Zendesk bought Forethought in March 2026, and IrisAgent already has a strong offer for Forethought customers (free migration, a parallel pilot on live traffic, 24-hour go-live, three months free) sitting in a blog post. A blog post does not reach a buyer whose renewal is coming up.
First action
Pull 75 Forethought customers from public case studies, reviews and job posts that name Forethought, and note each one's helpdesk.
How to measure it
Parallel pilots started
- Now
- –
- Target
- 6
- By
- 8 weeks
Steps
Build the list
Case studies, G2 reviews and job posts naming Forethought.
Sales Development Representative 2 days
Add the helpdesk
Clay technographics; non-Zendesk first.
Sales Development Representative 1 day
Write the sequence
The acquisition, the stack question, the parallel pilot.
Account Executive 2 hours
Call and email
Heads of Support and CX Ops, in Instantly and by phone.
Sales Development Representative 2 weeks
Ask about renewal
In every first meeting.
Account Executive ongoing
Run parallel pilots
Live traffic, side by side, 24-hour setup.
Account Executive 2 weeks each
Report weekly
Meetings, pilots, renewal dates.
Account Executive 15 minutes a week
Run this outreach. The sequence sent for you: addresses found and verified, replies routed to your CRM. Usually live within days.
Book a working sessionWhy it works
Build a named list of Forethought customers, sort by helpdesk (Salesforce, Intercom, Freshdesk first, then Zendesk), and run a two-week sprint: SDR sequences and calls, AE discovery on renewal dates, and the parallel pilot as the single offer.
The new AE must build their own pipeline from outbound; this list arrives with budget, an AI agent already in use, and a dated reason to look. It is the fastest way to give a new hunter early wins.
Ready to use
EmailForethought customer outreach
Subject: Forethought after the Zendesk deal
Hi {first name},
Since Zendesk acquired Forethought in March, a few support leaders on {helpdesk} have asked us what happens to their setup at renewal.
If that is on your mind: we run IrisAgent beside your current agent on live traffic for two weeks, migrate your knowledge base for free, and you see both results before you decide. Most teams are live in 24 hours.
Worth 20 minutes before your renewal?
{name}Risks and how to handle them
Speculating about Zendesk's plans
State only the acquisition; let the buyer judge their roadmap.
Free months erode margin
Offer them only after a successful parallel pilot.
Evidence
- Search resultsZendesk acquired Forethought in March 2026 and is folding its AI agents into the Zendesk Resolution Platform.Source
- Your websiteIrisAgent's Forethought post offers Forethought customers free knowledge-base migration, a parallel proof of concept on live traffic, a 24-hour go-live and the first three months free; IrisAgent is listed on the Zendesk and Intercom marketplaces.Source
- HiringAccount Executive: full-cycle new-logo sales to mid-market and enterprise, building their own pipeline through "outbound, warm intros, and partners", then discovery, demos, pilots and close, working directly with the CEO. Buyers are VPs or Heads of Support and CX Ops, plus engineering leaders for Iris Control, an LLM control plane. "This is a hunter role, not an inbound farming seat." The company says it is "a small team with founder-led GTM" after a $4.1M seed led by Neotribe Ventures.Source
- HiringSales Development Representative: build lists in Apollo and Clay, run sequences in Instantly ("sound like a person, not a template"), cold calls and LinkedIn, and book meetings "for the AE and founder", with "a clear path to AE".Source