ICP adjacent is not ICP
Listening to an ICP adjacent customer is the equivalent of trying to action personal development feedback from an ex lover or bad boss.
Climate PMF Newsletter by Peter Nocchiero
Hey, I’m Peter and I help climate founders find and improve product/market fit. The climate imperative isn’t enough for a startup to win. I created a practical, experience-based approach borne out of my direct, operational work with 100s of startups called PMF 2.0 for Climate Startups.
Disclaimer: no AI was used in the creation of this post or any of my content. You’re stuck with the madness swirling around in my brain.
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Let’s dive in.
The most common mistake when leveraging an Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) as part of daily operations is chasing ICP adjacent customers.
Let me explain.
You’ve got a seemingly ideal company to go after… they check the boxes on target market, use case, and budget. Woo hoo.
However, you and your team have defined the minimum frequency of need at around once per week. And this prospect has that need closer to once per month.
Could you sign them? Perhaps. Could you retain them? Maybe. But, your odds are not only greatly diminished…
This ICP adjacent prospect is going to send confusing and misleading signals back into your business.
If they don’t close or don’t re-sign, then you must need to increase product value, right?
If they don’t engage with your product on any kind of meaningful cadence, then you must need to listen to their feedback and incorporate it in your roadmap, right?
Well, probably not.
You can see where this negative feedback loop goes. And once you're in a cycle like this, the gravity of it can suck your entire org into a blackhole.
They are not your ICP, so listening to them is the equivalent of trying to action personal development feedback from an ex lover or bad boss.
They don’t have your best interests in mind, so you shouldn’t make life decisions based on what they think. Same same for ICP adjacent customers.
Chasing ICP adjacencies is not just a common mistake when operationalizing ICP.
More importantly it is something that can and will prevent your startup from achieving strong product/market fit and having the proper foundation to scale on.
Nearly endless resource can be thrown at trying to course correct something that honestly never had a chance of succeeding.
The best part about addressing this is that while you might lose some customers in the short term, you immediately gain focus and PMF strength.
This will enable you to quickly regain what was lost and get you to a place where you can blast through the challenges that exist between PMF stages.
Making the hard decision to cut ICP adjacencies out of your business will propel you to your next stage, your next raise, and a deeper realization of your vision. Your investors and board will commend you, your team will be inspired and motivated.
Thanks for listening.
Peter💚✨
🙋♀️ Questions about PMF? DM me and I’ll answer them.
Climate PMF Newsletter by Peter Nocchiero
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