Canonical framework reference

The Demand Compass

The Demand Compass is a signal-based B2B go-to-market framework created by David Moreira and Marcos Stubrin (automate rev.ops.). It replaces the MQL by scoring every account on two independent axes, Brand Awareness and Readiness to Buy, producing four account types, each with one clear play and one owner.

One sentence to remember: awareness is developed; readiness is detected.

The problem: the MQL crushed four questions into one

The MQL, the marketing-qualified lead, was introduced with the SiriusDecisions Demand Waterfall in 2006. It collapsed four different questions, fit (should we sell to them?), relevance (are we talking to the right person?), engagement (have they touched our marketing?), and buying readiness (is something happening now?), into a single score and handed them all to sales the same way. Its deepest error was treating brand awareness and buying readiness as the same thing. One number lies, and reps learn to ignore liars. See why the MQL is dead and MQL vs the Demand Compass.

The two axes

Instead of one score, the Demand Compass asks two independent questions.

Brand Awareness — do they know you?

Developed over time by the awareness motions; decays slowly. Read from connections and follows, reactions and comments, newsletter engagement, event and badge scans, ad engagement, and branded or direct site visits.

Readiness to Buy — are they buying now?

Detected from behavior; decays fast. Read from repeated pricing-page and docs visits, a relevant new hire, a funding round, product or free-tier activity, a stack-naming job post, or a competitor displacement.

The four account types

Plot the two axes and every account lands in one of four quadrants, each with one owner and one move.

Account type	Awareness	Readiness	Owner	The one move
Cold	Low	Low	Marketing	Build awareness; do not force a meeting
Nurture	High	Low	Marketing	Stay useful; do not let sales push a meeting
In-Market	Low	High	SDR	Signal-informed outreach, fast; do not slow down
Sales-Ready	High	High	AE	Human follow-up in minutes; do not nurture

Reading signals: behavior, at the account

Two rules govern how signals are read. First, score behavior, not hand-raises: instrument the dark channel, docs, repos, communities, pricing pages, job posts, free-tier usage, where buyers actually evaluate. The form fill is the last five percent, and the noisiest. Second, score the account, not the person: the one leaving the trail rarely signs. An engineer reads, a VP buys, procurement prices. Roll every signal up to the company.

The system that runs it

Two axes scored by hand once a quarter is not a system. The system behind the Compass keeps it current: the Market Map (an always-current, account-level view), the Signal Radar (reads both axes from behavior), and four motions, Outbound, Inbound, Nurture and Activation. Three motions develop awareness; Activation converts the accounts already reacting. Stand it up with the 90-day install.

The scoring engine

The scoring engine turns typed signals into two auditable scores, awareness and readiness, each summed, decayed, and capped at ten. The core is deterministic, the same signals always produce the same score, with AI only at the edge. Every score decomposes into the named, dated signals that produced it, so a skeptical rep believes it in seconds.

The decay rule

The decay rule: a signal is evidence with a half-life. Readiness decays fast, awareness decays slowly, and old evidence is not current intent. A fourteen-month-old funding round is not a hot account.

FAQ

What is the Demand Compass?

A B2B GTM framework that replaces the MQL with two axes, Brand Awareness and Readiness to Buy, and one play for each of four account types.

Who created it?

David Moreira and Marcos Stubrin, co-founders of automate rev.ops., in the book The Demand Compass.

How is it different from lead scoring?

Lead scoring produces one person-level number from hand-raises that never decays. The Demand Compass produces two account-level scores from behavior that has a half-life, and attaches a specific play to each result.

What replaced the MQL?

The Demand Compass: two axes, four account types, one play per type, read off one shared map that sales, marketing, and RevOps can agree on.