What each kind of signal means
New company, new director, hiring, leadership, funding, risk and the rest, in plain words, with how each is dated.
Every signal belongs to one of six groups, shown as the rings on the Feed. This page says what each kind means and what its date is.
| Group | Kind | What it means for you | How it is dated |
|---|---|---|---|
| Growth | New company | A company was just registered. | The day it was registered. |
| Growth | Contract win | The business won a public contract. | The award date, or the story's date. |
| Growth | Funding | It raised money or got a grant. | The story's date. |
| Growth | Expansion | A new site, a new market or a bigger team. | The story's date. |
| People | Leadership | Someone joined, left or was promoted. | The story's date. It is picked up from the wording, so it is a guess at the topic. |
| People | New director | A director was appointed on the register. | The appointment date. Shown under Leadership on the Feed. Nothing records these month by month yet. |
| People | Hiring | The business advertised jobs, or a story says it is hiring. | The advert or story date. |
| Profile | Award | Won or shortlisted for an award. | The story's date. |
| Profile | In the news | Named in a story. | The story's date. |
| Profile | Launch | A new product or service. | The story's date. |
| Changes | Changed trade | It filed a different trade on the register, so it does something else now. | The month the register first showed it. |
| Changes | Renamed | It changed its registered name. | The month the register first showed it. |
| Risk | Insolvency | Administration or liquidation. | The story's date. |
| Risk | Regulatory action | Fined, banned or investigated. | The story's date. |
| Risk | Strike-off risk | The register may strike the company off. | The day Adapt first saw the flag, not the day it was raised. Not in the default Feed. |
| Relationships | Through a supplier | Something happened to a supplier or body the business works with. Not something the business did. | Not counted by month. |
Reading them well
- A signal is a reason to look, not proof of intent. A new company has not necessarily traded. A strike-off flag has often been there a while.
- Risk signals are worth checking before you send to a business you already hold. Home shows them as "risk signals on leads you hold".
- Where the card says Matched by name, check the story, the story was linked to the business by name only. Read it first.
- A date is a claim. Where the date is only when Adapt saw something, a monthly count would measure Adapt, not the market, so those kinds are left out of the monthly charts.
For the idea of a signal, see Signals and what makes one worth acting on.