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

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May 7, 2025

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In this engaging discussion, Joe Morrissey, General Partner at a16z Growth, and his colleagues Michael King and Mark Regan, delve into the importance of the Ideal Customer Profile (ICP). They reveal how many founders misjudge their ICP, leading to strategic pitfalls. The trio discusses practical steps for refining ICP to boost alignment across teams. They also highlight the rising significance of ICPs in the AI era, providing insights into leveraging data for better customer understanding and sustainable growth.

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INSIGHT

ICP: The Customer Journey Core

Your ICP is the core driver of your entire customer journey and sales performance.
Problems in pipeline, marketing spend, or product roadmap often trace back to ICP misalignment.

ADVICE

Five Key ICP Defining Questions

Ask which customers use your product most and share traits, lost deals objections, and upsell ease to define ICP.
Analyze competitors' customers to refine and understand your ideal customer profile.

ADVICE

Company-wide ICP Responsibility

ICP ownership should include founders, sales, marketing, product, and customer success teams.
Align diverse time horizons of teams to continuously refine ICP for success.

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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.

Resources:

Read more on sales and go-to-market on our Growth Content Compendium

Find Joe on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/morrisseyjoe/

Find Mark on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mregan178/

Find Michael on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-king-62258/

Find Emma on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmajanaskie/

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Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.