
Revenue Builders Stop Selling to the Wrong Customers | The Science of Scaling Your ICP with Mark Roberge
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Jan 18, 2026 Mark Roberge, the founding Chief Revenue Officer of HubSpot and a Harvard Business School lecturer, shares insights on the emotional barriers companies face in evolving their Ideal Customer Profile (ICP). He introduces the innovative "green, yellow, red" framework to identify high-value customers while avoiding resource-draining ones. Roberge emphasizes the importance of aligning teams around a clear ICP to drive sustainable growth, enhance retention, and optimize go-to-market strategies, transforming the way organizations operate.
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ICP Failure Is An Emotional Problem
- Many companies fail to update their ICP because decisions are emotional, not data-driven.
- A true ICP must be based on lifetime value (LTV), not just low CAC or high inbound volume.
Use A Green/Yellow/Red ICP Framework
- Use a green/yellow/red ICP framework with 5–8 attributes to prioritize where to sell and explore next.
- Treat green as target, red as off-limits, and yellow as the peripheral area to test selectively.
Snowflake Grew By Exploring The Yellow
- Snowflake moved upstream from SMB to enterprise by exploring yellow-segment customers who pulled them up.
- Early adopter enterprises in the yellow became the path to large-scale expansion.



