Defining who is NOT your customer helps focus distribution efforts
Qualification is as important as conversion - understanding who won't succeed with your product prevents wasted acquisition efforts
When to use
When experiencing high sign-up but low conversion; when defining ICP
Don't do this
Trying to convert everyone rather than qualifying for fit
5 Founders Who Did This
Noticed non-developer signups expecting no-code solution. Changed marketing to explicitly state for developers and requires code integration.
Tested multiple ICPs: large enterprises failed (long sales cycles, no managed hosting), small companies failed (wouldn't pay). Eventually identified ideal customer as CTOs of small SaaS companies - someone who understood email integration complexity
As VP of Revenue at Loom, Taylor deliberately limited sales focus to 2-3 personas despite being a horizontal tool that could sell to anyone
Focused exclusively on real estate investors instead of general homebuyers, using her personal investor experience as differentiator
Explicitly said no to nonprofits, physical inventory businesses, and other customer types that didn't fit their automation capabilities