How to Actually Define Your ICP (Early-Stage Founders)
This is where most early-stage founders get stuck.
They think they have a fully developed ICP.
But they don’t.
They have:
A list of customers
A few deals that closed
And a general idea of who might buy
That’s not a complete ideal client profile, but it’s close.
So let’s break this down the same way I do in real conversations.
First Question → Who Are Your Best Customers?
Not all customers are created equal.
This is where founders put there lens too wide.
They look at:
Everyone who bought
Instead of:
Who they should sell to again
So here’s the filter:
👉 Fastest to close
👉 Highest ACV
👉 Least painful
Pull your top 20-25 deals.
That’s your dataset.
Second Question → What Do They Have in Common?
This is where you actually build your ICP.
And it’s not just industry.
You need to break it down into 3 parts.
1. Firmographics (Who They Are)
This is the obvious stuff—but still important.
Industry → Mortgage (Example)
Subtype → Banks, Credit Unions, Independent Mortgage Banks (IMBs)
Size → Revenue, employees, loan volume
You’re looking for patterns.
Not guesses.
2. Buying Committee (Who The Buyer Is)
You need to map this out clearly.
Not vaguely.
Economic Buyer → Who owns the budget
Decision Maker → Who says yes
Champion → Who pushes internally
Blockers → Who slows things down
If you don’t know this…
You don’t understand your deal flow or the key players at your ideal client.
3. Sales Process (How They Buy)
Ask yourself these questions to understand how your ICP buys.
How long did the sales process take from discovery to close?
At what stage did you know, for fact, that your prospect was going to sign?
At what stage were there the most blockers or deal delays?
Your ICP should have a clearly defined process of how they buy.
It’s your job to get it right so you can consult future prospects.
If Your ICP Can’t Disqualify Deals… It’s Not an ICP
This is the part that matters most.
A real ICP helps you say:
👉 “This is a yes”
👉 “This is a no”
Not:
“Maybe they’ll buy”
So instead of:
“We sell to fintech companies”
You want:
👉 “Series A–C mortgage lenders doing 500–2,000 loans/month, with a newly hired CMO and a broken inbound conversion process.”
Now you can actually sell.
Quick Exercise (Do This Today)
This should take you 45-60 minutes.
Open your CRM or XLS file.
Pull your top 20-25 deals (or 5-10 if you have larger enterprise clients).
Create a doc with:
Firmographics
Buying Committee
Sales Process
Look for patterns.
That’s your ICP.
Final Thought
Most founders stop here.
They define the ICP.
But they don’t do anything with it.
They don’t turn it into:
Messaging
Outbound
Pipeline
That’s the difference.
An ICP isn’t a document.
It’s a filter for how you grow.
And if you get it right…
Everything else gets easier.
