Why NACE Codes Break Your GTM (and How to Fix Them)
Strategy says 450 accounts. Sales says 600. A consultant says 280. The culprit? NACE codes. They’re official, but too coarse and inconsistent for GTM. Here’s how to fix sector tagging so every team works from the same truth.
The Boardroom Dispute
The strategy team presents their market sizing deck:
“Europe has 450 Fintech accounts in our target universe.”
The CRO interrupts:
“Our CRM shows 600.”
A consultant adds:
“According to Gartner, it’s only 280.”
The meeting stalls. No one can agree on the baseline, so no decision is made.
Why This Happens
Most companies rely on NACE codes (or NAICS in the US) because they’re the official standard. Regulators, statistical offices, and market reports all use them. But for go-to-market teams, they’re too coarse and inconsistent.
One company tagged as 62.01 — Computer programming activities could be:
a Fintech SaaS platform,
an AI logistics startup,
or a generic IT outsourcer.
The NACE tag is technically correct — but strategically useless.
The result? Marketing builds vertical campaigns on bad classifications. Sales wastes hours chasing irrelevant accounts. Strategy can’t reconcile CRM, BI dashboards, and consultant slides. Alignment breaks, credibility erodes, growth slows.
How Starzdata Solves It
This segment applies your custom taxonomy on top of NACE codes. Every account gets:
The official NACE code (for compliance and traceability)
Your business-relevant sector tag (for GTM and strategy)
A confidence score (so you know how reliable the match is)
A rationale (name, domain, or content match)
Whether it’s 100 accounts or millions, every record is tagged, scored, and explained — so Sales, Marketing, and Strategy can finally align on one shared truth.
A Glimpse at the Data
Company | NACE Code | Custom Sector | Confidence | Rationale |
|---|---|---|---|---|
FinanceFlow Technologies | 62.01 | Fintech | 83% | Domain match |
SmartLogistics Network | 52.29 | Transport & Log. | 72% | Content match |
QuantumCompute Labs | 62.09 | Quantum Computing | 89% | Name match |
👉 Tired of NACE codes that don’t match your strategy?
