[Starter Kit] Step 1: Build your ICP v1 + Persona Creation v1

Includes 8 AI Prompts

Most outbound efforts fail because teams target the wrong accounts.

When you nail your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP), you'll stop wasting resources on bad-fit accounts and see real pipeline growth. Your sales team will have more meaningful conversations, your conversion rates will skyrocket, and you'll acquire customers who actually stick around. Getting your ICP right is the foundation that makes everything else in your GTM strategy actually work.

Your ICP is the make-or-break decision for outbound success.

Most teams skip the hard work of properly defining their ICP

• They confuse their Total Addressable Market (TAM) with their Ideal Customer Profile, blasting messages to everyone instead of focusing on ideal prospects

• They rely on basic firmographics like "SaaS” or “companies with 50-200 employees" without digging into other data points

• They build personas based on demographics rather than job responsibilities and pain points

• They trust gut feel instead of analyzing their best existing customers for patterns

• They rush through ICP work to "get to the real work" of sending emails and making calls

I've built successful outbound engines for multiple SaaS companies, and I'll show you exactly how to define your first ICP step-by-step.

Here's how:

• Module 0: Are you ready for outbound?

• Module 1: 5 steps to build your ICP v1 (including 5 AI prompts)

• Module 2: Persona Creation (using the Jobs-to-be-Done framework) (Including 2 AI prompts)

• Putting It All Together (Including 1 AI prompt)

This is the foundation of successful outbound, get this right, and you'll set yourself up for wins from day one.

Let's get cooking! 🔥

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Quick note:

Your first version of the ICP is just that, a first version. It’s not gonna be perfect, and that’s totally fine. As you get more customers, refine your GTM strategy, or update your product, it’ll change. The goal isn’t to get it perfect right away, just good enough to help you start targeting better accounts now.

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Module 0 - Are You Ready for Outbound?

Before diving in, ensure your business is ready for outbound.

Is your business truly ready for outbound?

✅ Quick Checklist:

• Do you have 5+ paying customers who aren’t friends or family?

• Have you closed at least 3 of them with a repeatable pitch?

• Do you know who your buyer is and what pains you solve?

• Is your product being used and delivering outcomes?

If you can’t say yes to these, focus on product-market fit first. Outbound won’t fix a broken product.

Why do high-performing GTM leaders turn to outbound?

Inbound won’t get you to $10M ARR alone.

At some point, your blog traffic plateaus, your demo requests slow down, and founder-led deals aren’t enough to fuel real growth. That’s when GTM leaders turn to outbound, not because it’s trendy, but because it’s predictable.

When outbound works, it scales with math. If 4 SDRs each target 50 accounts and consistently generate 15 SQLs/month, you can double the team, double the account list, and (if your TAM supports it) double your SQL output. Try doing that with inbound. Writing 2 blog posts a week won’t magically double your MQLs. And when you’re chasing a revenue target, “maybe” isn’t a strategy. Outbound lets you pick the right accounts with the right ACV, and go after them directly.

The truth is, outbound gives you control. You’re not at the mercy of algorithms, SEO, or luck. You define your motion, measure every step, and adjust fast. Founders and GTM leaders choose outbound because it brings structure and clarity to scaling.

Outbound is how you turn GTM guesswork into a repeatable growth machine.

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But… Is Outbound Right for You?

Plenty of people will tell you “don’t run outbound unless your ACV is $50K+.” But that’s lazy thinking. What matters isn’t the sticker price, it’s the model behind it.

Take Kyle Norton, CRO at Owner.com. He’s running a killer outbound motion with a $6K ACV, 1–7 day sales cycle, and a BDR CAC ratio of just 0.13. His BDRs generate $72K in ARR per month. Why does it work? Because Kyle has done this before, he knows how to build efficient motions, define ICPs, and coach for conversion. The playbook matters more than the price point.

But if you don’t have product-market fit, or you’re praying outbound will “just work,” you’re wasting time. Outbound only scales if the math works and the team knows how to execute. If you’re not hitting a 3:1 LTV:CAC, don’t fake it by ignoring comp, tooling, and management costs.

Here’s When Outbound Does Work:

✅ $10K+ ACV (according to Stage 2 Capital)

✅ Clear, reachable ICP

✅ <12-month payback

✅ GTM team that tests and learns fast

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When should you launch outbound?

9–12 months before you actually need it.

Most teams wait until:

• Inbound dries up

• The founder is drowning in deals

• Sales targets aren’t being hit

Then they panic. Hire fast. Burn money. And blame outbound when it fails.

Rippling Did This Too

They dominated with inbound. But when that slowed down?

• No SDRs.

• No playbooks.

• No pipeline.

They had to spin up outbound under pressure. Their CRO admitted it:

“If you think automated emails alone can scale your business, you’ve clearly never scaled anything before.”

Now? Outbound drives $48M in ARR for them (estimation).

Imagine if they’d started 12 months earlier.

“The best time to launch outbound was 12 months ago. The 2nd best time is now.” — Outbound Chef proverb

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Who should own this?

Whoever has built outbound before, you:

• Sales leader

• SDR leader

Never hand it to an intern or junior SDR.

Outbound is too strategic and too slow to show results for that.

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Outbound is not a silver bullet, it’s a long game, and most teams give up way too early.

Outbound takes time to iterate messaging, build your ICP, refine targeting, and earn trust in-market. Even for experienced teams, it can take 9-12 months to show real results. That’s why you need more than hope, you need a viable product, proof that it helps customers, and the patience (and budget) to stay consistent over time.

If you’re not ready to commit for at least 9 months, you’re not ready to start outbound.

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Today, you’ll build your first working ICP step-by-step.

Your goal is to find the accounts with a high propensity to buy.

Module 1: Building Your ICP v1

Step 1. Start with Real Customer Data

You can't build an ICP without looking at your customers first.

Pull a list of your current customers (best and worst) and answer these questions:

• Who are your best customers? (highest ACV, high win rate, lowest churn, fastest sales cycles)

• Who are your worst customers? (lowest win rate, highest churn, lowest expansion, most support tickets)

• What patterns do you see in each group?

Look for (basic data in your CRM):

• Industry/sub-industry

• Team sizes

• Revenue/growth rate

• Tech stack they use

• Common pain points they mention

🚨 Reality Check:

Your TAM might be 50,000 companies, but your actual ICP is probably closer to 2,000-3,000. When I joined CastorDoc, we narrowed from 36,000 potential accounts to just 3,000 truly relevant ones within 3 core industries: SaaS, Fintech, and Ecommerce.

💡 AI Prompt #1: Customer Data Analysis

Act as a go-to-market strategist specializing in ICP development. I need to analyze my customer data to identify patterns among my best and worst customers.

Company info: [Brief description of your product/service]

Data I have available:
[List your available customer data: revenue, industry, company size, churn rate, etc.]

Please:
1. Create a framework for segmenting my customers into "best fit" and "poor fit" categories based on the data points provided
2. Identify 5-7 key attributes that likely distinguish my best customers from the rest
3. Suggest additional data points I should collect to strengthen this analysis
4. Provide a simple template to organize this customer segmentation

If I don't have customers yet, help me design a research plan to identify potential ICP attributes based on:
- Competitor case studies
- Industry trends
- G2/Capterra reviews analysis

Step 2. Identify & Prioritize Customer Pain Points

This is where most companies mess up. They lead with features rather than the actual problems they solve.

Here's how to dig into pain points:

1. Read through customer interviews and call recordings

2. Check G2 reviews

3. List all the problems customers mention

4. Score each problem based on:

   • Business impact

   • Financial impact ($$$ saved or made)

   • Time savings

   • Risk reduction

   • Emotional relief (reduced stress/frustration)

Example: Pain Point Prioritization Matrix

Use this AI prompt to extract pain points from your website/G2 reviews:

💡 AI Prompt #2: Pain Point Prioritization