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SKILL.md

Startup Skill

The startup journey from idea to scale, informed by Paul Graham + Garry Tan wisdom.

Philosophy

Vision is emergent. You don't know what you're building at first. The skill adapts to where you are.

Do things that don't scale. Early stage is about learning, not efficiency.

Talk to users. Every week. The answers are in conversations, not spreadsheets.

Commands

code
/startup                      # Where am I? What's next?
/startup stage                # Assess current stage from docs
/startup next                 # The one thing to do this week
/startup validate [idea]      # PG-style idea critique
/startup mvp [idea]           # Scope to 2-week MVP
/startup customers            # How to find your first 10
/startup launch               # Launch playbook
/startup fundraise [stage]    # Fundraising by stage
/startup diagnose [problem]   # What's actually wrong
/startup pg [topic]           # What would PG say?
/startup garry [topic]        # What would Garry say?

THE STAGES

Stage 0: Idea

Goal: Validate that real people have this problem and will pay to solve it.

Key questions:

  • •Who has this problem? (Be specific—names, not personas)
  • •How are they solving it now?
  • •Why will they switch to you?
  • •What's the insight that makes this work?

PG frameworks:

  • •"How to Get Startup Ideas" - Live in the future, build what's missing
  • •"Schlep Blindness" - The best ideas look like work
  • •"Organic Startup Ideas" - Build what you need yourself
  • •"Frighteningly Ambitious Startup Ideas" - Think bigger

Actions:

  1. •Talk to 10 potential users this week
  2. •Document their exact words (not your interpretation)
  3. •Find the hair-on-fire problem

Anti-patterns:

  • •Building before talking
  • •Asking "would you use this?" (ask about their current behavior)
  • •Targeting everyone (niche down)

Stage 1: MVP

Goal: Build the smallest thing that delivers value to one person.

Key questions:

  • •What's the one thing it needs to do?
  • •Can you build it in 2 weeks?
  • •Can you describe it in one sentence?

PG frameworks:

  • •"Do Things That Don't Scale" - Manual before automated
  • •"The Airbnbs" - Professional photos changed everything
  • •"Ramen Profitable" - Survive while you figure it out
  • •"Default Alive or Default Dead" - Know which you are

Actions:

  1. •Cut scope until it hurts
  2. •Ship something this week
  3. •Get it in front of one real user

Anti-patterns:

  • •Building for 6 months before launching
  • •Adding features before anyone uses it
  • •Waiting until it's "ready"

Stage 2: First Customers

Goal: Get 5-10 paying customers manually.

Key questions:

  • •Who are the first 10 people who will pay?
  • •Can you name them?
  • •How will you reach them?

PG frameworks:

  • •"Do Things That Don't Scale" - Recruit users manually
  • •"Relentlessly Resourceful" - Find a way or make one
  • •"Be Good" - Make something people want
  • •"Mean People Fail" - Nice founders win

Garry frameworks:

  • •"Default alive matters" - Grow profitably if you can't raise
  • •"Six skills for startup success" - What to develop early

Actions:

  1. •Make a list of 20 potential customers (names, not categories)
  2. •Reach out to 5 today
  3. •Offer to do it for them manually

Anti-patterns:

  • •Waiting for inbound
  • •Mass marketing before product-market fit
  • •Discounting instead of learning

Stage 3: Launch

Goal: Create a moment that gets attention and establishes your position.

Key questions:

  • •What's the story?
  • •Who will amplify it?
  • •What's the one thing people should remember?

PG frameworks:

  • •"Startup = Growth" - Launch is just the beginning of the curve
  • •"How to Convince Investors" - Same principles apply to users
  • •"The Submarine" - PR is a game

Actions:

  1. •Line up 5 people who will share on launch day
  2. •Have a specific, concrete demo
  3. •Ship, don't wait for perfect

Anti-patterns:

  • •Launch as a one-time event (it's a process)
  • •Waiting for the "right moment"
  • •Announcing without showing

Stage 4: Growth

Goal: Find repeatable acquisition and scale what works.

Key questions:

  • •What's your growth rate?
  • •What's the one channel that's working?
  • •Are you default alive?

PG frameworks:

  • •"Startup = Growth" - If you're not growing, you're dying
  • •"The Fatal Pinch" - When growth and runway cross
  • •"How to Raise Money" - Raise when you don't need it
  • •"Founder Mode" - Stay hands-on longer than feels right

Garry frameworks:

  • •"Why startups are growing 5x faster" - AI enables smaller teams
  • •"Micromanagement is toxic" - Delegate as you scale

Actions:

  1. •Measure weekly growth rate
  2. •Double down on what's working
  3. •Kill what isn't

Anti-patterns:

  • •Premature scaling
  • •Hiring before product-market fit
  • •Multiple channels before one works

DIAGNOSIS FRAMEWORK

When something's wrong, find the root cause:

SymptomLikely CausePrescription
No users signing upDistribution problem or wrong audienceTalk to 10 more people, find where they are
Users sign up but don't useOnboarding or value prop problemWatch 5 users try it, fix the friction
Users use but don't payPricing or value problemAsk them what they'd pay for
Users churnNot solving real problemTalk to churned users, find why
Can't raise moneyTraction or story problemFocus on customers, not investors
Growing but unprofitableUnit economics problemFix before you scale

INTEGRATION WITH DOCS

The skill reads your docs to understand where you are:

code
knowledge/VISION.md     → EMERGENT = still figuring it out
                       → DECLARED = you know what you're building

knowledge/CRM.md        → Who you're talking to, what's resonating

content/articles/       → How you explain it to the world

drafts/                 → Active outreach, what's working

KNOWLEDGE BASE

code
knowledge/startup/
├── 0-idea/
│   ├── HOW_TO_GET_STARTUP_IDEAS.md
│   ├── SCHLEP_BLINDNESS.md
│   ├── ORGANIC_STARTUP_IDEAS.md
│   └── VALIDATION.md
├── 1-mvp/
│   ├── DO_THINGS_THAT_DONT_SCALE.md
│   ├── RAMEN_PROFITABLE.md
│   └── SCOPE.md
├── 2-customers/
│   ├── FIRST_10.md
│   ├── RELENTLESSLY_RESOURCEFUL.md
│   └── BE_GOOD.md
├── 3-launch/
│   ├── LAUNCH_PLAYBOOK.md
│   └── STARTUP_EQUALS_GROWTH.md
├── 4-growth/
│   ├── THE_FATAL_PINCH.md
│   ├── HOW_TO_RAISE_MONEY.md
│   └── FOUNDER_MODE.md
└── raw/
    ├── pg/              # All PG essays
    └── garry/           # All Garry content

QUICK REFERENCE

The PG Stack

  1. •Make something people want (the only thing that matters)
  2. •Do things that don't scale (early stage superpower)
  3. •Talk to users (the answers are there)
  4. •Launch fast (embarrassingly early)
  5. •Grow or die (weekly growth is the metric)

The Garry Stack

  1. •Default alive > default dead
  2. •AI enables smaller teams
  3. •Delegation > micromanagement
  4. •Learn or earn at every job
  5. •The best time to start is now

Anti-patterns (from "18 Mistakes That Kill Startups")

  1. •Single founder
  2. •Bad location
  3. •Marginal niche
  4. •Derivative idea
  5. •Obstinacy
  6. •Hiring bad programmers
  7. •Choosing the wrong platform
  8. •Slowness in launching
  9. •Launching too early
  10. •Having no specific user in mind
  11. •Raising too little money
  12. •Spending too much
  13. •Raising too much money
  14. •Poor investor management
  15. •Sacrificing users to (supposed) profit
  16. •Not wanting to get your hands dirty
  17. •Fights between founders
  18. •A half-hearted effort

OUTPUT FILES

code
outputs/startup/
├── assessments/
│   └── stage-assessment-{date}.md
├── ideas/
│   └── validation-{idea}.md
├── mvp/
│   └── scope-{idea}.md
└── fundraising/
    └── prep-{stage}.md

SOURCES

  • •Paul Graham essays: paulgraham.com (200+ essays)
  • •Garry Tan: blog.garrytan.com, YC blog, YouTube
  • •Y Combinator library: ycombinator.com/library

"Make something people want." — Paul Graham

"At every job you should either learn or earn. Either is fine. Both is best. But if it's neither, quit." — Garry Tan