Core Concepts

Signals & Enrichments

Signals are intent and change indicators attached to entities. Use them to filter for companies undergoing transitions or exhibiting specific patterns.

Filtering by signal

bash

GET /v1/companies?signals=carrier_change,broker_change&states=CA

Returns companies with either signal. Signals require an advanced-tier key and mode=full or fields=signals. Each signal in the filter charges its own surcharge per returned row — see costs below.

signal_match — OR vs AND across signals

Value	Semantics	Example
`any`	(default) Rows that have at least one of the listed signals — OR across signals.	`signals=carrier_change,broker_change&signal_match=any`
`all`	Rows that have every listed signal — AND across signals.	`signals=carrier_change,broker_change&signal_match=all`

Valid values come from GET /v1/filter-options under the signal_match key. Omitting signal_match uses any.

Discovering the live signal list

The full set of valid signals= values is enumerable as a single call: GET /v1/filter-options/signals returns a flat array of every currently-shipped signal name. Use it instead of hardcoding the list below if you want to detect new signals without a docs update.

Signal vs column name

Some signals share a name with a value column. signals=X applies the Hillwinds-defined threshold (and may add intelligence); the matching cf[col] is a raw numeric range filter on the underlying column. Pick by intent:

signals=participant_growth vs cf[participant_growth]=gte:20 (raw range).
signals=commission_growth vs cf[commission_growth]=gte:20 (alias of cf[broker_commission_growth_pct]).
self_funded is a status signal only (signals=self_funded) — there is no numeric column, so cf[self_funded] returns 400 unsupported_cf_column.

Ratio columns are decimal-stored but cf[] thresholds are always percent values:gte:20 means 20%, gte:1 means 1%, and gte:0.2 means 0.2%.

Signal categories

Validate signal filters before a full pull

Signal filters are applied server-side. Validate every new signal mix with &count_only=true plus a spot-check on a few returned rows before committing credits. Use POST /v1/reports to flag a signal that isn't filtering as expected.

Status signals

Always populated. No additional setup required.

Signal	Description	Cost
`self_funded`	Company self-funds health insurance	+0.1/row
`esop`	Has Employee Stock Ownership Plan	+0.1/row

Change signals

Detected by comparing year-over-year filing data.

Signal	Description	Cost
`carrier_change`	Changed health insurance carriers	+0.1/row
`broker_change`	Changed benefits broker	+0.1/row
`admin_change`	Changed plan administrator	+0.1/row
`401k_provider_change`	Changed 401K provider	+0.1/row
`accounting_firm_change`	Changed accounting firm	+0.1/row
`participant_growth`	20%+ participant growth YoY	+0.1/row
`commission_growth`	Growing broker commissions	+0.1/row

Benchmarking signals (Growth + Enterprise plans)

Peer-group percentiles computed across the cohort defined by employee_band + company_industry. Charged per returned row — size queries with dry_run=true first.

Signal	Description	Cost
`high_commission_rate`	Commission rate > 90th percentile	10/row
`high_pepm`	PEPM > 90th percentile	10/row
`high_per_capita_premium`	Per capita premium > 90th percentile	10/row
`low_commission_rate`	Commission rate 50%+ below median	10/row
`low_per_capita_premium`	Per capita premium < 10th percentile	10/row
`rapid_employee_growth`	20%+ employee growth YoY	10/row
`rapid_participant_growth`	20%+ plan participant growth YoY (distinct from rapid_employee_growth — counts active plan participants, not headcount)	10/row
`rising_pepm`	PEPM increased 10%+ YoY	10/row
`rising_per_capita_premium`	Per capita premium increased 10%+ YoY	10/row

Predictive intent (planned)

Predictive intent is turned off and is not available in the current v1 API. ML-based predictions of future funding, carrier, and broker changes are planned for a future release. Availability, signal names, and pricing will be documented when the capability ships.

Lookalike search

POST /v1/lookalikes returns ranked company, broker-office, or email-eligible personnel IDs from one to five seeds. It supports entity-specific category weights, returns up to 50 matches, and costs exactly 1 credit per returned result for live keys. See the Lookalikes API reference for production-key requirements, scopes, weights, response fields, and errors.

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