GTM Strategy

Version 1.1 Last updated: 2026-01-18

TL;DR: Ibby launches with shareable role/candidate agents to prove distribution + build match-ready inventory, then repeatedly turns on matching per archetype once BYR/MAR and coverage thresholds show reliable conversation-ready shortlists.

Go-to-Market Strategy (Dual-Sided Marketplace)¶

Objective¶

Solve the cold-start / flywheel problem by launching single-party “agents” that deliver value independently, generate real-world usage data, and accumulate durable marketplace inventory—then enable profile matching once candidate supply reaches critical mass.

Critically, Ibby treats market expansion as a sequence of repeatable Phase 1 → Phase 2 loops per role archetype (not a one-time platform-wide conversion). Each archetype becomes its own liquidity “unit” that can be proven, activated, and scaled.

Core primitives being validated¶

Claim-Based Fit Modeling¶

Both sides submit basic information, then answer clarifying questions driven by previous submission and learned behavior.
The system produces structured “claims” about a person/role and embeds them to enable precise matching, weighting, and filtering across semantic signals.

Conversational Context Exploration¶

Each agent can be “interrogated” by the public: people ask questions, the agent answers from claims + authored context.
When the agent can’t answer confidently, it generates follow-up questions for the author.
Authors answer follow-ups asynchronously; the agent improves continuously.

Archetypes: how Ibby defines liquidity and expansion¶

Role archetype = a standardized role category defined by shared evaluation dimensions and a shared candidate supply pool.

Archetypes are the unit of measurement for: - “critical mass” inventory thresholds - matching viability - Phase 1 → Phase 2 activation gates

Initial archetype (Archetype 1)¶

Senior software engineer (backend/full-stack), B2B SaaS, US/Canada time zones, remote-friendly

This archetype is intentionally chosen because: - it has large candidate supply - evaluation criteria are relatively standardized - remote-friendly roles are common and searchable - willingness to adopt new workflows is high (post-seed to growth-stage startups)

Phase 1: Single-party launch (Agents-first)¶

Phase 1 is designed to: 1) generate durable inventory (agents + claims) 2) validate distribution via existing behaviors (job posts, applications, outreach) 3) validate interrogation + follow-up loops as repeatable usage

Service distribution channels¶

Landing pages + SEO
LinkedIn networking + targeted ads (including niche communities)
Reddit/community ads
Job boards and other placements that can host/point to agent URLs

Agent URLs¶

Unique URL per agent
Company agent may cover multiple roles
Candidate agent covers one individual
Agent links are designed to be forwarded in Slack/email and embedded in job postings/applications.

Shareable agent URLs (with surface attribution)¶

Role agents embedded in job posts and shared in applications
Optional link tags (“Copy link for job post/application/outreach/referral”) used to attribute which surfaces generate reach and engagement

Companies: Company/Role Agent¶

Company creates an agent, optionally with multiple role “threads.”
Candidates can ask anything about the company/role/process.
Defaults: open answers for non-blacklisted topics; optional user-controlled gating.
PII is excluded by default; salary sharing is configurable.

Candidates: Professional Profile Agent¶

A candidate creates a shareable profile agent that can discuss background, skills, history, and role-relevant questions (including common interview-style prompts).
Companies can interrogate the candidate agent before scheduling interviews, improving signal and reducing wasted calls.
Not "spammable" — agent is not an outbound blast mechanism; it’s a high-signal artifact shared in-context (e.g., with an application or recruiter outreach) to enable deeper evaluation asynchronously.

Virality loop¶

If a question triggers a clarifying follow-up and the company later answers it, the system can optionally collect the questioner’s contact info and notify them when the answer is available.
Agent landing page contains Ibby branding and a direct link to "create your own agent."

Feedback loops (why Phase 1 matters)¶

Phase 1 produces real-world signals that improve both primitives: - Claim quality improves because clarifying questions are driven by what real people ask. - Coverage improves because authors fill gaps over time, asynchronously. - Matching readiness improves because structured claims become more complete and comparable before matchmaking is turned on.

Phase 1 key metrics (Agents → inventory + distribution)¶

Primary Phase 1 funnel metrics¶

These prove that agents spread through real workflows and produce genuine interrogation.

External reach: unique non-owner visitors per agent (7-day)
External engagement: % of non-owner visitors who submit ≥ 1 Q&A prompt (7-day)
Engagement depth: non-owner Q&A prompts per agent per week

Loop health guardrail¶

This ensures the interrogation loop closes and content improves over time (not stagnates).

Follow-up SLA (loop health): % of follow-up questions resolved within 72 hours (response or claim update)

Inventory / critical mass metric (by archetype)¶

This is the bridge from Phase 1 “agents” to Phase 2 “matching.”

Match-ready inventory: # of match-ready profiles (rolling 30 days), segmented by role archetype

“Match-ready” means claims have sufficient coverage to evaluate fit across the core dimensions required for the archetype (not just a resume upload).

Phase 1 success criteria (Green)¶

These thresholds define “the Phase 1 loop is working” for Archetype 1.

External reach ≥ 3 unique non-owner visitors per agent (7-day)
External engagement ≥ 25% submit ≥ 1 question (7-day)
Follow-up SLA ≥ 80% resolved within 72 hours
Match-ready inventory (Archetype 1) ≥ 2,000–3,000 profiles (minimum viable pilot: ~1,000)

Phase 2: Enable matching (candidate-controlled activation)¶

Once match-ready inventory reaches critical mass for an archetype: - Invite candidate-agent users to opt into matching using their existing profile agent. - Companies gain access to matching against the candidate pool using claim-based weighting/filtering across semantic dimensions. - Conversational Context Exploration becomes bidirectional inside matches (both sides can interrogate each other using their modeled claims and authored context).

BYR + MAR: core conversion rates that determine liquidity¶

Phase 2 viability depends on two rates that connect inventory size to reliable outcomes.

BYR (Brief Yield Rate)¶

Definition: the % of match-ready profiles in an archetype that can become a credible qualified Match Brief for a specific role once constraints and weighting are applied.

Early target assumption (Archetype 1): BYR ≈ 5–10%

MAR (Mutual Affirm Rate)¶

Definition: the % of qualified Match Briefs that reach mutual “affirm interest” within a defined time window.

Early target assumption: MAR ≈ 20–30%

Together, BYR and MAR allow Ibby to forecast whether current inventory can produce 3–5 conversation-ready briefs per role without manual sourcing.

Phase 2 key metrics (Matching → outcomes + liquidity)¶

Primary Phase 2 outcome metrics¶

Shortlist reliability: # of qualified Match Briefs delivered within 7 days of role intake
Handshake conversion: % of Match Briefs that reach mutual “affirm interest” within 7 days
Intro completion: % of mutually affirmed matches that complete a first conversation within 10 days

Trust guardrail¶

Employer follow-through rate (no-ghost): % of mutual affirms where the employer completes the promised first conversation

Liquidity / coverage metrics (critical mass by role)¶

Coverage ratio: median match-ready candidates available per role intake (within archetype), plus p25

Phase 2 success criteria (Green)¶

Shortlist reliability ≥ 3–5 qualified Match Briefs within 7 days
Handshake conversion ≥ 20% within 7 days
Intro completion ≥ 75% within 10 days
Employer follow-through ≥ 85% after mutual affirm
Coverage ratio (Archetype 1): median 60–100 match-ready candidates per role (minimum viable: ~30; comfortable: 150+), track p25 to avoid “average-only” success

Critical mass activation trigger (per archetype)¶

We turn on Phase 2 matching for an archetype when Ibby can reliably produce conversation-ready Match Briefs for that archetype without Ibby staff manually sourcing or curating candidates.

Activation criteria (per archetype)¶

Shortlist reliability: Ibby can generate N qualified Match Briefs (e.g., 3–5) within T days (e.g., 7) of role intake.
Engagement readiness: A high % of briefs receive ≥1 context interrogation question and reach “affirm interest” within X days.
Supply quality, not just volume: match-ready profiles meet a minimum structured-claim completeness threshold.
Repeatability requirement: criteria hold week over week for 4 consecutive weeks, not as a one-off spike.

Enable matching for an archetype once a role can consistently receive N qualified Match Briefs within T days, supported by stable BYR and MAR, with sufficient claim completeness to sustain credible mutual affirm.

Phase transitions are iterative (repeatable loop by archetype)¶

Ibby does not rely on a single platform-wide “flip” from Phase 1 to Phase 2. Instead, Ibby repeats the same loop as it expands:

1) Phase 1 (for Archetype X): build match-ready inventory + prove interrogation and follow-up behavior 2) Activation gate (for Archetype X): confirm critical mass + coverage ratio + stable loop health 3) Phase 2 (for Archetype X): enable matching and measure shortlist reliability, BYR, MAR, and intro completion 4) Scale: expand acquisition and repeat for the next archetype

This produces a controlled expansion model where Ibby can grow liquidity systematically without sacrificing match quality.

Key GTM metrics summary (Phase 1 → Phase 2 readiness)¶

Phase 1 (agents)¶

External reach (unique non-owner visitors / agent, 7-day)
External engagement (% visitors submitting ≥1 question, 7-day)
Engagement depth (non-owner prompts / agent / week)
Follow-up SLA (% resolved within 72 hours)
Match-ready inventory (rolling 30 days), by archetype and completeness tier

Phase 2 (matching)¶

Shortlist reliability (# qualified Match Briefs within 7 days of role intake)
BYR (Brief Yield Rate)
MAR (Mutual Affirm Rate)
Handshake conversion (% mutual affirm within 7 days)
Intro completion (% first conversations within 10 days)
Employer follow-through (no-ghost after mutual affirm)
Coverage ratio (median + p25 match-ready candidates per role)

Instrumentation notes (how metrics are measured)¶

Ibby’s Phase 1/2 metrics are designed to be auditable from first-party logs without requiring visibility into external ATS systems or private email threads. Where “sharing” cannot be observed directly (copy/paste into an application form), Ibby measures downstream outcomes (external landings and engagement) and attributes them to distribution surfaces via optional link tagging.

Identity: owner vs non-owner¶

Each agent has a canonical owner (creator) and all sessions/events are classified as: - Owner: authenticated creator session (or access token associated with the agent owner) - Non-owner: any session not associated with the owner (including anonymous visitors)

All “external reach / engagement / depth” metrics are computed using non-owner sessions/events only.

Uniqueness and session counting¶

To avoid “sessions ≠ people” problems, we track two related measures: - Unique visitor: de-duplicated by a first-party cookie + user agent fingerprint (and optionally hashed IP as a secondary signal) - Session: a time-bounded interaction window (e.g., 30 minutes of inactivity ends a session)

Primary reporting uses unique visitors where possible; sessions are used for secondary diagnostics.

Distribution surface attribution (optional link tags)¶

Ibby provides optional “Copy link for …” buttons that append a lightweight query param or short-code: - ?src=job_post - ?src=application - ?src=outreach - ?src=referral

Notes: - These tags do not need to identify the recipient or platform. - If a link is shared without tags (manual copy from address bar), it still counts toward reach/engagement, but is recorded as src=unknown.

Primary channel mix metric: - Channel mix: % of non-owner landings by src over a rolling 7/30 day window

Event taxonomy (what we log)¶

At minimum, Ibby logs the following events with agent_id, timestamp, owner/non-owner, and src tag:

Traffic + reach - agent_view (agent page loaded) - agent_session_start / agent_session_end

Engagement - prompt_submitted (non-owner submits a Q&A prompt) - response_generated (agent produces an answer) - followup_generated (agent generates a clarifying question for the owner)

Loop closure - followup_resolved (owner answers follow-up OR updates structured claims to address it) - claims_updated (structured claim set materially changed; see definition below)

Matching (Phase 2) - role_intake_complete - brief_created (Match Brief generated) - brief_qualified (passes minimum quality threshold) - affirm_interest_employer - affirm_interest_candidate - mutual_affirm - intro_initiated / intro_completed (first conversation confirmed) - employer_no_ghost (employer meets handshake expectation within time window)

Definitions for “meaningful” and “match-ready”¶

To prevent vanity metrics and spam inflation, Ibby uses operational definitions:

Meaningful engagement - A non-owner session counts as “engaged” if it includes ≥ 1 prompt_submitted - Optionally, require ≥ N seconds on page OR ≥ 2 interactions to exclude accidental bounces

Prompt quality guardrails (anti-spam) - Prompts from the same visitor can be rate-limited - Prompts below a minimum length or obviously spam can be excluded from “depth” reporting - Repeated identical prompts from the same visitor can be de-duped

Match-ready profile A profile is “match-ready” for an archetype when: - Required claim dimensions for that archetype meet a minimum completeness threshold - Constraints (timezone/work mode/seniority band) are present - The profile is active in the last 30 days (viewed, updated, or engaged)

Ibby reports inventory by archetype and by completeness tier (e.g., 60% / 80% / 95% coverage).

BYR and MAR measurement (Phase 2)¶

BYR (Brief Yield Rate) - Computed per role intake: qualified_briefs / match_ready_candidates_in_scope - “In scope” is defined by hard constraints + archetype membership at time of intake

MAR (Mutual Affirm Rate) - Computed per role intake (or cohort): mutual_affirms / qualified_briefs - Time-windowed (e.g., within 7 days) to reflect real marketplace cadence

Privacy and compliance notes¶

Ibby can operate with anonymous non-owner sessions (no login required to interrogate).
PII is excluded by default from public agent outputs; sensitive fields are controlled by policy and author settings.
Link tags (src) do not contain recipient identity—only coarse distribution surface classification.

Reporting cadence and stability requirement¶

Because early usage can be noisy, “working” thresholds are evaluated as: - rolling 7-day metrics for reach/engagement - rolling 30-day metrics for inventory - “stable week-over-week” defined as meeting success criteria for 4 consecutive weeks before activating Phase 2 for a new archetype