Freshness rules in Stage 1
A filing stays a reason to write for a year, a personal hook for 120 days, a company event for 30. How Stage 1 decides when news is too old to open with.
· 3 min read
Old news makes a bad opener. Mention a reorg from last spring and the buyer knows you pulled it from a database, not from paying attention. Stage 1 holds every signal to a shelf life before it lets that signal open a door.
The three clocks
Not every signal ages at the same speed, so Stage 1 runs three clocks.
A filing counts for a year. When a 10-K or 10-Q names a risk, the company has to manage that risk until the next one. A risk factor filed in March is still the CFO's problem in December.
A personal hook counts for 120 days. That's a signal about the person you're writing to, like a new seat or a move from another company. The first four months in a role are when people set their agenda and pick who helps them.
A company event counts for 30 days. A product launch, a deal, a round of cuts. After a month the news cycle has moved on, and so has the buyer.
What fresh decides
Freshness decides which research can open a door. A fresh filing opens Hypothesis Outreach, and it comes first among the cold doors. A fresh event or hook opens The Trigger. Anything past its clock can't be the reason you write.
The Trigger shows its age right on the account, so you know what you're opening with.
Leadership change, 12 days ago.
When nothing is fresh, Stage 1 falls back to the pattern for the seat, if you have that door on. If not, there's no send, and the reason tells you how old the newest signal is. That's one of the no-door rules.
Two more clocks for warm doors
Relationships have clocks too.
A conference handoff counts for three weeks. If a colleague spoke with a buyer at an event a month ago and you're only writing now, the moment has passed, and Stage 1 falls back to the cold doors.
A former colleague needs something that changed for them. Stage 1 looks back 18 months for a new seat, a wider seat, a new boss, a deal or a number they now own. Nothing in 18 months and nothing fresh at the account means no send.
Freshness is not ranking
The Board ranks accounts by signal strength, and older signals count for less there too. That's a different question. Ranking asks which accounts deserve your time this week. Freshness asks whether a given signal is still a fair thing to say to a person. How Stage 1 ranks accounts on the Board covers the first one.
An account can rank high on a stack of recent activity and still have one stale item you shouldn't mention. Stage 1 keeps the two apart.
Where you see it
Open any account. The timeline shows when each signal happened. The door under each person shows what opened it, how old a trigger is, or why nothing did.
Why it matters for services
A services opener is a guess at a problem. The guess only lands if the problem is live. A program announced 90 days ago is staffed by now, maybe by a competitor. A new CIO in month eight has already picked their partners.
Timing is half of relevance. Why last quarter's news is worth less makes the longer case, and how to read a 10-K like a seller shows why filings get the longest clock.
Write about what's true for them now. The clocks keep you honest.