Metrics and go-to-market
ICP and personas
The ICP is the firm that buys, renews and expands with least friction. Personas are the people inside that firm who use, champion, buy or block.
An ideal customer profile (ICP) describes the firm (or consumer segment) that buys, renews and expands with least friction: industry, size, tech stack, trigger events, geography, compliance needs. A sharp ICP sounds like "US B2B SaaS companies with 50–500 employees using Salesforce and spending >$20k/year on support tooling," not "anyone with a website."
Inside the account, map personas:
| Role | Job in the deal | What they optimize |
|---|---|---|
| User | Feels the pain daily | Time saved, UX, status among peers |
| Champion | Sells internally for you | Credibility, low career risk, a clear ROI story |
| Buyer / economic buyer | Owns budget | ROI, vendor risk, contract terms |
| Blocker (security, legal, IT) | Can stop the deal | Risk reduction, standards, procurement checklist |
Self-serve products collapse user and buyer into one person with a credit card. Enterprise deals separate them — which is why "users love us" can coexist with "we can't close."
Write the ICP as a disqualification list as much as a targeting list. "We do not sell to companies without a dedicated ops owner" saves months of zombie pipeline.
Positioning
Positioning is the slot you occupy in the buyer's mind relative to alternatives, including "do nothing" and spreadsheets. Classic skeleton: For [ICP] who [struggle], [product] is a [category] that [key benefit]. Unlike [alternative], we [differentiator].
Category design matters. If you invent a label nobody searches for, distribution gets harder. If you pick a crowded category, you need a sharper wedge. Beachheads are positioning in market-segment form.
Common mistakes
- ICP as "anyone with a website." You cannot write a sales narrative for everyone.
- Selling only to users and wondering why security stopped the deal.
- Inventing a category nobody searches for, then blaming channels.
Check yourself
- Users love the product and deals still stall. Which persona is missing? Usually the economic buyer or a blocker — users are not enough in enterprise.
- Why write a disqualification list? It kills zombie pipeline so the team learns one narrative.
Key takeaways
- ICP is the firm. Personas are the people inside it.
- Self-serve collapses user and buyer. Enterprise separates them.
- Disqualification is part of the ICP.
- Positioning is the promise relative to alternatives, including doing nothing.
Further learning
Which motion those buyers will accept: GTM motions.
Related
Go-to-market strategy
ICP, positioning, motions and channels: how a product reaches the people who will pay.
Founder-led sales
Selling before you have a sales team: discovery calls, pipeline, closing and the first sales hires.
Startup ideas and why now
Where good ideas come from, which shapes to avoid, and how to judge an idea before you quit your job.