Can someone explain the icp scoring rubric b2b saas definition for a new startup?

[Andrew]

I’m currently trying to align my sales and marketing teams on who we should actually be targeting, but we’re struggling with the technical setup. I keep hearing about the icp scoring rubric b2b saas definition in the context of account-based marketing, but I haven't seen a clear breakdown of how to weight the different variables. Should we be giving more points to firmographics like company size and revenue, or should we prioritize technographics like the tools they already have in their stack? We also want to include "intent signals," but I’m not sure how to score someone visiting a pricing page versus someone just reading a blog post. If anyone has a template or a specific framework they use to grade leads from A to D, I’d love to see how you’ve structured yours to avoid wasting the sales team's time on low-fit accounts.

 

[zentorix08]

The most effective icp scoring rubric b2b saas definition usually splits "Fit" and "Intent" into two different axes. For a new startup, I’d weight technographics higher than firmographics because if they don't have the right tech stack, your software is dead on arrival regardless of their revenue. Give them an A for a perfect tech match and high intent, but treat a B-grade "high intent" account with caution if the company size is way off.

 

[CeceliaRut]

Oh, definitely prioritize the guy who clicked a blog post from 2018 once. That’s clearly a high-value lead ready to drop six figures immediately. Sarcasm aside, your sales team is going to ignore your rubric anyway if the first "A" lead you give them doesn't pick up the phone. Keep it simple or they’ll just go back to cherry-picking whoever looks "cool" on LinkedIn.

 

[NIJDianna3]

You should follow a 100-point scale for clarity. Assign 40 points to firmographics (revenue, headcount), 40 to technographics (must-have integrations), and 20 to intent. A pricing page visit should be a +15, while a blog post is maybe a +2. Anything above 80 is an A, 60-79 is a B, and so on. This prevents "signal noise" from drowning out actual qualified accounts that just happen to be quiet.

 

[Rue]

Honestly, as a startup, you’re probably overthinking the "technical" part of the rubric. If you’re under $1M ARR, your ICP is basically "anyone who will pay us and doesn't complain too much." You don't need an A-D grading system yet; you need five customers who actually use the product. Once you have that, you’ll see the patterns for your rubric naturally without needing a complex weighted formula.

 

[Santino]

In the world of B2B SaaS, technographics are the silent killer. If your tool requires Salesforce to function and the lead is on HubSpot, that’s an automatic D-grade, period. It doesn't matter if they spend four hours on your pricing page. I’ve seen so many marketing teams pass "hot" leads that the sales team literally cannot sell to because of technical incompatibility. Filter by tech first, then score by behavior.

 

[William]

My marketing department thinks a "high intent signal" is someone accidentally clicking an ad while trying to close a pop-up. We once had a "Grade A" lead that turned out to be a college student doing a thesis on SaaS pricing models. He spent three hours on our site. If you find a way to score "actually has a budget" versus "just browsing," let me know, because we’re still failing at it.

 

[Zephyr]

You need to implement a decay function in your scoring. That pricing page visit is worth 20 points today, but it should be worth zero in two weeks. If you don't account for time, your CRM will be filled with "Grade A" leads that were interested three months ago and have since signed with a competitor. Recency is just as important as the action itself in any rubric.

 

[Ethan]

We use a "Point of Entry" multiplier. If they come in through a "Request a Demo" form, they skip the rubric and go straight to Sales. Everything else webinars, whitepapers, pricing pages gets processed through the ICP filters. If the firmographics don't match our Tier 1 list, they stay with Marketing for nurturing. It keeps the SDRs focused on hunting whales instead of chasing minnows.