icp-definerlisted

# ICP Definer An ICP describes the customer who *gets the most value, fastest, with the lowest support cost, and stays longest*. It is data-driven, not aspirational. Written ICPs that read like marketing personas ("Marketing Mary, 32, loves coffee") fail — they describe the human, not the buying conditions. ## When to use - Pre-Series A / pre-PMF: too many segments, can't pick - Post-PMF: tightening for efficient growth - Diagnosing rising CAC, falling LTV, or support overload - Multi-audience product (internal users vs external SaaS buyers) — produce *separate* ICPs per audience - Entering a new market where existing ICP may not transfer ## When NOT to use - You have fewer than 10 paying customers — the data is too thin; use qualitative hypothesis docs instead - You haven't shipped yet — no customers means no ICP data; use a target-customer hypothesis with an explicit review date - You're trying to justify a segment you've already decided to target — this process surfaces truth, not confirmation - The goal is messaging polish, not targeting discipline — use `positioning-canvas` instead ## Use this instead - **positioning-canvas** — once ICP is locked, use this to build the messaging that speaks to those buyers; ICP feeds positioning step 4 - **audience-builder** — for sourcing and scoring outbound lists against a defined ICP - **gtm-motion-picker** — use this if the question is "which go-to-market motion fits our ICP" rather than "who is our ICP" ## Required inputs