Overview
What are Ecosystems, Verticals, and Key Accounts in Evergrowth?
Ecosystems, Verticals, and Key Accounts are core organizational structures in Evergrowth that help you define, segment, and prioritize your target companies.
When training your AI agents in the Agent Training Center, you’ll define two key elements: ecosystems and verticals. These work together to give agents the right context about who your company sells to and how your market is structured.
Ecosystems
Ecosystems are collections of companies grouped by common industries or themes (for example, "Healthcare" or "Financial Services"). They help you organize your prospecting and outreach focus.
Ecosystems help you group accounts the way your sales team thinks about them. Can be defined by industry, business model, or any other characteristic that helps organize your go-to-market strategy.
Not limited to traditional industries - they’re defined by your strategy.
Examples:
Industry-based: “Healthcare” or “Financial Services”
Work-type: “Desk Workers” vs. “Non-Desk Workers”
Verticals
Verticals are subdivisions within an ecosystem, typically representing distinct industries or market segments (for example, in the Financial Services ecosystem you could have “Banking", “Insurance”, “FinTech” verticals).
Each vertical has its own qualification criteria, allowing qualification agents to categorize companies according to your ICP.
Examples:
Within the “Healthcare” ecosystem → “Hospitals,” “Gynecologists,” “Dentists,” “Dermatologists”
Within the “Financial Services” ecosystem → “Banking,” “Insurance,” “FinTech”
Key Accounts
These are strategic accounts you want to prioritize.
You can upload a list of these companies and assign research agents for ongoing strategic research.
Why Ecosystems & Verticals are important?
To define your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) so that Qualification agents would know what is a fit company for you
To define what research you want to collect about companies, including signals.
Before You Start
You must have Admin permission.
Be aware that changes to vertical names or criteria will trigger updates to business model descriptions and persona cards.
Key components of the Ecosystem
Verticals
A Vertical in Evergrowth is a specific industry or market segment within an ecosystem (for example, “Banking” inside the Financial Services ecosystem).
Each vertical has its own Qualification Agents & Criteria that determine which companies belong in it, and Research Agents that collect relevant information (data, signals, context) about those companies.
Verticals matter because they let you organize your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) into clear segments.
Personas
Each Vertical can be assigned specific Personas. Learn how to create Persona Cards and assign them to specific verticals.
Qualification Agents
Qualification Agents in Evergrowth are AI agents that evaluate whether a company fits your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) based on defined criteria.
Research Agents
Research Agents in Evergrowth are AI agents that gather detailed information about companies once they’ve been qualified into a vertical or marked as a key account. Unlike qualification agents, which decide fit, research agents focus on collecting information such as signals, funding, technology stack, hiring trends, or other market insights that help tailor your outreach. Each vertical can have its own research agents, so the data collected is tailored to that segment. This ensures your team has up-to-date, relevant intelligence for personalization, strategic planning, and deeper account understanding.
Business model description
A Business Model Description in Evergrowth is an AI-generated summary of what companies in a vertical look like, based on the vertical name and assigned qualification/research agents.
It matters because it makes industry-specific value propositions, objections, and pain points for personas.
Downstream update flow - how everything is connected:
Vertical Name + Agents + Manual Notes
AI generates Business Model Description
Feeds Persona Cards with Business Model Description
AI Generates Persona Mapping.
Inputs: What Impacts the Business Model Description
Vertical Name
The most critical input. The AI uses the exact vertical name to understand the industry/segment.
Example: “Automotive Manufacturing” generates more specific context than “Automotive”
Assigned Qualification Agents
The agents’ names and criteria are also referenced.
Example: If a “Business Activity” agent is applied with criteria tied to “Pharma R&D,” the AI will bake this into the description.
Assigned Research Agents
Same logic: if you assign research agents, the AI incorporates those into the description.
Manual Overrides (optional)
Admins can add manual text to restrict or guide the AI.
Example: “Strictly do not mention investment funds” ensures the AI avoids irrelevant angles.
Output: What the Business Model Description Impacts
Persona Cards
The description feeds into persona cards linked to that vertical.
It shapes value propositions, objections, and pain points for personas, making them industry-specific.
What to create: One Ecosystem or Multiple Ecosystems?
Before you start, decide on your ICP grouping by ecosystem (broad category).
One ecosystem: If industries are distinct (e.g., Healthcare, Manufacturing, Financial Services), create one ecosystem (e.g., "ICP Verticals") and add each industry as a vertical.
Multiple ecosystems: If industries overlap (e.g., Automotive, Manufacturing), create broader ecosystems (e.g., "Manufacturing") and add more specific verticals inside (e.g., "Automotive Manufacturing," "Electronics manufacturing").
Step-by-Step Guides
Create and Manage Ecosystems and Verticals
Organize companies by industry or theme and define verticals.
Go to the Agent Training Center >> Ecosystems
Click “Add new” >> “Ecosystem”, name it after the industry group or simply as “ICP Verticals”. See grouping logic above.
Inside that Ecosystem, click "Add Vertical.”
Enter the vertical name.
Note: The vertical name is one of the main inputs the system uses to generate the business model description. A precise vertical name produces a sharper business model description.
If you name a vertical “Pharma Manufacturer”, the description will reflect that specific context.
If you just name it “Pharma”, the output will be vaguer, and your persona cards/personalization may lose granularity.
(Optional) Add manual input to the business model description if you need to override or restrict AI-generated content.
(Optional) Add notes for internal reference.
Save your changes.
Edit, Clone, or Delete Verticals
Update, duplicate, or remove verticals as your GTM strategy evolves.
To edit a vertical:
Click "Edit" next to the vertical name.
Update the name, status, priority, assigned agents, or business model description as needed.
Note: Renaming a vertical will trigger a recalculation of the business model description and assigned Personas.
To clone a vertical:
Click the "Copy" button next to the vertical.
The new vertical will inherit all agent assignments and criteria. Update the name and tweak criteria as needed. Note: the name won’t be updated for already qualified accounts. If you want that to change, then you need to launch Qualification agent for that list of companies.
To delete a vertical:
Click the "Delete" button next to the vertical.
Note: Deleting a vertical will not remove historical data from accounts or contacts. The old vertical name will be kept next to the account. If you want to change that, then you need to launch Qualification agent on the companies that have old vertical.
Change Vertical Status: Pause a Vertical
Once paused/crashed, the vertical will not be considered by qualification agents and will not appear in workflows or play settings. You can switch it back to Ongoing anytime.
Here are the steps to Pause a Vertical in Evergrowth:
Go to the Agent Training Center and open Ecosystems.
Select the ecosystem that contains the vertical you want to pause.
Click Edit next to the vertical name that you want to pause.
In the Status dropdown, change the status to Paused.
Click “Update” to confirm.
Delete Research/Qualification Agents
Ensure the right qualification and research agents are applied to each vertical.
In the vertical configuration, locate the Qualification Agents and Research Agents sections.
Click "Configure All Qualification Agents" or “Configure All Research Agents”.
Assign or remove agents as needed for each vertical.
Save your changes.
Edit Qualification Agents Criteria
Read this article on how to edit Qualification Criteria.
Add/Remove Personas within Verticals
Assign or remove personas from specific Verticals.
Open the desired ecosystem and go to the "Personas" tab.
Select Personas that you want to unassign from the specific Vertical
Click “Delete”
Note: “Delete” won’t actually delete the Persona, but it will unassign it.
Click “Add” if you want to assing new Persona(s) to specific Vertical(s)
Note: you first need to create a Persona Card.
Define Key Accounts
Upload a list of strategic companies you want to target & research.
Go to the Agent Training Center >> Key Accounts.
Click “Add” >> “Key accounts”,
Name the Key Account ecosystem after the industry group (for organizing your key accounts) or just simply “Key accounts” if there’s no need for clear distinction.
Inside the Key Account ecosystem, click “Add new” >> “Import Multiple Key Accounts”.
Assign research agents to these accounts. You can import them from already existing ecosystems.
FAQ
What is the difference between an Ecosystem and a Vertical in Evergrowth?
An Ecosystem is a broad grouping of companies by industry or theme (for example: Financial services), while a Vertical is a specific segment within an ecosystem, usually representing a distinct industry or market segment (for example: Banking, Insurance). Verticals have their own qualification criteria and agent assignments.
How do I decide whether to create multiple Ecosystems or just one?
If your industries are clearly distinct and do not overlap, use one Ecosystem with multiple Verticals. If industries overlap or you want more granular grouping, create multiple ecosystems and add relevant verticals inside each.
What happens if two Verticals have ALL same identical Qualification criteria?
If two verticals have identical qualification criteria, the system will not know how to classify companies, leading to inconsistent qualification. Always ensure each vertical has unique qualification logic.
What does the status of a Vertical mean?
You can change the status at any time:
Ongoing: The vertical is active and used in qualification.
Paused: The vertical is inactive and not used in qualification.
Crashed: The vertical is marked as a failed experiment and not used in qualification.
Will deleting a Vertical remove it from historical Account or Contact data?
No, deleting a Vertical will not remove it from historical data in Account or Contact Hub. The Vertical will still be visible as a filter for past data.
How does changing a Vertical name affect the system?
Renaming a Vertical will trigger a recalculation of the business model description and assigned Personas to that Vertical.
Additional Notes & Tips
Always check that your vertical qualification criteria are unique across verticals to avoid classification errors.
Use the "Clone" feature to quickly create similar verticals.
Manual input to the business model description is rarely needed, but can be used to restrict or guide AI-generated content for Business Model Description.
Assigning the right Research and Qualification Agents to each Vertical ensures accurate data enrichment and segmentation.
When deleting a vertical, review historical data and decide if reassignment is needed.
Changes to verticals (name, agents, criteria) can have downstream effects on business model descriptions and persona cards. Plan changes carefully.