A business that just registered with its state often hasn't sorted out commercial insurance yet. Soon a landlord, a general contractor or a freight broker may ask it for a certificate showing general liability, workers' comp or commercial auto. That's why new business leads are one of the few real head starts in small commercial.
This guide covers where these leads come from, why most of them aren't real prospects, and a simple process for working the good ones.
Where new business leads come from
Every state records new business entities, and many publish them on official open-data portals:
- Secretary of State filings. New LLCs, corporations and partnerships. Colorado, New York and Connecticut publish these daily or nightly, usually 1–2 days after filing.
- Slower state files. Pennsylvania publishes registered business data, but the file refreshes weekly to monthly and lags about two weeks.
- Tax registrations. In Texas we use new sales-tax permits from the Texas Comptroller, which refresh about weekly. They're permits, not new LLC formations, and they include new locations of businesses that already hold a permit.
- Licensing signals. New USDOT numbers (trucking) and liquor licenses point to businesses with specific coverage needs.
You can see every dataset we use on our data sources page, and our guide to using Secretary of State filings for insurance prospecting walks through reading the filings themselves. The data is free. The problem is what's in it.
Why most new business leads never buy
Our October 2026 New Business Pulse counted 19,733 new businesses from official records in five states (Sep 17 to Oct 18, 2026; each state's window is different). Only 6,730 of them (34%) scored 70 or higher on our 1–100 insurance-need score. Much of the rest looks like this:
- Holding and investment entities. "Oak Street Holdings LLC" owns something; it doesn't operate anything. The Pulse counted 511 holding and investment shells and 1,163 real-estate holding entities, and none of them scored 70+.
- Real estate LLCs. In New York, 18% of new entities (632 of 3,479, Oct 10–16) were real-estate holding entities or holding shells. Connecticut was 13.5%, Pennsylvania 12.7% and Colorado 9.6%.
- Big categories with low need. Retail and e-commerce was the largest tagged group (3,833), but only 2.4% scored 70+. None of the 2,103 new professional-services firms did.
- Registered-agent and mail-drop addresses. Many filings list only a formation service or a virtual office. There's nobody there to visit. We remove filings like these, including any address shared by 10 or more new entities in a single pull (outside Texas).
So a raw list of new LLCs is mostly noise. Roughly a third are worth an early call.
Which new businesses to call first
Strip the shells away and the real prospects cluster by trade. Across all five states, 100% of 1,310 new construction businesses, 99.9% of 1,405 restaurants and bars and 99.7% of 749 trucking and transportation businesses scored 70+. Here's how those trades split by state:
| State (window) | Construction | Trucking & transportation | Restaurants & bars |
|---|---|---|---|
| Colorado (Oct 10–18, 9 days) | 198 | 187 | 78 |
| New York (Oct 10–16, 7 days) | 246 | 139 | 157 |
| Connecticut (Oct 10–18, 9 days) | 80 | 39 | 45 |
| Pennsylvania (Sep 17–Oct 2, 16 days) | 357 | 302 | 198 |
| Texas (Oct 3–17, 15 days, sales-tax permits) | 429 | 82 | 927 |
- Construction
- 198
- Trucking & transportation
- 187
- Restaurants & bars
- 78
- Construction
- 246
- Trucking & transportation
- 139
- Restaurants & bars
- 157
- Construction
- 80
- Trucking & transportation
- 39
- Restaurants & bars
- 45
- Construction
- 357
- Trucking & transportation
- 302
- Restaurants & bars
- 198
- Construction
- 429
- Trucking & transportation
- 82
- Restaurants & bars
- 927
These trades share three things: a near-term trigger (a certificate for the first job, auto liability to get loads, liability cover before opening), several lines of coverage, and a first renewal you can compete for again.
A simple process for working new business leads
- Pick your trades. Choose two or three you know how to write and place. Ignore the rest, even if they look like volume.
- Filter before you dial. Drop holding and property names, registered-agent addresses and duplicates. See how we filter and score.
- Work by state freshness. Colorado, New York and Connecticut records usually reach a list 1–2 days after filing, so speed matters there. Pennsylvania records arrive 2+ weeks after filing, so check whether the business already has coverage before you pitch.
- Research the business first. Look it up, keep outreach short, and lead with the trigger, not the quote: "Before your first job, the GC will want a certificate showing GL and comp. Have you sorted that out?"
- Know the state rules. New York says virtually all employers must carry workers' comp, plus disability and Paid Family Leave coverage once they have employees (wcb.ny.gov). Texas private employers can choose not to carry workers' comp, but non-subscribers have their own notice and filing duties (tdi.texas.gov). That makes the first Texas call an advisory conversation. More on each state: Texas, New York, Colorado, Pennsylvania, Connecticut.
- Log the misses. A business you couldn't reach now becomes a first-renewal prospect at months 10–11.
Buying new business leads: questions to ask any vendor
- What share of the list is shells, holding companies and registered-agent addresses?
- How many days old is a "new" record when I get it, by state?
- Do you tag industry and likely coverage lines, or just give me a name and address?
- Can I export straight into my AMS or CRM?
- Is it business-level data only, with no personal data?
Try it on your own county
UncoveredList does this filtering every day for Colorado, New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Texas, as fast as each state publishes. Every business gets an insurance-need score from 1 to 100, an industry tag and its likely coverage lines, and your list lands by 6 AM Mountain / 7 AM Central. It's business-level public records only, with no owner or officer names, phone numbers or email addresses. Get 25 free leads for your county, with no card and no account, or see pricing.
FAQ
Are new business leads exclusive? No. Public filing data is available to anyone, so speed and filtering are the advantage, not exclusivity.
How fresh are new business leads? It depends on the state: usually 1–2 days after filing in Colorado, New York and Connecticut; Texas sales-tax permits refresh about weekly; Pennsylvania runs 2+ weeks behind.
What coverage do new businesses usually need first? Often general liability or a BOP, workers' comp once they hire (rules vary by state), and commercial auto if they use vehicles for work. Our scores and coverage suggestions are estimates to help you prioritize, not insurance, underwriting or legal advice.
Where do your numbers come from? From our October 2026 New Business Pulse, built from official state records. Scores are rules-based; see our methodology.
new business leadscommercial insurance prospectingnew business filings