u/ZetaKT

1. first ICP was a hypothesis. we then tested and validated relentlessly. speak to 100 ICPs to test your assumptions
2. add a high value on unprompted pain. when validating, don't let them know what you are building. ask disc questions and pain they bring up unprompted signals real pain
3. find a wedge. example: we build autonomous software QA so it would be easy to go "we test any software" but our wedge and ideal ICP is in the delta between AI speeding up their dev cycle, but can't afford bugs. a company not shipping quickly, or doesn't have critical revenue impacting bugs = no wedge for us. wedge = pain where you live
4. to reiterate, all the above is from intense validation. 
5. based on that. know what to cut, kill, double down on.
6. use the validation to understand the language of your ICP. do they say bugs or regressions? do they want to increase release velocity or ship faster? this language becomes your sales language
7. any hypothesis has to be tested
8. you have to build in the first instance on a bet/hunch. example, do all the above without building anything at all and you could build something not useful. build too much before this and you may have wasted time. make a bet, build minimum slither you can to showcase, validate, build.
9. convert the validation. if you validate with 100 potential ICPs, you now have an excuse to go back to them when you have MVP. "thanks for the validation. we've built around what you said. would love your view."
10. aim to convert those to design partnerships. partly building based on their feedback. this traction can be used to raise.
11. without becoming a dev shop
12. themes will appear from those partnerships. do all ecommerce companies need the same features? if you build a flow for a bank will other banks use this.
13. this data presents ICP paths you can once again test. example. we thought healthtech and fintech would be our markets: high regulatory risk = more need for a tool that prevents bugs. we didn't anticipate the flip side of that coin is also, it is difficult to build in regulated markets. higher expectations early on.
14. now you have data and social proof from design partnerships. wrap that up and find lookalike companies. why did it work well in those partnerships? what traits did they have. find similar. outreach using social proof.
15. Narrow ICP - we did it in sprints. every two weeks tested high volume across multiple channels into new ICP hypothesis. compared data. cut; scaled. explore vs exploit.
16. "would love your view on this" works surprisingly well if you solve an actual pain.
17. build faster than they expect. they will forgive fumbles if you move quickly and are solving a pain.
18. be honest about where you currently are but be v good at selling the vision of where you are going to get to.
19. network and events work extremely well in the early days. biggest barrier is building trust as pre-seed. much easier to do that face to face.
20. be shameless with outreach and favours
21. convert design partners to paid pilots once you launch publicly. 
22. be everywhere. marketing, posting etc. is long tailed. there is a trap of "we shouldn't start now it takes 12 months to see results" that's why you should start now.
23. measure everything.
24. have incredibly high standards; but keep velocity high
25. think of an objective. then double your targets, and half the time. you'll be surprised about what you can do

hopefully this is useful.

Here is my list. There is more, but this is everything off the top of my head

1. first ICP was a hypothesis. we then tested and validated relentelessly. speak to 100 ICPs to test your assumptions
2. add a high value on unprompted pain. when validating, don't let them know what you are building. ask disc questions and pain they bring up unprompted signals real pain
3. find a wedge. example: we build autonomous software QA so it would be easy to go "we test any software" but our wedge and ideal ICP is in the delta between AI speeding up their dev cycle, but can't afford bugs. a company not shipping quickly, or doesn't have critical revenue impacting bugs = no wedge for us. wedge = pain where you live
4. to reiterate, all the above is from intense validation.
5. based on that. know what to cut, kill, double down on.
6. use the validation to understand the language of your ICP. do they say bugs or regressions? do they want to increase release velocity or ship faster? this language becomes your sales language
7. any hypothesis has to be tested
8. you have to build in the first instance on a bet/hunch. example, do all the above without building anything at all and you could build something not useful. build too much before this and you may have wasted time. make a bet, build minimum slither you can to showcase, validate, build.
9. convert the validation. if you validate with 100 potential ICPs, you now have an excuse to go back to them when you have MVP. "thanks for the validation. we've built around what you said. would love your view."
10. aim to convert those to design partnerships. partly building based on their feedback. this traction can be used to raise.
11. without becoming a dev shop
12. themes will appear from those partnerships. do all ecommerce companies need the same features? if you build a flow for a bank will other banks use this.
13. this data presents ICP paths you can once again test. example. we thought healthtech and fintech would be our markets: high regulatory risk = more need for a tool that prevents bugs. we didn't anticipate the flip side of that coin is also, it is difficult to build in regulated markets. higher expectations early on.
14. now you have data and social proof from design partnerships. wrap that up and find lookalike companies. why did it work well in those partnerships? what traits did they have. find similar. outreach using social proof.
15. Narrow ICP - we did it in sprints. every two weeks tested high volume across multiple channels into new ICP hypothesis. compared data. cut; scaled. explore vs exploit.
16. "would love your view on this" works surprisingly well if you solve an actual pain.
17. build faster than they expect. they will forgive fumbles if you move quickly and are solving a pain.
18. be honest about where you currently are but be v good at selling the vision of where you are going to get to.
19. network and events work extremely well in the early days. biggest barrier is building trust as pre-seed. much easier to do that face to face.
20. be shameless with outreach and favours
21. convert design partners to paid pilots once you launch publicly.
22. be everywhere. marketing, posting etc. is long tailed. there is a trap of "we shouldn't start now it takes 12 months to see results" that's why you should start now.
23. measure everything.
24. have incredibly high standards; but keep velocity high
25. think of an objective. then double your targets, and half the time. you'll be surprised about what you can do