Podcast

The customer segments hiding in your own data

Not Another CEO (ICP Compilation) Free Advanced

This compilation centers on ServiceChannel's real story of narrowing 'retail' down to a small set of exact target companies defined by size, structure, and named buyer, the same discipline the short answer asks for. It is a rare case where you hear the actual criteria a company used to cut a huge vague market down to a workable ICP.

  • 'Segment until it hurts,' meaning keep narrowing past the point that feels comfortable
  • Define your ICP with concrete, checkable criteria, not adjectives
  • A narrow ICP shortens sales cycles and stops teams from chasing bad fit logos
Open on notanotherceo.substack.com ↗

It answers 2 questions

  1. How do I define my ideal customer when I'm a domain expert who thinks everyone in my industry needs this?
  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. The free tool for running the how-would-you-feel-without-this survey that underpins the Superhuman method, giving you a... Sean Ellis and GoPractice Tool · Free tool Product/Market Fit Survey Sean Ellis
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