Decision
Lead pilot buyer outreach with vague positioning (“100-person org, lots of process and email data”) rather than opening with state-agency context. Reveal the full context only after initial engagement is established.
Context
MicroOne was an early pilot buyer target. Emil’s experience pitching them revealed that leading with “state agency” killed interest immediately, likely because buyers pattern-matched to low-quality or restricted data before hearing the value pitch.
Options Considered
- Lead with state-agency context up front: Transparent, but kills deals before the conversation starts. Rejected based on MicroOne outcome.
- Lead vague, reveal on engagement: Lets the buyer self-qualify their interest in the data type before anchoring on the source. Adopted.
Consequences
All broker and lab outreach going forward uses the vague framing. Emil owns execution. Michael joined on the Mercor thread.
Linked meeting: Houck / Emil Weekly - Oct 9, 2026