founder-skills

Adversarial idea interrogation followed by structured business modeling — in one chained pipeline.

Every existing startup skills repo is generative: you bring an idea and it helps you fill it out. This repo starts by trying to kill the idea first, then builds out the survivors.

Existing repos:   Interrogate OR Model
This repo:        Interrogate THEN Model

The Key Differentiator

/verdict — a synthesis skill that reads all prior outputs and returns an explicit BUILD / KILL / PIVOT judgment with structured reasoning. No other skills repo has this.

Pipeline

[/problem-discovery] ──> [/problem-statement] ──> /pressure-test ──> /customer-archetype ──┬──> /founder-fit
   (optional, if no                                    ↑                                    ├──> /scope-mode ──> /startup-canvas ──> /unit-economics
    specific idea yet)                          ⚠ run in fresh                              │                          │
                                                 conversation                               ├──> /market-size ─────────┤
                                                 to avoid bias                              │                          ├──> /regulatory-risk (regulated industries)
                                                                                            │                          ├──> /battle-cards
                                                                                            │                          └──> /assumption-map ──> /pretotype
                                                                                            └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
                                                                                                                                                  ↓
All outputs ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────> /verdict
/verdict (BUILD) ──┬───────────────────────────────> /build-brief → coding agent
                   ├───────────────────────────────> /pitch-deck, /investor-lens, /elevator-pitch, /objection-map
                   └───────────────────────────────> /gtm-plan, /oneliner, /cold-outreach, /content-strategy
/verdict (KILL/PIVOT) ─────────────────────────────> /pivot-paths

⚠ Bias warning: /problem-discovery and /problem-statement help shape the problem — they are not adversarial. After running them, switch to a fresh Claude Code conversation before running /pressure-test. Otherwise the agent that just helped you frame the problem will be biased toward validating it, undercutting the adversarial review. This is a fundamental limit of LLM self-review, not a Claude-specific issue.

Every skill writes a structured output file to ./founder-outputs/. Downstream skills read those files. /verdict reads all of them.

Quick Start

1. Install the plugin (see below)
2. Open a project in Claude Code
3. Say "I have an idea" or run /pressure-test
4. Follow the pipeline — each skill recommends the next step

Installation

As a Claude Code plugin (recommended)

claude plugin add /path/to/founder-skills

Multi-platform install

The setup script auto-detects installed coding agents and installs the appropriate format for each:

git clone https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/founder-skills.git
cd founder-skills
./setup --auto     # detect and install for all found agents

Or install for specific platforms:

./setup --claude global   # Claude Code — symlink to ~/.claude/skills/
./setup --claude local    # Claude Code — symlink to ./.claude/skills/
./setup --codex           # Codex CLI — generate AGENTS.md
./setup --cursor          # Cursor — generate .cursorrules
./setup --kiro            # Kiro — copy SKILL.md to ~/.kiro/skills/
./setup --opencode        # OpenCode — copy SKILL.md to .opencode/skills/
./setup --windsurf        # Windsurf — generate .windsurf/rules/
./setup --all             # install for every supported platform

Supported Platforms

Platform	Format Generated	Install Location
Claude Code	SKILL.md (native)	~/.claude/skills/ or .claude/skills/
Codex CLI	AGENTS.md (plain markdown)	project root
Cursor	.cursorrules (markdown)	project root
Kiro	SKILL.md (copied)	~/.kiro/skills/
OpenCode	SKILL.md (copied)	.opencode/skills/
Windsurf	.windsurf/rules/*.md	project root

Skills Reference

Skill	Purpose	Reads	Writes
/problem-discovery	Surface candidate problems when no specific idea exists yet	—	problem-discovery-output.md
/problem-statement	Polish a vague problem into a precise JTBD statement	problem-discovery (optional)	problem-statement-output.md
/pressure-test	Adversarial interrogation — kill bad ideas early	problem-statement (optional)	pressure-test-output.md
/customer-archetype	Force precise customer definition + buying committee mapping	pressure-test	customer-archetype-output.md
/founder-fit	Assess founder-market fit and unfair advantage	pressure-test, archetype	founder-fit-output.md
/scope-mode	Calibrate ambition: EXPAND / SELECTIVE / HOLD / REDUCE	pressure-test, archetype	scope-output.md
/market-size	Bottom-up TAM / SAM / SOM	pressure-test, archetype	market-size-output.md
/startup-canvas	Business model + value proposition	pressure-test, archetype, scope	startup-canvas-output.md
/unit-economics	CAC / LTV / payback / gross margin — viability math	canvas, archetype, market-size, gtm-plan	unit-economics-output.md
/regulatory-risk	Compliance exposure and licensing requirements	canvas, archetype, market-size	regulatory-risk-output.md
/battle-cards	Competitive intelligence + switching costs + positioning	archetype, canvas	battle-cards-output.md
/assumption-map	Surface and prioritize riskiest assumptions	canvas, market-size	assumption-map-output.md
/pretotype	Design validation experiments	assumption-map	pretotype-output.md
/verdict	BUILD / KILL / PIVOT synthesis	ALL outputs	verdict-output.md
/pivot-paths	3 concrete pivot directions	verdict + all outputs	pivot-paths-output.md
/10x-why-now	Thiel's "why now" formalized	pressure-test, battle-cards	why-now-output.md
/analogous-cos	Structurally similar companies in other markets	pressure-test, canvas	analogous-cos-output.md
/build-brief	Structured handoff for coding agents	ALL outputs (BUILD verdict)	build-brief-output.md
Investment Pitch
/pitch-deck	Sequoia narrative arc from all outputs	ALL outputs	pitch-deck-output.md
/investor-lens	Score through seed angel, Series A, corporate VC lenses	verdict, canvas, market-size	investor-lens-output.md
/elevator-pitch	30-sec, 2-min, 10-min pitch versions	canvas, archetype, battle-cards	elevator-pitch-output.md
/objection-map	8-10 hardest investor questions with answers	verdict, assumption-map	objection-map-output.md
Sales & Marketing
/gtm-plan	Bullseye framework — rank 19 channels, test top 3	canvas, archetype	gtm-plan-output.md
/oneliner	One-sentence value prop with scoring criteria	canvas, archetype, battle-cards	oneliner-output.md
/cold-outreach	Personalized 3-email sequences from archetype	archetype, canvas	cold-outreach-output.md
/content-strategy	30-day content plan matched to archetype sources	archetype, canvas, battle-cards	content-strategy-output.md

CLAUDE.md Snippet

Add this to your project's CLAUDE.md to give Claude pipeline awareness:

## Founder Skills Pipeline

This project uses the founder-skills pipeline for idea validation.

### Output Directory
All skill outputs are saved to `./founder-outputs/`. Each skill reads
prior outputs from this directory to build on earlier analysis.

### Pipeline Sequence
0a. `/problem-discovery` — (optional) Surface candidate problems if no idea yet
0b. `/problem-statement` — (optional) Polish a vague problem before pressure-testing
1.  `/pressure-test` — Adversarial interrogation (run first if you have an idea)
2.  `/customer-archetype` — Define the specific customer
3.  `/founder-fit` — Assess founder-market fit
4.  `/scope-mode` — Calibrate ambition level
5.  `/market-size` — Bottom-up TAM/SAM/SOM
6.  `/startup-canvas` — Business model + value proposition
7.  `/unit-economics` — CAC / LTV / payback / gross margin
8.  `/regulatory-risk` — Compliance exposure (regulated industries)
9.  `/battle-cards` — Competitive intelligence
10. `/assumption-map` — Risk prioritization
11. `/pretotype` — Validation experiments
12. `/verdict` — BUILD / KILL / PIVOT judgment

> **Bias warning:** if you run `/problem-discovery` or `/problem-statement`, switch to a fresh Claude Code conversation before `/pressure-test` — otherwise the agent that helped frame the problem will be biased toward validating it.

Books Referenced

Book	Author	Used By
The Mom Test	Rob Fitzpatrick	/pressure-test, /customer-archetype
Zero to One	Peter Thiel	/pressure-test, /scope-mode, /10x-why-now
Competing Against Luck	Clayton Christensen	/pressure-test, /customer-archetype, /startup-canvas
Lean Analytics	Croll & Yoskovitz	/market-size
The Lean Startup	Eric Ries	/startup-canvas, /pretotype, /scope-mode
Business Model Generation	Osterwalder	/startup-canvas
$100M Offers	Alex Hormozi	/startup-canvas
Continuous Discovery Habits	Teresa Torres	/assumption-map
Obviously Awesome	April Dunford	/battle-cards
Crossing the Chasm	Geoffrey Moore	/battle-cards, /10x-why-now
Pretotype It	Alberto Savoia	/pretotype
The Hard Thing About Hard Things	Ben Horowitz	/verdict
Shape Up	Basecamp	/build-brief
Inspired	Marty Cagan	/build-brief
Venture Deals	Feld & Mendelson	/investor-lens, /pitch-deck
The Fundraising Rules	Mark MacLeod	/objection-map
Traction	Weinberg & Mares	/gtm-plan
$100M Leads	Alex Hormozi	/gtm-plan, /cold-outreach, /content-strategy
Predictable Revenue	Ross & Tyler	/cold-outreach
Secrets of Sand Hill Road	Scott Kupor	/verdict