Your ICP is the precise description of the company most likely to buy, stay, and expand. Not a broad market segment — a surgical profile with firmographic attributes: industry, headcount range, funding stage, tech stack, geography, and buying triggers. If your ICP is 'mid-market B2B SaaS,' you don't have one. A real ICP looks like: Series A–B fintech SaaS, 50–200 employees, US-based, using Salesforce, growing headcount 20%+ YoY.
For example, a cybersecurity startup might define their ICP as US-based financial services companies with 100–500 employees, using legacy on-prem tools, and having recently hired a CISO.
We run ICP workshops in week one of every engagement — it's the single biggest lever on outbound conversion rates.
Related Terms
Relevant Cactus Services
We implement Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) strategies for B2B tech startups every day. Book a free 30-minute call to get a concrete plan for your situation.
Book a free strategy call →Sales Development Representative (SDR)
An SDR is the outbound hunter on your sales team — their job is to generate qualified meetings, not close deals.
Business Development Representative (BDR)
A BDR is similar to an SDR but often focuses on larger, more strategic accounts or outbound into new markets rather than a defined territory.
Total Addressable Market (TAM)
TAM is the total revenue opportunity if you captured 100% of your target market.
Serviceable Addressable Market (SAM)
SAM is the portion of TAM you can actually reach with your current GTM motion.
Serviceable Obtainable Market (SOM)
SOM is the slice of SAM you can realistically capture in the next 12–24 months given your resources, competition, and execution capacity.
Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL)
An MQL is a lead that marketing has flagged as sales-ready based on behavior or firmographic fit.