What Changed My Mind About Niche Scoring for B2B SaaS

I used to pick ICP by founder-fit. The career I had came first. Two failed launches and one wasted sales hire later, I changed my mind.

What Did Not Change My Mind

The two pivots themselves. I rationalized each. The first because the buyer was "not ready." The second because pricing was "too low." Both excuses. Both me ignoring scoring.

What Did

An advisor scored five candidate ICPs against my matrix. Their scores were 4 points lower on reachability for my favored ICP. The boring ICP I had dismissed scored highest on every dimension that mattered.

I switched. Pipeline tripled in 60 days. The sales hire I had thought was the wrong fit was actually the right fit for the right ICP.

The Realization

I had been scoring by what was familiar. Familiar is not reachable. Familiar is not paying. Familiar is just familiar.

What I Do Differently Now