SI-5: News & Event Triggers

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News Signal Types and Relevance

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Building a News Monitoring Workflow

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Step 1: Set up monitoring sources

• Google News / Bing News API — broad coverage, keyword-based
• Company blogs and press rooms — most accurate, but requires per-company monitoring
• LinkedIn company updates — self-reported, often first-hand
• PR Newswire / BusinessWire — for companies that issue formal press releases
• Crunchbase updates — funding + strategic news

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Step 2: News relevance classification

Classify this news item for outbound relevance:

Company: {{company_name}}
News headline: {{headline}}
News summary: {{summary}}
Date: {{news_date}}

Evaluate:
1. News type: product_launch / partnership / award / exec_hire / conference / funding / acquisition / negative / other
2. Outbound relevance: high / medium / low / not_relevant
3. Why relevant: one sentence connecting this news to a buying signal
4. Optimal action: immediate_outreach / outreach_this_week / monitor / ignore
5. Conversation opener: one sentence you could use to open an email naturally referencing this news

Return as JSON.

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Step 3: News-triggered email generation

Write a cold email using this recent news item as a conversation opener:

Prospect: {{first_name}} {{last_name}}, {{job_title}} at {{company_name}}
News item: {{news_headline}} — {{news_summary}}
News date: {{news_date}}

Requirements:
- Open with the news reference in a way that shows you actually read it (1 sentence)
- Connect the news to their likely current challenge or priority (1 sentence)
- State what we offer and why it's relevant now (1 sentence)
- CTA: specific low-friction ask (1 sentence)
- Max 75 words total

Tone: Collegial, genuinely interested in what they're building. Not congratulatory to the point of being sycophantic.

Return ONLY the email body.

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Conference and Event Monitoring

• Reference that you’ll both be at the event or that you saw them speaking
• Keep it very short: acknowledge the event, suggest a quick coffee or 15 minutes at the venue
• 50–60 words maximum

• LinkedIn DM is better than email for same-day contact
• Be specific about where/when you could meet
• “I saw your talk on [topic] this morning. The point about [X] was really practical. Are you around this afternoon for a coffee?”

• Reference a specific thing that happened or was said
• “The overall theme at [Conference] was [X] — we’re seeing the same thing with our customers. Worth comparing notes?”

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SI-5 Challenge: Build a News Monitoring Grid (+100 XP)

• News items collected (at least 20 total across the 20 companies)
• Relevance classification column for each news item
• News-triggered email generated for the top 5 news events
• Conference/event column: are any of these companies attending a major event in the next 60 days?