The search step is shrinking, and outbound got cheap. What is left?

Two significant changes occurred this year beneath our feet. First, people now seek assistance through an assistant rather than clicking on search results. A friend required accounting software last month and never opened Google. Instead, he asked, obtained three names, and messaged a founder he already knew. There was no search or form involved. Every tool in that market now waits for a search that never occurred.

Second, writing a message has become free. Fifty polite emails can be sent in a minute by anyone. Consequently, inboxes are overflowing, and reply rates continue to decline. The only remaining factor is timing. A company signs a larger office lease, a firm hires ten people in a month, or someone announces their move in September. Despite the lack of keywords or intent to buy in the text, the need already exists.

The engineering aspect becomes complex. When attempting to discern these moments from public posts, most posts are inconsequential. Thus, your filtering process discards most signals, many of which are outdated, and an old event is no longer considered a need. Many authors promote the same service you offer, making them appear as potential buyers but are not. Furthermore, the language used in these instances does not align with the terminology your service employs.

ByPath, the product I work on, addresses this challenge by automatically reading and understanding these moments. Hence, I am biased. However, even with manual inspection, the method remains effective: one clear change, five instances that occurred, one concise message about that change, and nothing more. If your growth strategy assumes a search, it is worth questioning the size of this assumption.