Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)
Your ideal customer profile is the precise description of the company and person you are best placed to win and keep. It is not a demographic sketch but a tight specification: the company size, sector, situation and trigger that make your product an obvious yes, plus the role and pain of the person who feels the problem most. The sharper it is, the cheaper your growth gets, because every channel, message and offer can be aimed at one target instead of sprayed at everyone.
Most founders define it too broadly because a wider net feels safer. It is the opposite. A vague ICP makes your copy generic, your outbound cold and your ads expensive, because you are paying to reach people who will never buy. A narrow ICP lets a solo founder compete with a whole sales team: you say the one thing your buyer cannot ignore, in the place they already are.
Build it from evidence, not hope. Look at the customers you already serve well, find what the best of them share, and write the profile from that pattern. Revisit it as you learn, and let it govern who you chase and, just as importantly, who you politely decline.