Beyond Employee Count: Why Firmographics Are Failing and What GTM Leaders Should Do Next
WRITTEN By Fluvio consultant, Lauren Kiser
For decades, market segmentation has revolved around a simple formula: define your target audience by company size, revenue, and industry. Analysts like Forrester and Gartner (and even software review tools like G2) have long used firmographic markers—employee count especially—to divide the world into neat categories: SMB, Mid-Market, and Enterprise.
It was tidy. It was familiar. And for a long time, it worked—because size correlated with scale.
But today, that correlation is collapsing.
Recently, a VP of Sales in the ecommerce and web hosting space shared a story that perfectly captures this shift. Kylie Jenner built a billion-dollar cosmetics empire on Shopify—with a team of six. By traditional definitions, that’s an SMB. By any modern GTM standard, it’s a global enterprise in every meaningful way: brand reach, revenue, infrastructure, and operational sophistication.
This isn’t an anomaly. It’s a preview of the new normal.
AI, automation, and highly scalable software have rewritten what “scale” looks like. Tiny teams can now operate with the efficiency and output of organizations ten times their size. Meanwhile, many massive enterprises remain burdened by legacy systems and organizational drag that make them behave like slow-moving SMBs.
And yet, many go-to-market teams are still segmenting their audiences as if it’s 2010.
The Cracks in Traditional Segmentation Models
Firmographic segmentation once made sense. Employee count and annual revenue served as shorthand for complexity, budget, and buying behavior. More people meant more decision-makers. More revenue implied more process maturity.
But those assumptions break down in today’s environment.
AI and automation have decoupled scale from headcount. A small digital-native company can serve global audiences, automate sales and support, and orchestrate sophisticated GTM motions—all without adding bodies. They operate lean, fast, and profitably, thanks to technology.
“Enterprise” is now an operating model—not simply a size. A ten-person SaaS startup running on a sophisticated product-led growth motion, integrated data stack, and automated revenue systems may look small—but it behaves like an enterprise buyer. Conversely, a large industrial manufacturer with thousands of employees may have minimal digital infrastructure and slower buying processes.
Size no longer predicts sophistication, pain points, or potential. When your segmentation assumes it does, your entire GTM motion—messaging, prioritization, even pricing—rests on shaky ground.
Why GTM Leaders Should Care
The implications go far beyond data hygiene. Faulty segmentation creates downstream misalignment that compounds across every function:
Sales inefficiency. Teams chase accounts that “look big” but aren’t ready or relevant.
Marketing waste. Campaigns target audiences whose needs don’t match the message.
Product confusion. Feedback loops overrepresent certain types of customers while ignoring others that actually represent the future of your market.
When your segmentation model can’t distinguish between a lean, tech-forward $50M brand and a stagnant legacy company of the same size, your GTM strategy is flying blind.
A new segmentation philosophy is needed—one that reflects how companies actually operate, not how they appear on paper.
The New Segmentation Playbook: Operating Models Over Labels
The most forward-looking GTM teams are already shifting from static firmographic models to dynamic operating models. These new approaches consider not just what a company is, but how it behaves.
Here’s what that looks like in practice:
1. Technographics: The Stack Tells the Story
The technology a company uses reveals far more than its headcount ever could.
A company running on Shopify, Klaviyo, and Gorgias may have just a handful of employees—but that stack signals a sophisticated ecommerce operation with automated fulfillment, analytics, and omnichannel marketing.
Similarly, a business built on Salesforce, Snowflake, and HubSpot likely has data infrastructure, integration needs, and workflow complexity that match traditional “enterprise” buying behavior.
By layering in technographic data—what tools a company uses, how recently it adopted them, and how they fit together—GTM leaders can understand both capability and maturity.
2. Behavioral Indicators: How They Act, Not Just Who They Are
Buying intent, website behavior, content engagement, and even job postings can reveal an organization’s readiness to buy.
A company hiring data engineers is likely scaling its analytics stack.
A brand increasing engagement with your technical content might be moving from awareness to consideration.
Frequent interactions across marketing channels can signal multi-threaded interest—something employee count alone will never capture.
Behavioral segmentation lets GTM teams spot momentum, not just static characteristics.
3. Growth Signals: Velocity Over Volume
Funding rounds, hiring surges, geographic expansion, or product launches can serve as early indicators of change. These growth moments create windows of opportunity where needs shift and buying cycles accelerate.
Companies in motion—regardless of size—are often the best opportunities.
How to Reengineer Segmentation in Practice
Shifting away from firmographics isn’t just about new data—it’s about new logic. Here’s how GTM leaders can evolve their segmentation playbooks strategically:
Step 1: Audit Your Assumptions
Start by asking:
What defines “enterprise” in our GTM today?
Are those criteria based on meaningful indicators or legacy definitions?
Do our best customers actually fit those categories?
A quick analysis of your top-performing accounts will likely show a wide range of employee counts but common behavioral and technographic traits.
Step 2: Build Composite Segments
Combine firmographic, technographic, and behavioral inputs into composite profiles. For example:
“Digitally Native Enterprise” – companies under 100 employees running high-tech stacks and global ecommerce operations.
“Legacy Transformer” – large organizations modernizing outdated systems and looking for change agents.
“AI-Enabled Challenger” – small, agile teams leveraging automation to punch above their weight.
Each segment behaves differently and requires distinct messaging, sales plays, and enablement strategies.
Step 3: Align GTM Around Operating Models
Instead of “SMB,” “Mid-Market,” and “Enterprise,” align your teams around operating models that map to buyer behavior:
Lean Growth: Fast, agile, cost-conscious.
System Integrator: Mature, complex, focused on efficiency and ROI.
Expansion Mode: Scaling operations, open to innovation.
When your GTM strategy mirrors how your customers think and operate, every touchpoint—sales pitch, campaign, demo—lands with sharper relevance.
Step 4: Invest in Dynamic Segmentation
Static spreadsheets don’t cut it anymore. Invest in systems that continuously refresh data from your CRM, marketing automation, intent data, and technographic feeds.
Dynamic segmentation lets you:
Automatically update ICP tiers as companies evolve.
Trigger personalized plays based on new signals (e.g., tech adoption or funding).
Keep marketing and sales aligned on real-time priorities.
This shift transforms segmentation from a static exercise into a living, adaptive framework.
The Bigger Picture: Segmentation as a Strategic Asset
Segmentation is often treated as a tactical foundation—something you build once and revisit quarterly. But in reality, it’s a strategic lever. It shapes every decision about where to compete, how to message, and how to grow.
GTM leaders who evolve their segmentation frameworks today are setting themselves up for an enduring competitive edge. They’ll be better positioned to:
Spot high-potential customers early.
Align teams on high-impact opportunities.
Anticipate market shifts faster than their peers.
As markets become more fluid and automation continues to level the playing field, the companies that see the market clearly will win.
Seeing the Signal Behind the Scale
Firmographics helped us understand markets when size, revenue, and reach moved together. But that world no longer exists.
Now, small teams can deliver enterprise outcomes, and large organizations can act with startup agility—or, conversely, remain stuck in slow-moving systems.
As one sales leader recently put it to our team, “These vintage segmentations are going to be less and less durable.”
He’s right.
The next era of go-to-market belongs to those who segment by behavior, technology, and trajectory—not just by headcount. Because in today’s market, the companies that win aren’t the biggest—they’re the best aligned with the future of how business gets done.