ICP Intelligence February 2026: Growth/Scale

Scale in Growth

What new challenges are Growth/Scale companies facing as they navigate profitability and market dynamics? Growth/Scale companies are experiencing notable increases in both Technology and Risk factors, each rising by +0.34 over the last six months. While Growth remains a top current factor (4.89/5), the new priority of 'reaching profitability as an enormous milestone' signals a shift from pure expansion. This segment is grappling with significant pain points related to market seasonality and investor perception, particularly for businesses with physical or used car market exposure, which is 'not very profitable generally'. Interestingly, the population divides into two distinct behavioral clusters: 62.5% are High-Technology/High-Data, while 37.5% are Low-Technology/Low-Data, suggesting a divergence in operational sophistication as they pursue scale.

AI-generated summary · February 11, 2026

Behavioral Factor Profile

Narrative
4.07
▲ +0.13
Operations
3.58
▲ +0.15
Data
3.54
—
Technology
3.79
▲ +0.36
Risk
3.69
▲ +0.33
Growth
4.89
▲ +0.10
Stakeholder
4.67
▼ -0.15

Scale: 1 (conservative) to 5 (innovative) · Arrows show 6-month shift

Factor Radar

Top Power Words

amazingawesomeimpactvalueincredible+ 10 morePRO

Thematic Intelligence

Priorities

sample
making the product as good as it could be
keeping kids away from screens
putting kids in control through audio
+ 12 more PRO

Pain Points

sample
managing the challenges of school holidays and working from home
overcoming seasonality of a physical kids' product business
forecasting and fundraising with a seasonal curve that spooks investors
+ 12 more PRO

Success Metrics

sample
number of newsletter subscribers (14,000+)
deal sizes went up by about 5x (from dedicated pilot team)
reduce time to fda approval for cancer treating drugs (openai-madna partnership)
+ 12 more PRO

Decision Frameworks

sample
product-led mantra - if product is good, rest will follow
customer reason at the end of it - decisions driven by customer experience
context driven decision making - reading around, hearing from more people
+ 12 more PRO

Red Flags

sample
unwillingness to change or adapt
suboptimal ways for children to listen to audio
putting a display in front of a child
+ 12 more PRO

Behavioral Archetypes

62.3%
37.7%
High-Technology / High-Data(62.3%)
Low-Technology / Low-Data(37.7%)

Cluster quality: moderate · Full archetype profiles with factor comparison PRO

Other Scales

Growth

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