ICP research skill

Generate ideal customer profiles for B2B SaaS clients through systematic research and structured output.

Report structure

The final ICP report follows this numbered section order:

Section	Purpose
Header	Research date, website, category, confidence score (1-5)
1. Executive summary	High-level synthesis of findings and strategic recommendations
2. TAM analysis	Market sizing with targeting strategy per layer (TAM/SAM/SOM/ICP)
3. Firmographics analysis	Geographic, industry, company segment patterns, and technographics
4. Roles and personas	Core use case, Champion deep-dive, Economic Buyer deep-dive, buying journey
5. Negative ICP	Who is NOT a fit, disqualification criteria, and red flags
6. Customer proof points	Named customers, outcomes, and evidence with URLs
7. Voice of customer synthesis	Language patterns, pain points, and outcome terminology
8. ICP segment definitions	Scoring matrix, in-market signals, segment deep-dives
9. Intent signals and buying triggers	Observable signals indicating purchase readiness
10. Recommendations	Prioritization and messaging by segment
11. Data gaps	Missing information and follow-up suggestions
12. Source appendix	All sources with access dates, URLs, and confidence levels

Confidence score calculation: Count High/Medium/Low data points. Score 5 if >70% High, Score 4 if >50% High, Score 3 if mixed, Score 2 if >50% Low, Score 1 if >70% Low.

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Sorting rules

Apply consistently across all tables:

Dimension	Sort order
Decision role	Champion → Economic Buyer → User → Influencer
Company size	Enterprise → Mid-market → SMB → Startup
Frequency	Very high → High → Medium → Low
Confidence	High → Medium → Low
Customer concentration	High → Medium → Low
Priority	1 → 2 → 3 → 4
Industry presence	Strong → Moderate → Emerging

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Workflow

The research runs in 3 phases. Read the premium reference for the full step-by-step.

Phase summary:

1. Data extraction — discover key pages (customers, case studies, solutions, pricing, integrations, G2, LinkedIn) → extract raw data with URL+date per source → normalize attributes (geography, industry, company size, team size, tech stack)
2. Analysis and synthesis — identify patterns per segment → build Champion + Economic Buyer deep-dives → identify negative ICP + intent signals → collect proof points → document technographics → calculate TAM with targeting strategy → identify ICP as highest-priority segment below SOM
3. Structured output — generate the 12 numbered sections, apply sorting rules, include rich descriptions with URLs and dates

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Input requirements

Required

• Website URL — primary company website

Optional (improves quality)

Input	Purpose
Case studies URL	Direct link to case studies page
Testimonials URL	Direct link to testimonials
Market context	Category, competitors, GTM approach
Sales call notes	Win/loss context, objections
Existing ICP docs	Validate or expand current understanding

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Anti-hallucination guardrails

1. Never invent customer names. Only cite publicly referenced customers.
2. Quote verbatim. Use exact customer language in quotes.
3. Mark confidence levels. Tag data as High/Medium/Low confidence.
4. Cite sources with URLs and dates. Include URL and access date for every claim.
5. Acknowledge gaps. Explicit "Not available" for missing data.

Confidence	Definition
High	Direct from official source, verifiable
Medium	Third-party source, multiple signals
Low	Single indirect source, inferred

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Quality

Pre-delivery checklist (coverage / personas / segments / evidence): the premium reference.

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Related context

Built from:

• MMYY-company-context.md (company profile)
• MMYY-competitor-*.md (competitor profiles for market context)
• Win/loss analysis if available

Feeds into:

• /icp-behavioural (synthetic personas built on ICP foundation)
• /positioning (positioning targets ICP pain points)
• /product-messaging (messaging speaks to ICP personas)
• /content-strategy (content targets ICP channels and topics)