Elena Verna · 7 min read · Product Strategy
Your product has a new user. It’s not human.
Read the original on elenaverna.com →
The article argues that the traditional notion of a human ICP is changing as AI agents using Model Context Protocol (MCP) can interact with and even replace human users in workflows. This means your main user may be an MCP rather than a person, requiring products to be accessible to agents and integrated into their processes, not just human onboarding flows. Consequently, strategy, pricing, and execution must adapt to an agent-centric world that emphasizes reliable outputs and open integrations over conventional human-centric UX.
Key Takeaways
- The ICP concept is evolving: AI agents and MCPs may act on behalf of users, potentially replacing humans in the product interaction loop.
- Products must be accessible to agents through MCPs or equivalent; without this, you risk being excluded from critical workflows.
- Onboarding and UX designed for human navigation lose some relevance; reliability, speed, and output formats become the priority for agent usage.
- Open up APIs and platform integrations become essential, influencing pricing and product strategy as companies adapt to agent-centric workflows.
Excerpt
Everyone (I think?) agrees that defining your ICP (Ideal Customer Profile) is important. It’s the thing that makes the whole company go around - marketing and sales build their entire personality around it, founders try to change it every week, and engineers nod while secretly thinking ‘this feels made up.’ Define your customer → build for them → grow. Easy. In theory. But there’s an assumption baked into all of this: Your user is human. I think that assumption is breaking. As agents begin to interact with products on our behalf - often via protocols like Model Context Protocol (MCP)…