> Parameter modes — Filter, Score, Exclude

TL;DR: Filter = hard gate. Score = weighted contribution. Exclude = hard removal. Pick wrong and your ICP either qualifies nothing or qualifies everything.

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Filter (hard gate)

A parameter in Filter mode is a must-have. Records that fail the filter are not in this ICP / Persona, period. The score doesn't matter — they're not scored at all if they fail a filter.

Use Filter when:

• The criterion is non-negotiable (e.g. "must be HQ'd in the US")
• The criterion is unambiguous (e.g. "employee count must be 50–500")
• You'd genuinely never sell to companies outside this range

Don't use Filter when:

• The criterion is fuzzy (e.g. "should be growth-stage" — what's the cutoff?)
• The criterion is preferred but not required (e.g. "ideally on Snowflake")
• The data is sparse (Filter on a field where 60% of records have null = you exclude 60% of records)

Score (weighted contribution)

A parameter in Score mode adds points when matched. Records still qualify if they don't match — they just score lower. Multiple Score parameters combine into the total ICP / Persona score.

Each Score parameter has a weight (1–10 typically). The contribution to the score is weight × match_strength. For boolean parameters (uses Snowflake yes/no), match_strength is 0 or 1. For range parameters (employee count 100–500), match_strength is a falloff curve — perfectly in range = 1, near the edges = 0.7, outside = 0.

Use Score when:

• The criterion is preferred but not required
• You want to RANK records, not just include/exclude them
• The criterion is fuzzy or aspirational

The total score across all Score parameters is normalized to 0–100. A perfect score = 100; matching all the highest-weighted parameters is the ceiling.

Exclude (hard removal)

A parameter in Exclude mode is a never-touch list. Records that trip an Exclude rule are removed from this ICP / Persona even if they pass all Filters and score 100 on everything else.

Use Exclude for:

• Competitors (don't qualify a competitor's company even if it fits)
• Existing customers (in some motions, exclude from net-new outbound)
• Churned customers (when you've made the call not to re-engage)
• Industries you actively avoid (regulated, ethics, conflict-of-interest)

How they compose

For a record to qualify against an ICP:

1. Pass ALL Filter parameters. Any single Filter failure = not qualified.
2. Fail ALL Exclude parameters. Any single Exclude match = not qualified.
3. Score against the Score parameters. Compute weighted score 0–100.

The final icp_score is the weighted Score result, provided steps 1 and 2 pass. If a record passes Filters and Excludes but has zero Score parameter matches, it qualifies with icp_score = 0 — still in the ICP, just at the bottom of the ranking.

Worked example

ICP: "Mid-market SaaS Security-First"

Parameter | Mode | Value | Weight
Industry | Filter | software OR SaaS | —
Employee count | Filter | 51–500 | —
HQ country | Filter | US OR Canada OR UK OR Germany OR France OR Netherlands | —
Uses Snowflake | Score | yes | 5
Uses Okta | Score | yes | 3
Funding stage | Score | Series B+ | 4
Hired a CISO in last 12mo | Score | yes | 8
Is competitor | Exclude | (yes) | —
Is current customer | Exclude | (yes) | —

A record will qualify if it's a software/SaaS company with 51–500 employees in one of the 6 listed countries, AND is not a competitor AND not a current customer. Its score will be highest if it uses Snowflake (+5), uses Okta (+3), is Series B+ (+4), and hired a CISO recently (+8). Max possible = 20 raw, normalized to 100.

Common misconfigurations

• Filtering on data you don't have. If tech_stack is null for 70% of records, filtering on "uses Snowflake" excludes 70% of records — even ones that DO use Snowflake but aren't yet enriched. Almost always use Score for tech-stack parameters.
• Using Score for non-negotiables. "Must be in NA" should be a Filter. Using Score means a great fit in EMEA still scores high and lands in the ICP — which means your audiences will too.
• Forgetting Exclude. Most workspaces should have at least 2 Excludes — competitors and current customers. Without them, your outbound will target both.

Related

• ICP vs Persona — the difference
• Building an ICP — Copilot first, then manual
• Building a Persona — Copilot first, then manual
• Reading ICP and Persona scores