TL;DR
Enterprise and SMB rubrics emphasize different criteria. Enterprise: size, technographic complexity, buying-committee indicators. SMB: founder-led signals, growth velocity, agility markers.
Enterprise ICP — what matters
- Size bands (500+, 1000+, 5000+ employees).
- Technographic complexity (uses enterprise platforms, has data warehouse, has dedicated ops teams).
- Multiple buyer roles (procurement, security, IT, end-user) indicating committee buying.
- Geography (presence in markets you cover).
- Industry vertical relevance.
Enterprise disqualifiers
- Wrong buying motion fit (your product needs IT involvement but you only sell to end-users).
- Geographic markets you don't cover.
- Specific regulatory environments you can't serve.
- Existing competitor with multi-year contract (still on contract for 18+ months).
SMB ICP — what matters
- Smaller size bands (10–100 or 10–200 employees).
- Founder-led or recent leadership change signals.
- Growth velocity (recent funding, recent hiring).
- Modern tool adoption (already using SaaS, not on legacy).
- Adjacency to your category (uses tools that benefit from your category).
SMB disqualifiers
- Below minimum viable customer (too small to justify your motion).
- Services-based businesses if you sell to product companies (or vice versa).
- Sub-scale geography.
- Industries with poor unit economics for your motion.
Running both motions simultaneously
Most companies that serve enterprise and SMB use two ICP rubrics, two agent deploys, two cadence templates, two pricing tiers. The motions don't share — pretending they do compromises both.
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