New permits and licenses
A business files for a building permit, a new license, or a registration in a public record.
Permits and licenses show physical expansion before it is announced. A new location, a renovation, or a new license type means new spend is coming.
- Strength
- Good
- Act within
- From the filing to the opening
- Best for
- Companies selling to local, physical, or regulated businesses
How we detect it
Runs on Apify, Claude Code, and Clay.
- Scrape the public registries in the regions you sell to.
- Match the filer to a company and contact in Clay.
What it triggers
An opening line, to show the angle. It never goes out as written.
Saw the permit for the new location in Austin. Opening a second site is usually when booking and payments need to work across both.
- Email: Reach the owner about what the new location will need.
- CRM: Create the account with the filing attached.
Where it goes wrong
- Treating every filing as expansion. Check the permit type.
Stack it with
A second signal on the same account moves it up.
Google Maps listing
Local and physical businesses found through their Google Maps listings, with their category, location, and reviews.
New office or market expansion
An account opens a new office, enters a new country, or announces a new region.
More public records signals
Every public records signalNamed 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.
Government contract award
A company wins a public sector contract that will need staff, tools, or services to deliver.
Competitors’ public sector contracts
The government agencies that buy from your competitors, found through public contract records and public records requests.
FAQs about this signal
A business files for a building permit, a new license, or a registration in a public record. Permits and licenses show physical expansion before it is announced. A new location, a renovation, or a new license type means new spend is coming.
Scrape the public registries in the regions you sell to. Match the filer to a company and contact in Clay. Understory Agency runs it on Apify, Claude Code, and Clay.
The window to act is from the filing to the opening. Understory Agency routes it to email and crm. Reach the owner about what the new location will need. Create the account with the filing attached.
It works best for companies selling to local, physical, or regulated businesses. It is strongest alongside “Google Maps listing” and “New office or market expansion”.
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.