# Solo founder ideal customer profile record

**Product or service:**  
**Product stage:**  
**Business model:**  
**Version:**  
**Date started:**  
**Next review:**  

## Product and result

**Problem I've validated:**  

**Group I investigated during validation:**  

**Product or by-hand version I'm offering now:**  

**Result I promise:**  

**What I know about market size and unit economics:**  

**Assumptions in those figures:**  

## Evidence I'm using

Link or paste the records behind this version. If you have no customers yet,
say so; your first profile can begin with validation evidence and remain marked
as provisional.

**Problem-validation record:**  

**First-customer record:**  

**Other customer, usage, payment, referral, departure, or research records:**  

**Current evidence stage:** Nobody has tried or paid / people have tried it free
or spoken to me / one person has paid / several people have paid or returned  

**What this evidence lets me say:**  

**What remains unknown:**  

## Customer and user comparison

Give each person or company a separate row. Record what happened; don't replace
a blank with an impression or score.

| Person or company | Source and date | Interviewed, free, paid, or declined | Result achieved | Returned or kept using | Referred somebody | Cost and time to reach and serve | Feedback they gave | How the sale or invitation went | Reason they may be wrong for the product |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |

## What the comparison shows

Work down the sections in order. Payment stays separate because it proves that
somebody bought; it doesn't prove they got a good result or became a strong
long-term customer.

### 1. Results

**Who got the strongest result:**  

**What happened:**  

**What appears to repeat:**  

**What contradicts the pattern:**  

### 2. Repeat use or retention

**Who returned or kept using it:**  

**What brought them back:**  

**Who stopped and why:**  

### 3. Referrals

**Who referred another person:**  

**What they said or did:**  

**Whether the referred person had the same problem and result:**  

### 4. Cost to reach and serve

**What it cost in money and founder time to find them:**  

**What it cost in money and founder time to serve them:**  

**Costs that may change with the next customer:**  

### 5. Feedback

**Who described what happened most clearly:**  

**Requests or problems that appeared more than once:**  

**Requests that belong to one person:**  

### 6. Ease of sale

**Who could make or move the decision:**  

**What made the sale or invitation straightforward:**  

**Where it stopped:**  

### Payment

**Who paid:**  

**What they paid for:**  

**Price and terms:**  

**What the payment proves:**  

**What it leaves open:**  

## My three recurring details

Choose exactly three observable details. Each detail needs a source in your
records and a reason it may explain the problem, result, or buying moment.

### 1. Who they are or the situation they're in

**Detail:**  

**Cases where it appears:**  

**Cases that challenge it:**  

**Why it may matter:**  

### 2. What they're already using, doing, or paying for

**Detail:**  

**Cases where it appears:**  

**Cases that challenge it:**  

**Why it may matter:**  

### 3. What changed recently

**Detail:**  

**Cases where it appears:**  

**Cases that challenge it:**  

**Why it may matter now:**  

## Who uses, pays, and approves

Write “same person” when one person fills several roles, and “I don't know yet”
when you haven't found the person or decision.

**Company or purchase situation:**  

**User:**  

**Payer:**  

**Champion, or person pushing for it:**  

**Final approver:**  

**Technical, security, legal, or procurement checks:**  

**How the decision happens:**  

Record only what a conversation or action supports. Don't fill these sections
with personality traits or guesses about somebody you've never spoken to.

| Role | What they hope will improve | What they're concerned could go wrong | What they said or did | What this changes about the words or proof I use | Source and date |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| User |  |  |  |  |  |
| Payer |  |  |  |  |  |
| Champion |  |  |  |  |  |
| Final approver |  |  |  |  |  |

## Reasons to rule somebody out

| Person, company, or pattern | What happened | Specific reason they may be wrong for the product | Fixable product gap or different customer? | What would make me reconsider? |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|  |  |  |  |  |
|  |  |  |  |  |
|  |  |  |  |  |

Check every reason that has appeared in your records:

- [ ] They need a different product.
- [ ] They can't pay or approve the purchase.
- [ ] They need more support than I can provide.
- [ ] They cost too much to reach.
- [ ] They cost too much to serve.
- [ ] They get a weak result.
- [ ] They don't feel enough urgency to act.
- [ ] They haggle throughout the sale.
- [ ] They left or stopped using the product.
- [ ] Another reason recorded above.

## Two or three possible profiles

Every sentence must use exactly three observable details:

> I'm focusing on **[people or companies in this situation]** who already
> **[use, do, or pay for this]** when **[the event that makes the problem urgent]**.

### Possible profile 1

**Sentence:**  

**Customer actions supporting it:**  

**Assumptions and conflicting cases:**  

### Possible profile 2

**Sentence:**  

**Customer actions supporting it:**  

**Assumptions and conflicting cases:**  

### Possible profile 3, if the evidence supports it

**Sentence:**  

**Customer actions supporting it:**  

**Assumptions and conflicting cases:**  

## Chosen working profile

**My current sentence:**  

**Date chosen:**  

**Why this version goes first:**  

**Facts supporting it:**  

**Assumptions I'm retaining:**  

**Evidence against it:**  

**What would make me choose another version:**  

## Ten real people or companies that appear to match

Add a source you've opened for every person or company. This list checks whether
the profile points to real people you can find; it doesn't show that they'll buy.

| # | Person or company | Situation | What they already use, do, or pay for | What changed recently | Source URL and date checked | Match, no match, or unknown | What I need to check myself |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| 2 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| 3 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| 4 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| 5 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| 6 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| 7 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| 8 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| 9 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| 10 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |

**If I couldn't find ten, the likely reason is:**  

**The detail I need to change or learn how to observe:**  

## Facts, assumptions, contradictions, and gaps

### Facts

- 

### My assumptions

- 

### Contradictions

- 

### Missing information

- 

## AI prompt: turn my records into a working profile

```text
I need to turn my customer records into a working customer profile that tells
me who to look for next.

My context
- Product or service: [what I'm offering now]
- Product stage: [idea / prototype / lightweight MVP / pre-launch / live]
- Business model: [how I expect it to make money]
- Result I promise: [the change I want the customer to experience]
- Problem I've validated: [the problem, the recognizable group, and the evidence]
- Group I'm currently considering: [my provisional customer group]
- What I've learned about market size and unit economics: [facts and assumptions]
- Validation record: [paste or attach]
- First-customer record: [paste or attach]

My customer or user cases

For each case, I'll provide:
- Name or record label
- Company or relevant situation
- Source and date
- Whether they were interviewed, used it free, paid, or declined
- Result they achieved
- Whether they returned or kept using it
- Whether they referred anybody
- Cost and time required to reach and serve them
- Feedback in their words
- How the sale or invitation went
- Who used, paid, pushed for, and approved the product
- What they already used, did, or paid for
- What had changed recently
- Why they may be wrong for the product

[Paste each case separately. Write “unknown” where information is missing.]

Ten real people or companies I think may match

For each one, I'll provide a name or company, the three visible details, and a
source URL I've opened. If I haven't found ten, I'll leave the remaining entries
blank.

[Paste my list]

Your task
1. Review every customer or user case separately before looking for a pattern.
2. For each case, separate facts, my assumptions, your interpretation, and
   missing information.
3. Compare cases in this order: result achieved, repeat use, referral, cost to
   reach and serve, quality of feedback, and ease of sale. Keep payment on its
   own line as evidence that somebody bought.
4. Identify recurring details about who or what situation had the problem, what
   they already used or did, and what changed recently.
5. Keep the company or situation, user, payer, champion, final approver, and any
   technical or procurement checks separate. Say when one person fills several
   roles.
6. List conflicting cases and the specific reasons somebody may be wrong for
   the product.
7. If this is a marketplace, review supply and demand as separate profiles.
   Start with supply unless my evidence shows that suitable supply already
   exists and suppliers need proof of concentrated demand before joining. If
   the product relies on a network effect, keep joining, interaction, the result
   for the other side, repeat use, referral, and payment as separate events.
8. Produce two or three possible customer profiles. Each must contain exactly
   three observable details: who or situation, current action or alternative,
   and recent change.
9. Recommend one dated working profile and explain which observed actions
   support it, which assumptions remain, and what would change the choice.
10. Review only the ten possible matches I supplied. Say which appear to match,
   which don't, and what I need to check myself.
11. Recommend the next customer behavior I should watch and the point at which
    I should review the profile again.

Rules
- Don't invent or infer customer behavior, quotations, payments, results,
  repeat use, referrals, costs, market size, names, companies, source links,
  budgets, decision authority, or willingness to buy.
- Don't create names to fill my list of ten.
- Don't treat interviews, compliments, free use, letters of intent, and payment
  as the same result.
- Don't hide contradictory cases or average unlike customers together.
- Don't assign numerical scores unless I've supplied a calculation that requires
  one.
- Use “I don't know yet” where the evidence is missing.
- Keep facts, my assumptions, your interpretation, and your recommendations
  visibly separate.

Return exactly these headings
## Review of each case
## Comparison of customer actions
## Facts
## My assumptions
## Model interpretation
## Conflicting cases and reasons to rule somebody out
## Company, user, payer, and approval roles
## Possible profile 1
## Possible profile 2
## Possible profile 3 (only if the evidence supports it)
## Recommended working profile
## Review of my ten possible matches
## Missing information
## Next behavior to watch
## Next review
```

**Prompt output:**  

## What will create a new version

Review this profile after five more meaningful customer actions, or sooner when
a payment, result, repeat use, referral, or departure directly challenges it.

**Next five actions I'll record:**

1. 
2. 
3. 
4. 
5. 

**One surprising case I'm investigating:**  

**Repeated behavior that would create a new version:**  

## Version log

| Date | Version | What changed | Customer actions behind the change | Assumptions retained | Next action |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|  |  |  |  |  |  |

## Next review

**Date:**  

**Action that may bring the review forward:**  

**What I'll compare:**  

**Current decision:** Keep this version / investigate another version / replace
this version