Flag hiring surges at target accounts in Attio
A Kestrel build, not client work. It ran once on 21 test target accounts in our own Attio workspace. It reads the accounts from an Attio list, pulls 6-month headcount growth from Crustdata through Deepline, compares it with the growth of the won customers in the same workspace, and writes the growth, the departments with recent joiners and a surge flag back to Attio. Six of the 21 accounts were added to the test set because a search showed fast growth. The play flagged those six and none of the other 15.
Works ifYour buyers spend more when they add people, and you keep your target accounts in Attio.
Built asDeepline PlayMonthly schedulecapped at $0.35 a run
Get the prompt for your coding agentThe system
List
Target accounts
Deals
Won customers
They set the bar.
Surging only
Recent joiners by department
Up to 20 per account, checked on company, start date and title.
Company
Growth + hiring departments
List entry
Hiring surge checkbox
The signal
A target account added at least 5 people and grew faster than your won customers over the last 6 months.
Why it predicts a purchase
A company that adds people has new budget, new managers and new problems to solve. Comparing with your own customers keeps the bar at what normal growth looks like in your market.
How it works
Read targets and won customers from Attio
The companies on the target accounts list, plus the companies on won deals. Both sets are measured the same way, so the bar comes from your own customers.
Measure 6-month growth
One batched Crustdata company search through Deepline returns total headcount, 6-month growth in percent and in people, and the date Crustdata computed it. Companies Crustdata doesn't know get no surge and their old growth value cleared.
Gate: above the threshold?
Growth at or above the won-customer median, with a 10% floor, and at least 5 net new people. Only accounts that pass get the paid department check: a sample of up to 20 people whose current role there started inside the window, filtered on company, start date and title, interns out.
Write back to Attio
Headcount growth and hiring departments on the company, the surge checkbox on the target-account entry. Only values that differ from Attio are written.
Build notes
- The first version counted joiners per department from Forager's free role counts. It showed all 15 accounts as flat, because Forager's latest role starts were from May 2026 and the 6-month window only saw about two of those months.
- The +5 people rule matters at small sizes. One account grew 100% by adding one person and another grew 12.5% by adding one. Neither was flagged.
- People data is thinner than the headcount figures. A surging 36-person account had zero recent joiners in Crustdata's person index, so an empty department list means no evidence, not no hiring.
- The won customers in the test workspace are tiny. Three of the four were measured, all at 0% growth, and the fourth isn't in Crustdata. The threshold fell back to the 10% floor. With real customers the bar will usually be higher.
Questions
Why total headcount and not sales or marketing growth?
We looked for a cheap, current per-department source and didn't find one. Crustdata's role fields can filter but don't return growth, and Forager's free role data stopped around May 2026. Total 6-month growth is current, and departments are shown as supporting evidence from a sample of recent joiners.
Where does the threshold come from?
From your own won customers: the median 6-month growth of those companies, with a 10% floor. An account also needs at least 5 net new people, so a 2-person company that hires one person doesn't count as a surge.
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