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.
They offer tactical advice for defining (and refining!) your ICP as you scale, explain why getting it right requires company-wide alignment, and how to navigate the “precision paradox” when implementing it. Plus, why ICPs matter even more in the AI era, and how a well-executed ICP shows up across the business when it’s working.
Read more on sales and go-to-market on our Growth Content Compendium
Joe Morrissey is a general partner on the Growth team at Andreessen Horowitz, where he focuses on enterprise technology companies.
Michael King is a partner on the Go-To-Market Network team, advising on go-to-market strategy across the portfolio.
Mark Regan is a partner on the Growth team, focused on revenue operations and go-to-market strategy.
Emma Janaskie is a partner at Andreessen Horowitz focused on Growth editorial content.
The a16z Podcast discusses the most important ideas within technology with the people building it. Each episode aims to put listeners ahead of the curve, covering topics like AI, energy, genomics, space, and more.