The myth of the one true ICP

There’s a common thread across most go-to-market strategies: the idea that there’s an ideal customer profile.

It’s often one of the first things we define, and one of the last things we question. It helps teams align their messaging, prioritise roadmap investments, and sharpen their positioning. It’s a strategic shortcut designed to focus effort.

But shortcuts only work when the path is clear.

In practice, the “one true ICP” tends to collapse under the weight of real-world complexity. It oversimplifies how buyers behave, how influence flows within organisations, and how products scale. Growth doesn’t come from a single persona. It comes from a system of interactions across different users, teams, and triggers. By trying to optimise for one ideal customer, many teams ignore the portfolio that is actually driving their business forward.

When everything about your customer base has changed, but you’re still optimising for the same persona deck from 22 months ago.

Companies scale on pattern recognition

The idea behind an ICP is focus. That’s valid, but strategic focus doesn’t mean choosing one audience and discarding all others. It means recognising repeatable patterns and designing your strategy around the clusters of customers…