The challenge
A specialized ICP that generic enrichment couldn't match
Outgrowing broad verticals and blunt headcount
Ada sells AI-powered customer service automation. The buyer signals that actually matter for Ada's ICP go well beyond company size or industry, and generic enrichment providers can't capture them.
Generic enrichment providers can narrow by vertical and total headcount, but those are blunt indicators for what Ada needs. With 200k+ accounts in the CRM, the RevOps team couldn't review them one by one. They needed enrichment granular enough to distinguish genuine high-fit accounts from companies that just happen to be in the right industry.
"I can go to the sales team with a lot more trust in that data. If it comes off of ZoomInfo, I'm like, I don't know what this customer does. I have no clue if they're a good fit. I just know they're in the correct vertical for us. That's not enough."
Katelyn Weber
Director of Revenue Operations & Analytics
Building trust with sales teams
When account data isn't reliable, prospecting lists lose credibility fast. SDR leaders were spending their time sifting through records and second-guessing routing decisions instead of selling. Marketing couldn't confidently align ABM campaigns with outbound because the underlying account data wasn't precise enough to segment on.
Ada needed enrichment that could go deeper than what generic providers offer. Total headcount alone was too broad to be useful.
"Kernel has become our source of truth for foundational account data."
Isaac Smith
Senior Manager Marketing Operations
~250,000 CRM records including duplicates, inactive, and low-fit accounts refined to ~60-75,000 active accounts
How Kernel works inside Ada
Kernel started by resolving the identity behind every CRM account. Each record's URL was matched to a real organization in Kernel's entity database. Kernel's agents cross-checked account names, legal entities, addresses, and CRM notes to confirm which company each record actually represented, and flagged inactive or placeholder URLs.
From there, Kernel mapped parent-subsidiary relationships and surfaced duplicate records.
Firmographic attributes like headcount and revenue were enriched by cross-referencing multiple primary sources. Each value was written back into the CRM with a reasoning field describing the evidence and methodology. For private companies especially, where public disclosures are sparse, this reasoning gives RevOps a way to evaluate the data rather than just accept it.
On top of the firmographics, Kernel's agents analyzed company websites, help centers, and product documentation to identify technographic indicators relevant to Ada's ICP. These are data points that Ada couldn't get from any other provider in their stack.
"Kernel brings firmographics, custom verticals, and technographic insight together, built around resolved account identities. That's what turns our GTM strategy into the account lists our sales and marketing teams work from every day."
Isaac Smith
Senior Manager Marketing Operations
Firmographic and technographic enrichment tailored to Ada's specific ICP
Impact and outcomes
SDR leaders spent their time wrangling and validating account data
What changed:
- Ada reduced its CRM from ~250,000 records to roughly 60-75,000 active accounts by removing duplicates, inactive records, and accounts that didn't match the ICP. RevOps now has a realistic view of the addressable market.
- Median time-to-contact went from 2-3 days to within hours, so sales teams reach prospects 3-5x faster once engagement signals appear.
- The enrichment lets Ada identify and prioritize the top ~5% of accounts that genuinely fit the ICP, so SDRs and marketing spend their time on accounts with real conversion potential.
- Territory modeling is built on Kernel's account scoring and segmentation rather than rough vertical and headcount groupings. Ada is restructuring territories around these segments now.
- RevOps spends far less time reviewing and validating account data. The team focuses on segmentation, ICP refinement, and territory strategy instead of reactive cleanup.
- Ada consolidated entity resolution, firmographics, technographics, and vertical segmentation into Kernel, replacing a patchwork of enrichment providers.
Ada consolidated entity resolution, firmographics, technographics, and vertical segmentation into Kernel, replacing a patchwork of enrichment providers.
"When my ABM campaigns deeply match my GTM strategy and SDR prospecting, the conversion rates of meetings booked are so much higher."
Isaac Smith
Senior Manager Marketing Operations
What comes next:
- Turning the outbound engine on, with Kernel data powering account selection and rep prioritization
- Continuous re-enrichment so firmographic and technographic data stays current as companies change
- Expanding ICP-specific enrichment to better separate high-value prospects from lookalikes in new verticals
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