Podcast · 35 min

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

a16z Podcast Free Advanced

This episode is the audio companion to a16z's written ICP framework, useful specifically for the moment your company has grown past its first few customers and the founding team's gut feel about the ICP no longer matches who is actually renewing. It pushes back directly on founders who assume they know their ICP without ever having checked. Good to listen to alongside the written a16z piece rather than instead of it.

  • Gut feel about your ICP expires as the company grows, check it against real account data periodically.
  • A mismatch between assumed ICP and actual best customers usually shows up first in retention, not acquisition.
  • Refining your ICP is an ongoing habit, not a one time exercise you finish at launch.
Open on a16z.com ↗

It answers 2 questions

  1. What is an ideal customer profile and how do I define mine?
  2. How do I use the customers I already have to sharpen my ideal customer profile instead of guessing?

Read with it

  1. The single best thing ever written on customer conversations. It teaches you to ask about the customer's life and past... momtestbook.com Book · ~130 pages The Mom Test Rob Fitzpatrick
  2. Market size is meaningless until you know exactly who you're for, and Lenny turns that into a concrete, repeatable ICP exercise... Lenny's Newsletter Article · ~15 min read How to identify your ideal customer profile (ICP) Lenny Rachitsky
  3. The best book on positioning against competitors by understanding the alternatives customers actually consider. Directly turns... aprildunford.com Book · ~200 pages Obviously Awesome: How to Nail Product Positioning so Customers Get It, Buy It, Love It April Dunford
  4. Video · ~25 min How to Talk to Users Eric Migicovsky
  5. Turns the vague feeling of product-market fit into a number you can move. Ask users how they would feel if they could no longer... First Round Review Article · ~20 min read How Superhuman Built an Engine to Find Product/Market Fit Rahul Vohra
  6. Michael King runs a16z's go to market network, and this piece is aimed squarely at the moment your first guess at an ICP needs... Andreessen Horowitz Article · 12 min read A Framework for Defining and Refining Your ICP Michael King
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