gets one.
- Subprocessor lists: many companies publish the list of vendors that handle their customers' data, and update it when they add or drop one.
- Configuration files: some companies make settings files public, and these can list the services they connect to.
- Job posts: openings that name the tools a team works with.
How a change becomes a lead
Coolie spots a change
A tool's script appears on a website or disappears from it, a domain gets a new record, a vendor joins or leaves a published list, a job post names a tool.
It dates the change
Each change gets a date, so Coolie knows when a company started using a tool, or when it stopped.
It matches the change to the tools you named
You name up to five competitors or tools per signal. When a change involves one of them, the company becomes a candidate for your agent.
It keeps the companies that fit your ICP
Your ideal customer profile (industry, company size, location) filters the companies before anyone is contacted.
It shows you the evidence
Every lead shows the change it was found on, with its date, so you can check why the company was picked. For the leads you pick, Coolie's messages start from that change.
What the dates tell you
The same kind of change means something different depending on when it happened and whether the tool is still there:
- Tech Used: the company uses the tool today, whether it is a competitor's product or a tool yours works with.
- Competitor Churn: the company stopped using a competitor's product in the last 90 days, and is choosing what comes next.
- Competitor Renewal: the company adopted a competitor's product 9 to 12 months ago and still uses it. Many software contracts run for a year, so a renewal is likely in the next 3 months.
What Coolie leaves out
Coolie leaves out sources that usually lag behind the change or are not reliable enough. A signal that arrives months late, or points at the wrong company, sends your message at the wrong time or to the wrong people.
No public source sees everything: a tool that leaves no trace on a company's website, domain, vendor list or job posts can go unseen. And a renewal is inferred from the date a company adopted the product: Coolie does not see the contract, so a multi-year or monthly plan will not follow that calendar.
What about the other signals?
Coolie also finds companies through hiring, funding, acquisitions, job changes, LinkedIn engagement and intent topics. Whatever the signal, each lead shows the signal it was found on and its evidence, such as the job post, the funding round or the tool a company dropped. See all buying signals.
Example (fictional)
You sell a customer support platform and name your closest competitor.
Eleven months ago, Coolie saw that competitor's chat script appear on Kestrel Ridge Insurance's website, along with a new help address that points to the competitor. Both are still there, so Kestrel Ridge becomes a Competitor Renewal lead.
At Amberline Freight, the same script left the website five weeks ago and its help address now points elsewhere, so Amberline becomes a Competitor Churn lead.
Each lead shows the change and its date, and the first message can start from it.
Every company in this example is invented.
Frequently asked questions
Where does Coolie's data on competitor churn and renewals come from?
From public traces of technology decisions: scripts added to or removed from company websites, DNS records, new subdomains, certificate logs, published subprocessor lists, integrations in public configuration files, and job posts that name the tools a team uses. Coolie dates each change, and every lead shows the change it was found on.
How does Coolie know a company stopped using a tool?
Usually, its traces disappear: the tool's script leaves the website, a domain record stops pointing to it, or the tool leaves the company's published list of vendors. Coolie dates that change, and its Competitor Churn signal keeps the companies that stopped in the last 90 days.
Does Coolie know the exact date a competitor's contract renews?
No. Coolie infers a likely renewal from the date a company started using the product: adopted 9 to 12 months ago and still in use, its yearly contract is likely to come up in the next 3 months. Coolie does not see the contract, so multi-year or monthly plans can fall outside that window.
Why does Coolie leave some data sources out?
A late or wrong signal sends your message at the wrong moment, or to the wrong company. So Coolie leaves out sources that usually lag behind the change or are not reliable enough.
Can I see why a company was picked?
Yes. Every lead shows the change it was found on and its date, such as the competitor's product it stopped using or the one it adopted about a year ago.