ICP Playbook

How to find Series A Data & AI companies hiring AEs

Technical enterprise sales requires specialized closers. Here's how to find them, qualify them, and time your outreach.

Step 01

Qualify

5 filters to separate signal from noise

Step 02

Source

4 tools, what each gives and misses

Step 03

Prioritize

Signal priority table

Step 04

Automate

What Landbase returns for this ICP

Qualifying filters

Run every account through these 5 filters before it touches your CRM. An account should pass at least 4.

12moRequired

Funding recency

Series A companies move fast. After 12 months, first stack is built.

How to verify

Crunchbase: Series A + last 12mo + data & ai.

30-150Required

Headcount

Under 30: founder selling. Over 150: past first hire stage.

How to verify

LinkedIn company page: check employee count.

2+Required

Open aes roles

Two or more aes roles means building a team, not backfilling.

How to verify

Greenhouse/Lever: filter for aes titles.

Eng Buyer

Technical buyer motion

JD mentions selling to CTOs, VPs of Engineering, or data leaders. Technical buyer ops.

How to verify

Read JD for CTO, VP Eng, or data leader mentions.

$1-8M

ARR range

Below $1M: pre-revenue. Above $8M: past Series A stage.

How to verify

Crunchbase estimates or headcount proxy.

ⓘ

Scoring shortcut: Series A Data & AI companies with aes roles and 2+ other GTM roles open are in the top 2% by conversion probability.

Source-by-source breakdown

Here's how most teams piece this together manually. What each source gives you, what it misses, how long it takes, and what it costs.

MAD Landscape Database

Market Map~25 minFree

✓

Maps 1,400+ ML/AI/data companies by sub-category. Identifies data infra vs ML ops vs analytics.

✗

Annual snapshot. No funding, hiring, or company size data.

Crunchbase Pro

Funding + Firmographics~45 min$49/mo

✓

Filter by funding stage and AI/ML/data. Export company details.

✗

Annual snapshot. No funding, hiring, or company size data.

LinkedIn Sales Navigator

People + Hiring~60 min$99/mo

✓

Real-time job postings. JDs reveal whether selling to technical or business buyers.

✗

No funding data. AI is a massive category.

Y Combinator Batch Lists

Accelerator Database~20 minFree

✓

YC batch lists tagged by AI/ML show companies that graduated and raised. Often transitioning to enterprise.

✗

Only covers YC companies. Biased toward specific profiles.

4-5h

Total manual time per list build across all 4 sources. Does not include email verification, CRM deduplication, or lead routing.

Signal priority

Same ICP, completely different buying windows. Use this to rank your list.

Signal	What it means
2+ AE roles posted in last 14 days	Building sales team. Every tool from CRM to sequencing is being selected.
First VP Sales or Head of Sales hired	Sales leader hired to build the team. They select every tool in the stack.
Series A closed 2-10 months ago	Past post-raise admin, now hiring. AE hiring peaks in this window.

High-priority: call this week

Example: Strong-fit account

Matches all filters, multiple signals firing

GTM hiring: recent3+ roles openNew sales leader

Multiple P1 signals firing. Building a sales team under new leadership. Reach the decision-maker within 48 hours while tool selection is active.

Low-priority: set a reminder

Example: Wait-and-watch account

Matches some filters, weak or early signals

1 role postedRecently funded

One signal, too early. Just raised, small team. Likely a backfill, not a build-out. Set a 90-day reminder and check back when hiring accelerates.

What Landbase returns for this exact ICP

Everything above (the qualifying filters, the source cross-referencing, the signal timing) is what Landbase does automatically.

Step 1: Describe your ICP in plain language

app.landbase.com

Find companies matching my ICP filters that are hiring GTM roles, scored by signal strength

Scanning 1,500+ enrichment fields across your TAM

Funding databases, job boards, tech stacks, and org charts cross-referenced in seconds

Step 2: Review qualified, signal-enriched accounts

278 accounts · 750 verified contacts5/5 filters · Signals attached · Scored

Company	Contact	Signals	Fit
Acme Corp Series B, 180 emp	Sarah Chen VP Sales · Verified	GTM hire: 5d 3 roles open New VP Sales	94
TechFlow Series B, 310 emp	Marcus Rivera CRO · Verified	New CRO: 38d CRM migration 4 GTM roles	91
BuildRight Series A, 125 emp	Priya Patel Head of Sales · Verified	Hiring: 11d Funded 6mo ago	87
SignalStack Series B, 240 emp	James Kim VP Revenue · Verified	4 GTM roles G2 comparison	84

Step 3: Push to your CRM in one click

↓

Push qualified accounts to Salesforce

Enriched accounts + verified contacts

Push to CRM →

We'll run your ICP on the call

Pick the ICP your team is building lists for right now. We'll type it into Landbase and show you the qualified accounts, contacts, and signals that come back.