The short version:
- A buying signal identifies a company. You still have to pick a person. Most founders skip this step entirely.
- Match the signal to whoever owns the problem it creates. A VP of Sales job posting belongs in the CEO's inbox. A funding round belongs with the VP who just received a new growth target.
- At companies under 25 people, titles are unreliable. Ask who is accountable for the outcome this signal represents.
- Emailing multiple contacts at once because you cannot decide who is right signals that you did not think through the account.
- If you cannot map a signal to a specific person's problem, you do not understand the signal well enough to act on it yet.
A SaaS founder selling a sales enablement tool noticed that a 55-person logistics software company had posted three sales-related jobs in the same week: an SDR, an Account Executive, and a VP of Sales. The signal was loud. The company was clearly building its outbound function from scratch.
She had LinkedIn connections at three people inside the company: the CEO she had met at a conference, the Head of Marketing, and the current Sales Director.
She emailed all three the same day. Her email referenced the job postings. It was well-written.
None replied.
The problem was not the email. The problem was the contact selection.
The Signal Tells You What's Changing. Not Who Cares.
A buying signal tells you something is in motion at a company. A job posting says they're building capacity. A funding round says they have budget to spend. A new VP joining says the previous playbook is up for review.
None of those signals tell you who inside the company is sitting with the pressure of that change right now. That is the decision you still have to make.
Most founders skip it. They email whoever they have a warm path to, or whoever has the most impressive title, or whoever they contacted last time they reached out to that account. None of those are good criteria.
Match the Signal to the Person Who Owns the Problem
Each signal type maps to a specific category of problem, and that problem belongs to a specific person.
Job posting signals: The company has a hiring gap. Whoever owns that gap is your contact. If they're posting for a VP of Sales, the CEO or board is driving that decision. If they're posting for a technical role, go to the CTO. Look at what the open role reports to, not just what the role is titled.
Funding round signals: A Series A or B means the company is about to spend money on growth. The CEO controls the strategy, but the VP of Sales just received a revenue target they did not have last quarter. For B2B revenue tools, start with the VP of Sales. For finance or operations tools, go to the CFO. For anything touching company strategy, the CEO.
Competitor review signals: Someone at that company published a negative review of a tool they're currently using. The person who wrote it, or approved it, is directly unhappy with their current situation. If the review is about a CRM, go to the VP of Sales or RevOps lead. If it's about a marketing tool, go to the Head of Marketing. This is the one signal type where the unhappy user, not the economic buyer, is often the better first contact.
New leadership signals: A new VP just started. They are in their first 90 days. Their predecessor's vendor decisions are not locked in. Go directly to the new leader. Do not go to their manager. The new VP is the one evaluating what to keep.
The Small Company Problem
At companies under 25 people, ignore titles almost entirely.
A "VP of Marketing" at a 14-person SaaS company is likely handling paid ads, content, and conference sponsorships simultaneously. A "Director of Partnerships" might also be running outbound. A "Head of Operations" might approve every software purchase over $300 a month.
At small companies, ask who is responsible for the outcome this signal represents. Not who has the closest title. The CEO at a 12-person company signs most vendor contracts regardless of which department is buying. That is your economic buyer.
The mistake is trying to find the "right title" in a company small enough that roles overlap completely.
When the Right Contact Surprises You
A recruiting software founder once landed a call she should not have been able to get.
She emailed the COO of a 38-person fintech company that had just announced a hiring freeze. Most founders would skip that company. A hiring freeze looks like a closed door.
She read it differently: a hiring freeze means the COO is under pressure to show efficiency. Her product was about hiring fewer, better people instead of more mediocre ones. The COO, not the Head of Talent, was the right contact. The COO replied within two hours.
The signal did not say "COO." She had to reason from what the signal meant to who would feel it most.
A Decision Framework That Takes 90 Seconds
Before writing the email, answer two questions:
- What is this company going to have to do in the next 60 days because of this signal?
- Who is responsible for making that happen?
The second answer is your first contact.
If you cannot answer question 2, go back to the signal. A signal you cannot map to a specific person's problem is not finished research. Do not email anyone until you can answer it cleanly.
A signal that does not point to a specific person's problem is not a reason to reach out. It is a piece of research that is not finished yet.
The Cost of Getting This Wrong
Picking the wrong contact does not just mean one email that goes unanswered. It means you have made a move at that account. If the right contact finds out you emailed someone else first, they know you did not think through the account.
The founder who emailed three people at the logistics company? The Sales Director eventually found out the CEO had received the same email that day. His first question on their eventual call: "Did you send this to a bunch of people here at once?"
He already knew the answer. The call did not go well.
Choosing one contact deliberately is not a constraint. It is proof that you understood the signal well enough to know who it belongs to.
The Work Before the Email
Every morning, a list of companies shows up with signals attached. The signals tell you something is changing. Your job, before writing a single word, is to figure out who inside that company is sitting with the weight of that change right now.
Find that person. Email that person. Everyone else gets the email when that person says so, not before.