Build-DNA

Turn who you are → into what to build → into how to sell it.

Build-DNA runs in three phases. Move through them in order. Each phase has its own reference file with deeper guidance — load them when needed.

Phase 1: DNA Scan (Adaptive Intake)

Goal: Build a rich personal profile so the idea generation is specific to this person, not generic.

Ask questions adaptively — never dump all questions at once. Start with the most revealing ones, read the answers, then dig deeper where there's signal. Stop when you have enough to generate ideas (usually 8–15 exchanges for a first-timer, 4–8 for an experienced builder).

Core question areas (pick the highest-signal ones based on context):

Identity & Strengths

• What do you do better than most people you know?
• What have people paid you for, or asked you to do for free because you're good at it?
• What industry or domain do you know deeply — even if just from lived experience?
• What languages do you speak? Where have you lived or traveled?

Interests & Obsessions

• What do you spend time on when nobody's watching?
• What topics do you go deep on — YouTube rabbit holes, books, forums?
• What communities are you part of (online or offline)?

Resources & Unfair Advantages

• What tools, software, or equipment do you already own?
• What's your rough time budget? (hours/week, and for how long)
• What's your rough money budget to start?
• Do you have an audience, a newsletter, followers, or a network in any niche?

Your Circle (First Customers)

• Who are your 10–50 closest people — friends, family, colleagues, online connections?
• What problems do they complain about most?
• What do they currently pay for that you think is overpriced or underserved?

Desires & Motivation

• What's the real reason you want to build something? (freedom, money, impact, status, boredom?)
• What does success look like in 12 months?
• What type of work do you not want to do?

Context Clues

• Where are you based? (unlocks cross-border, local market, and arbitrage angles)
• What's your current situation? (student, employed, freelancer, unemployed, parent?)
• Have you tried building anything before? What happened?

Load references/intake-questions.md for extended question banks by persona type (student, professional, creator, immigrant, serial founder, hackathon builder).

Phase 2: Idea Generation

Goal: Generate 5–10 ideas that are personally calibrated — matched to this person's DNA, not a generic list.

Idea Types to Consider

Build-DNA is not SaaS-only. Generate ideas across ALL of these categories when relevant:

Idea Generation Rules

1. Specificity beats generics. "A productivity app for nurses working night shifts" beats "a productivity app."
2. Use their unfair advantages. Every idea should tie to at least one thing from Phase 1.
3. Cover multiple categories. Don't generate 5 SaaS ideas if the person loves making things with their hands.
4. Include at least one unconventional idea — cross-border, physical, creator, or arbitrage.
5. Flag the fastest path to first dollar for each idea.

Idea Output Format

For each idea:

### [Idea Name]
**Type:** [category]
**The pitch:** One sentence. Who is it for, what problem does it solve, why now.
**Why it fits you:** Tie to 1–2 things from their DNA scan.
**Fastest path to $1:** What's the minimum action to get first revenue?
**Wild card angle:** One unexpected twist or expansion path.

After presenting ideas, ask: "Which 1–3 of these feel most alive to you? Even a gut feeling counts."

Load references/idea-frameworks.md for deeper idea generation frameworks (Blue Ocean, cross-border filters, JTBD, job adjacency mapping, arbitrage checkers).

Phase 3: Build Brief

Goal: For each selected idea, produce a complete, actionable brief that a smart 22-year-old with no business background could execute.

The Build Brief has 12 sections. Generate all 12 in one output.

1. Clarity Statement

One paragraph. What is this business, for whom, and why will it work? No jargon.

2. Market Analysis

Don't fabricate numbers — estimate directionally and flag assumptions clearly.

a) Market Size (TAM / SAM / SOM)

• TAM — Total addressable market. How many people globally have this problem?
• SAM — Serviceable addressable market. How many can this founder realistically reach given geography, language, distribution?
• SOM — Realistic target for year 1–2. Be honest and conservative.

Use bottom-up logic where possible: "If there are X people in this niche and they spend $Y/year on this problem, the market is $Z." Flag every assumption with [estimate].

b) Why Now 3 specific reasons this opportunity exists today that didn't exist 3 years ago:

• Behavioral shift (what changed in how people live/work?)
• Technology shift (what's newly possible or newly cheap?)
• Market shift (what incumbent failed, what regulation changed, what trend accelerated?)

c) Market Risks

• Is the market growing or shrinking?
• Is this a vitamin (nice to have) or painkiller (must have)?
• What would kill this market in 2 years?

Load references/market-analysis.md for TAM/SAM/SOM frameworks, bottom-up sizing templates, and Why Now analysis patterns.

3. Competitive Landscape

a) Competitor Matrix

Include at least 3 competitors. If none exist, that's a signal — explain why (nascent market, or nobody's found it yet).

b) Positioning Map Identify the 2 most important axes for this market (e.g., price vs quality, speed vs depth, DIY vs done-for-you). Place competitors and this idea on the map in plain text:

High Quality
    |
    |  [Competitor A]        [This idea]
    |
    |       [Competitor B]
    |________________________
Low Price              High Price

c) Competitive Moat What makes this defensible over time? (network effects, proprietary data, brand, switching costs, distribution lock-in, unique expertise)

d) Unfair Advantage What does this specific founder have that a well-funded competitor couldn't easily replicate?

4. Opportunity Map

Rate the idea across 6 dimensions (1–5 scale with brief rationale):

• Pain depth — How badly does the customer feel this problem?
• Market urgency — Why now, not 3 years ago or 3 years from now?
• Willingness to pay — Will they actually spend money, not just say they will?
• Distribution path — How do you reach the first 100 customers?
• Competitive pressure — Is the space crowded, or is there a clear opening?
• Execution difficulty — How hard is this to actually build and ship?

5. Founder Fit Score

Rate the founder across 5 dimensions (1–5):

• Domain knowledge — Do they know this space from lived experience?
• Network access — Do they know the first customers personally?
• **Exec