qa-aman/icp-research

icp-research

Builds rigorous, evidence-based personas using Jobs-to-be-Done. Writes to knowledge/icp/personas.md directly so the rest of the OS uses the updated context.

Demographics and firmographics are context. The job the customer is hiring you for is the insight.

When to use

• "Build our ICP from scratch"
• "Refine our buyer personas"
• "Who are we actually selling to?"
• "Update the persona doc based on these customer interviews"
• "I uploaded customer research, build personas from it"

Inputs needed

• Source material (any combination):
  • Existing customer list (CSV in uploads/)
  • Customer interview notes
  • Win/loss data
  • Sales team input (paste in chat)
  • Existing case studies in knowledge/content-library/case-studies/
  • Pasted survey results
• Number of personas to build (default: 1 primary, 1-2 secondary; max 4)
• Use case: positioning, ABM targeting, content strategy, paid ads, sales enablement

Framework: Jobs-to-be-Done (JTBD)

People don't buy products. They hire them to do a job in their life. The job - not the demographic - is what drives the purchase.

Three job dimensions (all three required in every persona)

| Dimension | What it is | Example | |---|---|---| | Functional job | The practical task they need done | "Get pipeline without relying on the founder for every deal" | | Emotional job | How they want to feel when it's done | "Feel confident when the CEO asks about marketing ROI" | | Social job | How they want to be perceived | "Be seen as the person who finally fixed marketing" |

The struggling moment

The moment when the customer's current solution broke and they started looking. More predictive of buying behavior than any demographic. Every persona must have one.

Format: "What was happening in their life/job when they started looking? What was the specific situation?"

Hiring and firing triggers

• Hiring trigger: what made them actively seek a solution? (the push)
• Firing trigger: what were they using before, and why did it stop being enough? (the pull away)

Four Forces of Progress

| Force | Direction | Question | |---|---|---| | Push of the situation | Moves them away from status quo | What's so broken they can't stay put? | | Pull of the new solution | Attracts them to the new option | What's the specific promise that drew them? | | Anxiety of the new | Holds them back | What are they afraid might go wrong? | | Habit of the present | Inertia | What makes it easier to do nothing? |

Understanding all four forces explains why good products still lose deals - anxiety and habit beat push and pull.

JTBD statement format

"When [struggling situation], I want to [motivation], so I can [expected outcome]."

Example: "When the board asks for pipeline attribution and I can't answer, I want a marketing analytics tool I can trust, so I can show that marketing is driving revenue and keep my budget."

Process

1. Load existing knowledge. Read knowledge/icp/personas.md (if any), knowledge/markets/positioning.md, and case studies. If personas already exist, ask: "Replace or refine?"

2. Gather evidence. If uploads/ has customer data, run analysis:

   • Common industries
   • Common company sizes (employees, revenue)
   • Common roles (the buyer, the user, the influencer)
   • Common geographies
   • Common acquisition channels
   • Win-rate by segment if available

   If no data, interview the user with these questions (not generic persona questions - JTBD-specific):

   JTBD Interview Questions

   The struggling moment:

   • "Walk me through the specific day or week when you decided to start looking for a solution."
   • "What was happening that made the status quo no longer acceptable?"
   • "How long had that situation been going on before you started looking?"

   The firing trigger:

   • "What were you doing before? A spreadsheet, a different tool, a consultant, nothing?"
   • "What happened that made that stop being enough?"

   The hiring trigger:

   • "What made you choose this solution over doing nothing, or staying with the old approach?"
   • "What was the specific promise that made you move?"

   The four forces:

   • "What were you most anxious about when you decided to switch?" (anxiety)
   • "What almost made you not do it?" (habit + anxiety)
   • "Who else had to sign off? What were their concerns?" (committee anxiety)

   The three job dimensions:

   • "When you imagined this working perfectly, what did that feel like?" (emotional job)
   • "How did you explain this decision to your CEO or team?" (social job)
   • "What specific outcome were you hired to produce?" (functional job)

   Standard questions for firmographic baseline:

   • "Who are your top 5 customers by revenue or fit?"
   • "What pattern do you see across them?"
   • "Who do you NOT want as a customer?"
   • "Which deals close fastest?"

3. Write the persona doc. Use this structure (one block per persona):

   # ICP and Personas (DD-MM-YYYY)
   
   ## Primary persona: <Name + role>
   Example: "Maya, Head of Demand Gen at Series B SaaS"
   
   ### Demographics
   - Role: <title>
   - Seniority: <IC | Manager | Director | VP | C-level>
   - Team size: <range>
   - Reports to: <role>
   
   ### Firmographics
   - Company stage: <seed | A | B | C | growth | enterprise>
   - Employees: <range>
   - Revenue: <range>
   - Industries: <list>
   - Geographies: <list>
   
   ### The struggling moment
   <Specific narrative of the situation that triggered them to look for a solution.
   Must be a concrete scenario, not a general pain point.>
   Example: "It's the Thursday before the board meeting. Pipeline is flat.
   The CEO just asked 'what is marketing doing?' and Maya doesn't have an answer
   that will hold up to scrutiny."
   
   ### Jobs-to-be-Done
   
   **Functional job** (the practical task):
   <What they need done, specifically.>
   
   **Emotional job** (how they want to feel):
   <How they want to feel when the job is done.>
   
   **Social job** (how they want to be perceived):
   <How they want others to see them as a result.>
   
   **JTBD statement**:
   "When [struggling situation], I want to [motivation], so I can [expected outcome]."
   
   List 2-3 JTBD statements if the persona has multiple jobs.
   
   ### Four Forces of Progress
   
   | Force | What it is for this persona |
   |---|---|
   | Push (away from status quo) | <specific situation that's making them move> |
   | Pull (toward new solution) | <specific promise that attracted them> |
   | Anxiety (about the new) | <what they're afraid might go wrong> |
   | Habit (inertia) | <what makes doing nothing easier> |
   
   ### Goals (what they're measured on)
   1. ...
   2. ...
   3. ...
   
   ### Pains (what's broken today)
   1. ... (specific, not generic)
   2. ...
   3. ...
   
   ### Hiring / Firing triggers
   - **Hiring trigger**: <what caused them to actively seek a solution>
   - **Firing trigger**: <what they were using before and why it stopped working>
   
   ### How they buy
   - Discovery channels: <where they find tools>
   - Influencers: <who they trust>
   - Decision criteria: <ranked: outcomes, price, fit, brand, integrations>
   - Buying committee: <other roles involved>
   - Typical sales cycle: <weeks/months>
   - Common objections: <list - mapped to the four forces where possible>
   
   ### Where they hang out
   - Communities (Slack, Discord, Reddit subs)
   - Newsletters and podcasts
   - Conferences
   - LinkedIn groups, hashtags
   
   ### Voice (how to write to them)
   - Words they use: ...
   - Words they avoid: ...
   - Tone: <formal | conversational | technical>
   - Length tolerance: <skim | medium | deep dives>
   
   ### Anti-persona (NOT this person)
   Who looks similar but isn't a fit. Example: "Solopreneurs and pre-seed founders.
   They don't have budget or scale."
   
   ### Evidence
   - Source 1: <interview, survey, win-rate analysis>
   - Source 2: ...
   - Confidence level: high / medium / low (based on N data points)
   
   ---
   
   ## Secondary persona: <Name + role>
   Same structure, shorter
   

4. Cross-check against case studies. Open knowledge/content-library/case-studies/. Do the existing customers fit the personas? Specifically: do their struggling moments match? If not, flag the mismatch. Demographic fit without JTBD fit is a weak persona.

5. Check against knowledge/learnings.md. Past campaigns may have revealed which struggling moment converts fastest. Update the four forces accordingly.

6. Self-check:

   • [ ] Every persona has a struggling moment (specific scenario, not a job title)
   • [ ] Every persona has all three job dimensions: functional, emotional, social
   • [ ] Every persona has a JTBD statement in proper format ("When X, I want Y, so I can Z")
   • [ ] Every persona has all four forces mapped
   • [ ] Hiring and firing triggers are named
   • [ ] At least 3 specific pains, not generic ones
   • [ ] Anti-persona is explicit and concrete
   • [ ] Confidence level is honest (low if fewer than 5 data points)
   • [ ] Voice notes are concrete enough that /content-writer can use them

7. Write to knowledge/icp/personas.md (replace or merge based on user choice).

8. Save a version snapshot to output/icp-research/<DD-MM-YYYY>-personas.md so prior versions are preserved.

9. Offer follow-ups:

   • Update positioning to match (/onboard --markets or manual edit)
   • Build content briefs targeted at the struggling moment (not generic persona)
   • Run /competitor-analyst to map competitors against the same JTBD

Rules

• Never invent firmographics. If you have 3 customers, say "based on 3 interviews, low confidence" rather than overstating.
• The struggling moment is mandatory. A persona without one is just a demographic profile.
• The anti-persona is mandatory. If you don't know who is NOT your customer, you don't know who is.
• Pains must be specific. "Wants to grow revenue" is not a pain. "Spending 30% of week manually pulling reports that still don't answer the CEO's questions" is.
• All three job dimensions (functional, emotional, social) are required. Most personas have functional jobs only. Emotional and social jobs are where messaging differentiation lives.
• Voice notes must be concrete enough to use. "Professional" is useless. "Uses 'GTM' not 'go-to-market', avoids exclamation points, prefers numbered lists" is useful.
• Update knowledge/icp/personas.md directly. The whole OS depends on this file being current.

Quick Reference: JTBD Framework

| Concept | What to capture | Why it matters | |---|---|---| | Struggling moment | The specific situation that triggered the search | More predictive than demographics | | Functional job | The practical task needing done | The baseline - everyone captures this | | Emotional job | How they want to feel | Where messaging resonates | | Social job | How they want to be perceived | Where brand and positioning live | | Push force | What's making them leave status quo | Drives urgency | | Pull force | What attracted them to the new option | Drives conversion | | Anxiety force | What might make them not switch | Drives objections | | Habit force | Inertia keeping them in status quo | Drives loss to "do nothing" | | Hiring trigger | What started active search | Defines the entry point | | Firing trigger | What they used before and why it failed | Defines the competitive switch |