The multi-billion dollar lead economy (currently $5-10B, projected $15-32B by early 2030s) powers online transactions across insurance, solar, mortgage, and financial services. Over 21,000 specialized US businesses operate in this ecosystem. A valuable lead requires three non-negotiable elements: fresh consumer intent, valid permission for contact, and sufficient qualifying data. If any element is missing or old, value collapses to near zero. The brutal reality is leads lose approximately 50% of value every 24-48 hours. Speed is existential in this industry: leads contacted within one minute convert 391% better than those contacted after five minutes, and 78% of customers buy from the first company to respond. The three-tier marketplace structure includes: generators/publishers (tier 1) who capture traffic and convert to leads, distribution networks (tier 2) operating on 15-30% margins managing complex API integrations and ping-post auctions in milliseconds, and end buyers (tier 3) including insurance carriers, lenders, and home service providers converting leads to final revenue.