---
title: "What Is MQL?"
term: "MQL"
description: "MQL (marketing qualified lead) is a prospect that marketing has scored as fit and engaged enough—through firmographics, intent signals, or actions like a demo request—to hand off to sales for outreach."
date: 2026-07-25T00:00:00.000Z
updated: 2026-07-25T00:00:00.000Z
topics: ["venture-capital"]
source: https://venturecapitaltracker.com/glossary/mql
---

# What Is MQL?

> MQL (marketing qualified lead) is a prospect that marketing has scored as fit and engaged enough—through firmographics, intent signals, or actions like a demo request—to hand off to sales for outreach.

**MQL** (marketing qualified lead) is a lead that meets predefined marketing criteria—profile fit plus engagement—so it is ready for sales qualification and outreach.

### How it works

B2B [sales-led growth](/glossary/sales-led-growth) funnels typically stage leads:

1. **Raw lead:** Form fill, event scan, or inbound email—may be student, competitor, or wrong segment.
2. **MQL:** Passes scoring rules—e.g., VP at 200+ employee SaaS company who attended a webinar and visited pricing.
3. **SQL (sales qualified lead):** Sales confirms budget, authority, need, and timeline after discovery.
4. **Opportunity:** Active deal in pipeline with expected close date.

Scoring blends **firmographics** (industry, size, role) and **behavior** (content downloads, product trial, repeat site visits). Marketing automation tools assign points; crossing a threshold creates an MQL and triggers CRM routing.

MQL definitions differ by company stage. Early startups may manually qualify; at scale, misaligned MQL rules either starve sales (too strict) or bury them in noise (too loose).

Investors examine MQL volume, **MQL-to-SQL conversion**, and **SQL-to-close rate**—not MQL count in isolation. High MQLs with low conversion signal weak targeting or sales mismatch.

### Why it matters

- **Founders:** Agree on MQL criteria in writing between marketing and sales. Revise as ICP sharpens post first customers.
- **Investors:** Efficient [CAC](/glossary/cac) depends on quality leads, not top-of-funnel inflation. Ask how MQL definition changed over the last two quarters.

### Common mistake

Labeling every webinar attendee an MQL to hit growth charts. Inflated MQLs destroy sales trust and make unit economics look worse when conversion is calculated honestly.

### Related ideas

See also [sales-led growth](/glossary/sales-led-growth), [CAC](/glossary/cac), [LTV:CAC](/glossary/ltv-cac), and [magic number](/glossary/magic-number).

## FAQ

### What is an MQL in simple terms?

An MQL is a lead marketing believes is worth sales time—usually because the person matches your target customer profile and did something meaningful, like downloading a buyer's guide or requesting pricing.

### Why does MQL matter?

Without a clear MQL bar, marketing celebrates traffic while sales ignores leads. Defined MQLs make funnel metrics honest and help investors judge whether go-to-market spend produces revenue, not just names in a CRM.


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Source: https://venturecapitaltracker.com/glossary/mql