Do You Really Know Your ICP? Why It Matters and How to Find Out

Your ideal customer profile (ICP) is the north star for your entire company: it determines who you’re building for and selling to. Though most growth-stage founders think they know who their ICP is, very few know how to update and refine it to keep the company focused as they grow—which can lead to a lot of headaches down the road.

In this debut episode of a16z Growth’s new company scaling podcast, the a16z Guide to Growth, a16z’s Joe Morrissey (General Partner, a16z Growth), Michael King (Partner, Go-to-Market Network), and Mark Regan (Partner, a16z Growth) break down why ICP misalignment is often the hidden cause of common problems across the entire company, from pipeline gaps and bloated marketing spend to stalled product roadmaps—and dive deep on how to fix it.

For a more tactical approach to defining and refining your ICP, check out our post on the topic here.

We included some key moments in the discussion below. 

Growth ≠ clarity (3:07)

Many founders assume that product-market fit means they’ve nailed their ICP. But early traction can come from story, virality, or brute-force selling and not necessarily from repeatable fit. So how do you know if your early success is real or just noise?

When everything feels like a problem, it might be your ICP (4:10)

Conversion rates falling. Sales cycles dragging. Funnel not filling. It’s tempting to blame marketing, sales ops, or messaging, but the real issue might be more foundational. What are the telltale signs that you’ve outgrown—or misunderstood—your ICP?

Components of a great ICP (6:50)

Great ICPs bring focus to your org, but they’re not the same thing as a segment or a persona. Mistaking one for the other leads to scattered go-to-market efforts. What elements make for a great ICP, and how to think about the difference between ICPs, segments, and personas.

A simple ICP gut check for founders (12:31)

Great ICPs consist of specific, measurable qualities. But when many founders are pressed for a description of their ICP, they’ll offer broad and vague answers. The questions should every founder—and GTM team—should be able to answer in order to arrive at a great ICP.

Defining and refining ICPs is everyone’s responsibility (15:56)

You can’t define your ICP in a silo. RevOps has data. Product sees patterns. Sales hears objections. Marketing picks up signal. Success sees who churns and who expands. Each function holds a piece of the puzzle. How to build your ICP with your entire org. 

Why ICPs are even more important in the AI era (21:46)

Even though many AI companies are growing at unprecedented, breakneck speeds, they still need to get crisp on their ICPs in order to chart a path to sustainable growth. How the best AI companies today build ICPs to prioritize their GTM strategies.

Expanding into new ICPs (24:04)

As companies scale, they inevitably look to expand into new geographies, verticals, or segments. The challenge is balancing that ambition with focus. How do you find and validate adjacent ICPs without losing your edge?

Is your ICP working, and when should you revisit it? (28:22)

ICPs aren’t a “set it and forget it” effort. They require consistent tuning, and they’ll evolve as your product suite and business scale. Signals to watch for to assess if your ICP is working, and when and how to revisit your ICP without whiplashing your team. 

How AI can help GTM and product teams better target ICPs (32:04)

ICP used to be a one-pager. Now it can be a dynamic, data-powered model that lives in your CRM and evolves as your market changes. What does a next-generation, AI-enabled ICP look like?