Plumery’s ICP Evolution: How to Target the Right Banks When Your Solution Works for Everyone
One of the hardest decisions for enterprise technology founders isn’t determining who could use their product – it’s deciding who they should target first. For Plumery, a headless digital engagement platform for banks, this challenge was particularly acute.
In a recent episode of Category Visionaries, founder Ben Goldin shared how they navigated this crucial strategic decision, offering valuable insights for founders facing similar targeting dilemmas.
The Universal Solution Challenge
As Ben explains, Plumery’s platform has broad applicability: “We can help any type of financial company, be it a bank, a digital wallet, a neo bank, a traditional bank, and a top tier traditional bank.” This kind of universal applicability often seems like an advantage, but it can actually complicate go-to-market strategy.
The Power of Strategic Focus
Despite their solution’s broad applicability, Plumery made a deliberate choice to narrow their focus. “Right now our ideal customer is mid to small size financial institution anywhere in the world trying to modernize their digital experience. Or a neo bank or digital world trying to build a new proposition from scratch and need an acceleration,” Ben shares.
This focused approach came from deep understanding of the market dynamics. After serving as CTPO at Mambu, where he witnessed “how many organizations are still building the same thing again and again,” Ben recognized that different segments had different needs and capabilities.
Geographic Strategy
Interestingly, while Plumery narrowed their focus in terms of customer size and type, they maintained a broad geographic approach. As Ben notes, they “actively pursue opportunities in pretty much every part of the world. Maybe a little bit less so in the United States, but then in all the other parts of the world.”
This decision reflects an important principle in market segmentation: sometimes the most meaningful differentiator isn’t geography, but customer characteristics that transcend borders.
Understanding the Problem-Solution Fit
The key to Plumery’s segmentation strategy lies in their deep understanding of how different types of institutions approach digital transformation. Having witnessed many banks “failing to build it from the first try and still do not manage to create a proper experience for their end customers,” they identified where their solution could have the most impact.
Their hybrid “buy for feature parity and build for competitive edge” approach particularly resonates with:
- Mid-size banks lacking extensive development resources
- Neo banks needing to launch quickly
- Institutions focused on modernization
The Role of Domain Expertise
Plumery’s ability to make confident segmentation decisions was heavily influenced by their team’s experience. “Being someone who did things before, being someone who stayed in the domain for a while,” as Ben puts it, provided crucial insights into which segments would be most receptive to their approach.
Lessons for Founders
For founders facing similar targeting decisions, Plumery’s experience offers several key insights:
- Universal applicability doesn’t mean universal targeting Despite having a solution that could work for any financial institution, Plumery chose to focus on specific segments where they could have the most impact.
- Look for common patterns across markets While they narrowed their focus in terms of customer type, they maintained geographic breadth, recognizing that similar institutions face similar challenges worldwide.
- Use domain expertise to inform segmentation Deep industry knowledge can help identify which segments are most likely to succeed with your solution.
Maintaining Vision While Focusing Execution
Importantly, this focused approach doesn’t mean abandoning broader ambitions. Ben maintains a vision “to change the way how people experience banking and do that for a meaningful number of people globally.” The segmentation strategy is about how to get there, not limiting where they can go.
For enterprise technology founders, Plumery’s story demonstrates that effective market segmentation isn’t about limiting opportunities – it’s about maximizing impact through focus. As Ben advises, “Don’t be too serious. Keep it simple and relaxed.” Sometimes the best strategy is to start with a clear focus while maintaining the flexibility to expand as you succeed.