How to Create a B2B Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) with Examples of Research from Leah Tharin

Imagine fishing without bait. You might get lucky, but most of the time, you’ll be staring at the water, hoping for something to bite…

That’s what B2B marketing and product development looks like without a well-defined Ideal Customer Profile (ICP): directionless, inefficient, and expensive.

To help you stop casting wide nets and start reeling in the right-fit customers, we sat down with Leah Tharin, product growth strategist, hands-on operator, and LinkedIn voice with over 100k followers. Leah has helped shape go-to-market and product strategies across SaaS, agencies, and DTC brands, and in this article, she shares her battle-tested ICP process.

This isn’t a theoretical lecture. It’s a field manual packed with ICP templates, interview tricks, survey examples, and research pro tips you can put to work today.

TL;DR: What You’ll Learn

• What an ICP is (and how it differs from personas and segments)
• Why you need one to grow your product or GTM motion efficiently
• How to build your ICP using Leah Tharin’s proven steps
• The most common mistakes teams make with ICPs
• Real examples from SaaS, agency, and eCommerce use cases
• Free templates from Usersnap to get started fast

What Is an ICP (Ideal Customer Profile)?

An ICP is the blueprint of your most valuable customer type. It goes beyond surface-level details to define the organizations and people who extract the most value from your product—and help your business grow as a result.

ICP vs. Buyer Persona vs. Target Market

Leah’s take: “Your ideal customers don’t just share a title. They share use cases, behavior, and motivation. That’s what drives conversions.”

Leah Tharin’s Step-by-Step Guide: How-To ICP Process

Step 1: Find Interviewees That Reveal Patterns

Don’t rely on firmographics alone. Look for your most successful, long-term users who deeply engage with your product.

What to look for:

• Customers with 12+ months of retention
• Above-average spend or usage
• Decision-makers and power users
• Expanding users within accounts
• Willingness to share honest feedback

Bonus Tip: Use a Warm-up Survey (template below) to pre-screen and schedule interviews quickly.

Step 2: Mix Quantitative + Qualitative Data

Firmographics:

• Company size, revenue, tech stack
• Industry, region, ARR

Qualitative Data:

• Pain points and unmet needs
• Triggers that drove the buying decision
• Reasons they came to you
• Internal processes and team dynamics
• Emotional context: “why now?” Why is it urgent/critical?
• Why did you choose us over competitors?

Leah says: “Asking for job titles and budgets only scratches the surface. You need to understand their shift in mindset.”

Step 3: Run Interviews That Go Deep

Surface-level questions give you shallow answers.

Instead of asking: “What problem are you solving?”

Ask: “Tell me about the moment you realized you needed something like this.”

Other powerful prompts:

• “What were you using before? Why wasn’t it working?”
• “When things go right with our tool, how does your workday change?”
• “What nearly stopped you from buying?”

Use ideally: Usersnap’s Schedule Interview Template

Step 4: Use Pro Techniques to Get Richer Insights

• Ask open-ended, storytelling-driven questions
• Always follow up: “Can you give an example?”
• Listen for tone, energy shifts, and hesitation
• Document patterns across interviews in a shared space

Real ICP Examples from Leah’s Projects

Use these as templates or inspiration:

1. B2B SaaS Tool (Project Management)

• Company Size: 50–500 employees
• Pain Point: Disconnected product + dev workflows
• Decision Makers: Head of Product, CTO
• Trigger: Growth causing team chaos

2. Digital Marketing Agency

• Business: $1M–$10M revenue agencies
• Pain Point: Manual performance reporting
• Decision Makers: Founder, Strategy Lead
• Trigger: Client demand for real-time dashboards

3. DTC Subscription Brand

• Revenue: $500k+ MRR
• Pain Point: Personalization fatigue + churn
• Decision Makers: Head of Growth, CEO
• Trigger: Need to improve LTV fast

How to Keep Your ICP Fresh (and Real)

Treat your ICP like a living, breathing document.

Revisit it every 6–12 months or when:

• Product strategy pivots
• GTM strategy changes
• New features open new markets

Use a Continuous Validation Survey and ongoing interviews with your power users to stay aligned with your evolving market.

Want More from Leah?

Follow Leah Tharin on LinkedIn for weekly insights on product growth, strategic bets, and customer research.

Or book her for a hands-on workshop if you want help building your ICP from scratch.

Final Thoughts: This Is Your Blueprint

ICP research is not just about better targeting. It’s how you:

• Build products people stick with
• Sharpen messaging that resonates
• Prioritize features with real impact
• Shorten sales cycles

Use this framework to find your next 100 best customers and build for them.

Watch the full interview with Leah and Usersnap’s CEO Shannon Vettes to see this playbook in action.

Want to hear Leah go deeper on the biggest mistakes teams make, and how to actually run interviews that drive product growth?

Here’s a sneak peek of what she covered:

1. What are the most common mistakes B2B SaaS teams make when defining their ICP?
2. How can a structured approach help teams avoid those missteps?
3. How does understanding your ICP influence product development and feature design?
4. What are your tips for running user interviews and capturing actionable insights?
5. Can you share an example where ICP research directly impacted revenue or growth?
6. What are the very first steps teams should take to define their ICP the right way?