New board member or advisor
A company adds a board member or advisor whose background is in your category or your buyer’s function.
Boards add people for what they want the company to get better at. An operator from your category joining the board usually means the company plans to invest there, and the new member often brings vendor opinions with them.
- Strength
- Good
- Act within
- The 6 months after the announcement
- Best for
- Companies selling to venture-backed and PE-backed companies
How we detect it
Runs on Clay, Apify, Google News, and Crunchbase.
- Watch board and advisor announcements on LinkedIn, press releases, and company about pages.
- Check whether the new member’s background matches the function you sell into.
What it triggers
An opening line, to show the angle. It never goes out as written.
Adding a revenue operator to the board usually means a pipeline plan is coming. Who on your team owns that plan this year?
- Content: Share content written for the problem the board member is known for fixing.
- Email: Write to the functional leader about the priority the board just signaled.
Where it goes wrong
- Writing to the board member first. They are a door to the team, and rarely the buyer.
Stack it with
A second signal on the same account moves it up.
Funding round
A target account announces a new round of funding.
Mutual connection or shared investor
An account shares an investor, a board member, a former employer, or a close connection with you or your customers.
More people and roles signals
Every people and roles signalNew executive at a target account
A new VP or C-level leader starts at an account you sell to, in the function that buys from you.
Champion changed jobs
Someone who bought, used, or championed your product moves to a new company that fits your ICP.
Promotion into the buying seat
Someone at a target account is promoted into the role that owns the budget for what you sell.
FAQs about this signal
A company adds a board member or advisor whose background is in your category or your buyer’s function. Boards add people for what they want the company to get better at. An operator from your category joining the board usually means the company plans to invest there, and the new member often brings vendor opinions with them.
Watch board and advisor announcements on LinkedIn, press releases, and company about pages. Check whether the new member’s background matches the function you sell into. Understory Agency runs it on Clay, Apify, Google News, and Crunchbase.
The window to act is the 6 months after the announcement. Understory Agency routes it to content and email. Share content written for the problem the board member is known for fixing. Write to the functional leader about the priority the board just signaled.
It works best for companies selling to venture-backed and PE-backed companies. It is strongest alongside “Funding round” and “Mutual connection or shared investor”.
Or let us run it for you
Understory Agency's GTM engineers build the detection in Clay, wire it to the play that fits, and sync every touch to your CRM. Tell us who you sell to, and we'll show you where we would start.