This edition is a preview of my LinkedIn Live on May 12 at 1pm ET. Registration link at the bottom.
The hardest thing to tell a CEO
Early in an engagement, I often have to deliver news that no one in the building has said out loud yet.
The ICP is wrong.
Not wrong the way a positioning statement is wrong, fixable with a workshop and a few good copywriters. Wrong in the structural sense. Wrong in the way that means your Sales team is chasing the wrong buyers, your Marketing team is measuring the wrong things, your Customer Success team is firefighting accounts that were never going to renew, and your exit multiple is quietly compressing while everyone focuses on the next quarter.
I’ve coached more than 150 CMOs. I’ve worked with over a dozen PE-backed portfolio companies. And the ICP problem is the single most common, most expensive, and most preventable issue I encounter.
It almost never announces itself. It hides behind a busy pipeline, a decent logo count, and a leadership team that confuses activity with traction.
Join me on May 12
On Monday, May 12 at 1pm ET, I’m hosting a LinkedIn Live on all of this: The ICP Opportunity, Missed.
We’ll go through the 8 ICP Traps, the Customer Cohort Trio, the Short-List Reality, Radical Governance, and how to translate ICP discipline into the financial metrics your board expects.
If you’re a PE-backed CMO navigating any of this, a CEO trying to get your GTM org sharper, or an investor wondering why the pipeline numbers don’t match the exit thesis, this is the hour for you.
Register on my LinkedIn profile: linkedin.com/in/alangonsenhauser
or here: https://www.linkedin.com/event/manage/7454568088232103936/
And if you want to talk about your specific situation before or after the session, book a 15-minute call at https://calendly.com/alan-gonsenhauser/15-minute-strategy-call?back=1&month=2026-05
Or get a free GTM audit at https://themovebook.com/?assessments=move&ptoken=agonsenhauser#assessment
See you on the 12th.
