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Live · docs.airwai.com Last update 2026-05-17

ICP and Personas

The ICP (Ideal Customer Profile) in one sentence

A working field engineer, inspector, or accessibility consultant in an English-speaking or EU market, who personally performs pavement, sidewalk, right-of-way, or airfield condition surveys against a published compliance standard, has access to an iPhone 12 Pro or iPad Pro M1+, and either pays for tools out of a department budget or expenses them on a corporate card.

That's the buyer.

Five named personas

The call center should run outreach across all five concurrently. Each persona's daily life, language, channel, and conversion path is different.


Persona 1 — "Maya, the Municipal Pavement Inspector"

Dimension Detail
Title patterns Pavement Inspector, Asset Management Coordinator, Public Works Inspector, GIS Analyst – Roads
Employer City or county Public Works department; state / provincial DOT
Size 5–200 person department
Pain Walks pavement with a clipboard; PCI surveys take days; data is inconsistent across inspectors; ArcGIS is the system of record and she manually keys data in
Language she uses "PCI", "D6433", "PAVER", "Cartegraph", "AASHTO", "HPMS reporting", "asset management"
Where to find her LinkedIn (search Pavement Inspector + city; Public Works + inspector), APWA (American Public Works Association) directories, state DOT staff directories (often public), APA conferences
Hook "How long would it take you to do a full D6433 survey of the 18 miles of arterials in your district if you didn't have to walk it?"
Buying speed 2–4 weeks (department budget approval), faster on a corporate card
Tier fit Pro individual; Team for a 5–15 person inspection department
Conversion path Free → demo → Pro 30-day trial → Pro annual

Persona 2 — "Daniel, the AEC Field Engineer"

Dimension Detail
Title patterns Civil Engineer (PE), Transportation Engineer, Project Engineer, Field Engineer, Pavement Engineer
Employer Civil engineering / AEC consulting firm, 10–500 person
Size Solo to small / mid-size firm; larger firms are Airwai's Enterprise lane
Pain Bills $/site or $/hour; site visits take a day; client wants the report yesterday; clipboard data turns into an Excel sheet turns into a PDF turns into a report — every step loses fidelity
Language he uses "D6433", "PCI", "site assessment", "condition survey", "due diligence", "ROW assessment", "ADA / PROWAG audit"
Where to find him LinkedIn (Civil Engineer / Transportation Engineer + AEC firm names), ASCE (American Society of Civil Engineers) directories, NCEES PE registrar databases (publicly searchable), AEC trade shows (TRB, ASCE annual, WTS)
Hook "Your competition is going to start producing $\frac{1}{5}$-the-time, $\frac{3}{1}$-the-fidelity condition reports. You can be the first or the last to adopt."
Buying speed 1–3 weeks for individual; 30–60 days for Team
Tier fit Pro individual; Team for a 3–10 person practice group
Conversion path Free → demo → Pro 30-day trial → Pro annual → Team upsell after 3+ paying users at the firm

Persona 3 — "Sarah, the ADA / PROWAG Consultant"

Dimension Detail
Title patterns ADA Consultant, Accessibility Specialist, ADA Coordinator, PROWAG Auditor
Employer Solo practice, small consulting firm (1–10 people), or in-house at a city / state government
Size Often solo; sometimes 2–5 person specialty firm
Pain Walks every linear foot of sidewalk with a smart level, a tape, and a tablet; produces voluminous PDF reports; Willits-class consent decrees are creating recurring audit demand she can't keep up with
Language she uses "PROWAG", "Title II", "Title III", "28 CFR 35", "ADA", "curb ramp survey", "sidewalk audit", "transition plan", "EU Accessibility Act"
Where to find her LinkedIn (ADA Coordinator, Accessibility Specialist), ADAAA-affiliated consultants, state DOT accessibility coordinators (publicly listed), ICC (International Code Council) accessibility committees
Hook "How much of your billable day right now is the audit itself vs. writing it up? LAIRA flips that ratio."
Buying speed 1–2 weeks (often solo decision)
Tier fit Pro individual (solo consultants); Team for small accessibility firms
Conversion path Free → demo → Pro 30-day trial → Pro annual

Persona 4 — "James, the Airport Operations Manager"

Dimension Detail
Title patterns Airfield Operations Manager, Airfield Safety Officer, Director of Operations, Part 139 Compliance Officer
Employer Small-to-mid commercial airport (under 5M passengers/year), general aviation airport, or regional executive airport authority
Size Often a single airfield ops team of 3–10
Pain Has to do Part 139 / D5340 / ICAO Annex 14 pavement inspections continuously; an ARAN truck costs $1M+ and he can't justify it; manual inspection is what he has
Language he uses "Part 139", "AC 150/5380-6", "ASTM D5340", "ICAO Annex 14", "PCN / ACN", "AAAE", "ACRP", "FAR Part 139 self-inspection"
Where to find him LinkedIn (Airfield Ops Manager / Part 139), AAAE membership, ACRP project participants, ICAO regional bodies (Europe: ECAC member CAAs), regional airport directories
Hook "If you wait until you can buy an ARAN truck, you'll never get to inspect more than once a year. We get you to weekly inspection at $29/month."
Buying speed 2–4 weeks individual; 60+ days for a department; large airports are an Enterprise / Rig conversation (escalate to Airwai)
Tier fit Pro individual; Team for an airfield-ops department
Conversion path Free → demo → Pro 30-day trial → Pro annual. Watch for Rig signals: if he mentions runways above 5,000 ft, multiple runways, hub-airport vocabulary, escalate.

Persona 5 — "Carmen, the Industrial Facility Manager"

Dimension Detail
Title patterns Facility Manager, Operations Manager, Warehouse Manager, EH&S Manager, Distribution Center Manager
Employer REIT-owned industrial property, distribution center, port terminal, manufacturing facility, third-party logistics (3PL)
Size Single facility (50K-1M sq ft) to multi-property portfolio
Pain Forklifts and container handlers run all day on aging pavement; OSHA / ASME B56.1 expects safe operating surfaces; premises-liability exposure is real; her insurance carrier is asking her to document surface condition; she has nothing
Language she uses "OSHA 1910.178", "ASME B56", "forklift safety", "warehouse condition", "premises liability", "MHE", "loss control"
Where to find her LinkedIn (Facility Manager / EH&S Manager), IWLA (International Warehouse Logistics Association), NAIOP industrial REIT contacts, ICSC for retail-adjacent facilities
Hook "If a forklift tips because of a depression you couldn't see, your premises-liability exposure is six figures. We give you the documented surface-condition record your carrier is going to ask for anyway."
Buying speed 1–3 weeks individual; longer for multi-property portfolios
Tier fit Pro individual; Team for multi-property managers
Conversion path Free → demo → Pro 30-day trial → Pro annual → Team upsell when she manages multiple sites

Anti-personas (do not chase)

Profile Why not
3D-scanning hobbyists, makers, indie creators Wrong product fit. Polycam / Scaniverse serve them at $14.99/mo.
Pure indoor BIM / as-built scanners Wrong product. LAIRA is outdoor / surface-condition.
Aerial drone pilots Wrong product. LAIRA is ground-based.
Hardware sensor OEMs, surveying-equipment manufacturers Partnership conversation, not a sales conversation. Route to Airwai BD.
Pure boundary surveyors Wrong workflow. LAIRA is condition, not boundary.
Federal procurement requiring formal solicitation Escalate to Airwai.

Persona mix targets (year 1)

Aim for roughly this mix of paying customers by end of year 1. The call center has autonomy on how to get here, but the mix matters because it determines whether the company has product-market fit across segments or only in one.

Persona Target % of paying base Target absolute paying users
Maya (municipal pavement) 25% 300
Daniel (AEC field engineer) 35% 420
Sarah (ADA / PROWAG) 15% 180
James (airport ops) 15% 180
Carmen (industrial facility) 10% 120
Total 100% ~1,200 paying users

That's the year-1 floor. Mix shift can come later; the goal is to plant flags in all five.

Decision-maker overlay (who actually buys)

Persona Buyer signature Approval friction
Maya Department budget; sometimes corporate card Medium
Daniel Individual corporate card OR practice-group budget Low for individual
Sarah Personal card (solo) or small-firm partner Lowest
James Department O&M; corporate card under micro-purchase Medium
Carmen Facility O&M; corporate card Low to medium

Lead with the personas whose decision-cycle is shortest: Sarah, Daniel, Carmen, in that order, for fastest first-revenue. Maya and James are higher-LTV but slower close.