Firmographic criteria are the foundation of most ICP rubrics: employee count, revenue, industry, geography, ownership status. They're easy to source and have strong predictive power.
The standard firmographic dimensions
- Employee count — most common; bands like 10–50, 50–200, 200–1000.
- Revenue — where available.
- Industry — NAICS codes or your custom taxonomy.
- Geography — country, region.
- Ownership — private, public, PE-backed, government.
- Founding date — mature vs early-stage.
How to add a criterion
ICP → [rubric] → Add Criterion → Firmographic → pick dimension → pick value or range → set weight. Example: "Employee count between 100 and 500, weight 3" means accounts in that size band contribute strongly to fit score.
Single value vs ranges
Most firmographics use ranges (size bands, revenue brackets) rather than exact values. Avoid overly tight ranges — "100–150 employees" excludes too much; "100–500 employees" captures the band that behaves similarly.
Industry — codes vs categories
Pure NAICS code targeting is precise but rigid. Your custom industry taxonomy is more flexible ("B2B SaaS," "DTC consumer," "healthcare IT") but requires the data sources to be tagged that way. Most workspaces use both — NAICS as the data source, custom taxonomy mapped on top.
Common firmographic mistakes
- Too tight — excluding accounts that look like your customers but are slightly bigger or smaller.
- Too broad — capturing accounts your motion can't serve well.
- Wrong dimension — using "Series B+" as a proxy for size when employee count is the actual driver.
Test by scoring your closed-lost customers; high scores mean your firmographics aren't discriminating.
