Public record signals

Public record signals come from filings, permits, trademarks, patents, contracts, grants, and other records anyone can read. Few teams watch them, so the accounts they surface rarely hear from anyone else first.

10 public record signals

All B2B signals

Named in a public filing or earnings call
A public company names a priority, risk, or initiative in an annual report, quarterly filing, or earnings call that your product addresses.
Good · The quarter after the filing · Email, Rep alert
New permits and licenses
A business files for a building permit, a new license, or a registration in a public record.
Good · From the filing to the opening · Email, CRM
Government contract award
A company wins a public sector contract that will need staff, tools, or services to deliver.
Good · The first quarter after the award · Email
Competitors’ public sector contracts
The government agencies that buy from your competitors, found through public contract records and public records requests.
Good · The year before each contract renews · Email, CRM
Trademark filed for a new name
A company files a trademark for a new product, brand, or company name.
Early · From the filing until the launch · Ad audience, Content
Patent filed in your category
A company files or is granted a patent in the technology area your product serves.
Early · The year after the filing is published · Content, Email
Data breach disclosed
A company discloses a data breach through a state attorney general filing, an SEC 8-K, or a public notice.
Strong · The 90 days after the disclosure · Content, Email
FDA clearance or approval
A medical device or drug company receives FDA clearance or approval for a product.
Strong · The 6 months after clearance · Email, Ad audience
Grant awarded
A company receives an SBIR, NIH, DOE, or other government research grant.
Good · The year after the award · Email, Content
Registered to do business in a new state
A company files a foreign qualification to do business in a state where it was not registered before.
Early · The 6 months after the filing · Email, Ad audience

FAQ

FAQs about public record signals

“Data breach disclosed” and “FDA clearance or approval” are rated Strong, which means worth acting on this week on its own. The rest are worth a play when stacked with a second signal on the same account.

Each signal routes to the channels that fit it. Across the 10 public record signals, the most common plays run through email, content, and ad audience. Each signal page lists the play it triggers on every channel, with an example opening line.

Understory Agency tracks them in Clay, most often with Clay, Apify, Claude Code, USPTO, Google Patents, and SEC EDGAR. Each signal page lists the steps to detect it, the tools, and the play it triggers when it fires.

Other kinds of signals

People signals
Who just arrived, moved up or left, at the accounts you sell to.
Hiring signals
What a company is hiring for, which tells you what it is about to build.
Company event signals
Funding, launches, expansion and the other moments that reset budgets.
Tech stack signals
What a company installs, removes or outgrows.
Website visitor signals
Who is reading your pages, and which pages they read.
Product usage signals
Sign-ups, usage and limits inside your own product.
Social and content signals
What buyers post, like, comment on and ask in public.
Ad engagement signals
Which accounts see, watch and click your ads.
Event signals
Who is going where, speaking where and showing up to what.
Competitor signals
Your competitors’ customers, audiences and bad weeks.
Custom scrape signals
Signals nobody sells, built for one market with Claude Code and Apify.
CRM and network signals
The relationships and history you already own.

Tell us who you sell to

Bring your best customers, and we'll show you the public record signals we would start with and the plays they would trigger. Signals run through our outbound and GTM engineering practice.