16%
higher LTV · Wharton
✳THE SWARM × FIRST CITIZENS INNOVATION BANKING
JANUARY 13, 2027 · AUSTIN
Turn referrals into a channel you can scale
Co-hosted by The Swarm and First Citizens Innovation Banking.
A 3-hour working session in Austin. Wednesday, January 13, 2027, 1:00 to 4:00pm CT.
Apply for a seat ↗Jan 13, 2027 · 1–4pm CT
Downtown Austin, TX
15 seats · Application required
Wednesday, January 13, 2027 · 1:00–4:00pm CT · First Citizens Innovation Banking, Austin · $395 per seat
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Referrals work. Scaling them is the hard part.
Referrals are not only the #1 channel across verticals and buyer personas, they also generate customers with 16% higher LTV (Wharton), 37% higher retention (Deloitte), 69% faster time to close and 71% higher conversion rates (Heinz Marketing & Influitive).
37%
higher retention · Deloitte
69%
faster time to close · Heinz Marketing & Influitive
71%
higher conversion rates · Heinz Marketing & Influitive
51% — For deals over $50k, 51% of B2B teams say network and intros is one of their three most-used GTM channels (State of B2B GTM, 2026).
Despite referrals' high performance, it's the channel that's hardest to scale and the least predictable. So we're spending an afternoon fixing that.
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INVITE ONLY
Invite only, for in-seat operators
This room is for people who own revenue, sales, customer success, marketing, partnerships, ABM, sales development or GTM engineering at a B2B company today. If you're coming to sell a tool, consult from the outside or prospect the room, we'll decline the application.
We're keeping it to 15 people. Every application gets reviewed before a seat is confirmed.
◎Map relationshipsSee who knows whom
→
↗Find warm pathsPrioritize target accounts
→
✳Build the motionMake referrals repeatable
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WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13
Agenda
1:00 PM
Intros
Meet the operators in the room.
1:20
The referral opportunity
Macro environment: biggest opportunities and challenges.
1:30
Build a referral engine
Inventory connectors—customers, users, vendors, alumni, investors and employees—and measure relationship strength.
2:00
Case studies
Examples from the field.
2:20
Break
A short reset before the working session.
2:30
Hands-on network mapping
Map your own network in The Swarm.
3:00
Find your first intro paths
Identify warm routes into target accounts.
3:25
Build the playbook
Turn the exercise into a repeatable weekly motion.
3:45
Open conversation
Share questions and ideas.
4:00
Happy hour
Keep the conversations going.
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What to bring
#1
A laptop and charger
#2
A LinkedIn login so we can map your network in The Swarm
#3
A list of your top target accounts. Company names are enough, and you won't need to share personal contacts with the room.
#4
A list of connectors (customers, product users, vendors/suppliers, content collaborators, etc.)
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What you'll walk away with
A referral playbook built around your own company and your own target accounts, covering how to run referrals as a weekly motion and how to find warm paths into the accounts you're already chasing. You'll also leave with the intro asks we draft together in the room, plus 3 months of The Swarm (a $1,000 value), so the map you built keeps working after Wednesday.
INCLUDED WITH YOUR SEAT
$1,000
3 months of The Swarm
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THE ROOM
About the co-hosts
Richard Purcell
Richard Purcell has built B2B SaaS go-to-market from scratch at 5 companies. Today he leads Demand Gen @ Billd here in Austin. He's spent the last 4 years obsessed with finding creative ways to scale referrals, implementing referral and warm intro motions at 6 companies and writing 16 step-by-step articles on the topic for his Substack, Unconventional GTM: moxiegtm.substack.com. Speaking engagements include The Signal's Live Show with Brendan Short and SaaStock USA in Austin.
The Swarm
The Swarm is a relationship-intelligence platform. It maps the public relationships around your team (work history, schools, investors and other public signals) into a ranked view of who knows whom, and how well, inside the accounts you're already going after. That data can flow into the tools your team already uses.
First Citizens Innovation Banking
First Citizens Innovation Banking works with high-growth companies and their investors, and carries on the former Silicon Valley Bank practice, with more than 40 years in the innovation economy. Their Austin office is downtown at 303 Colorado Street.
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THE DETAILS
Location, time and cost
Location
First Citizens Innovation Banking, 303 Colorado St., Suite 2675, Austin, TX 78701.
Parking is included with your seat, and we'll send the details with your confirmation.
Time
Wednesday, January 13, 2027, 1:00 to 4:00pm CT. Doors at 12:45pm CT.
Cost
$395 per seat, which includes 3 months of The Swarm ($1,000 value), parking, beverages and light snacks. If you have a promo code, enter it at checkout.
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Apply for a seat
We're keeping it to 15 people. Every application gets reviewed before a seat is confirmed.
Apply for a seat ↗
