Startup Design

A structured, multi-phase skill that takes a startup idea from raw concept to validated design. It produces a complete set of markdown documents organized by domain, with built-in progress tracking so work survives session interruptions.

How It Works

The process has 8 phases executed sequentially. Each phase produces output files and updates the progress tracker. If a session is interrupted, resume from the last completed checkpoint.

INTAKE → BRAINSTORM → RESEARCH → STRATEGY → BRAND → PRODUCT → FINANCIAL → VALIDATION

Modes

Full Mode (default): Execute all 8 phases in order. Best for thoroughly designing a startup from scratch.

Fast Track Mode: When the user says they want a "quick validation," "rapid assessment," or similar, or when time/budget is clearly limited, run a compressed version:

1. Phase 1 (Intake) — shortened to 1 round of questions
2. Phase 2 (Brainstorm) — 3 variations instead of 5-8
3. Phase 3 (Research) — Wave 1 + Wave 2 only (skip customer voice and distribution deep-dives)
4. Phase 4 (Strategy) — Lean Canvas only
5. Skip Phase 5 (Brand) and Phase 6 (Product)
6. Phase 7 (Financial) — Revenue model only, no full projections
7. Phase 8 (Validation) — Scorecard + top 3 experiments only

Fast Track produces fewer files but still gives the founder a clear go/no-go signal with evidence. Note in PROGRESS.md that Fast Track mode was used, so a future session can expand to full mode if the idea passes validation.

Language

Default output language is English. If the user writes in another language or explicitly requests one, use that language for all outputs instead.

Reference: Read references/output-guidelines.md once at the start. It defines the standard file header/footer (title, date, phase, confidence, flags), cross-phase referencing format, quality examples of good vs. bad output, and how to handle mid-process pivots.

Phase 0: Resume Check

Before anything else, check if a PROGRESS.md file exists in the working directory (or a project subdirectory). If it does, read it and resume from the last incomplete phase. Tell the user: "I found progress from a previous session. You completed [phases]. Picking up from [next phase]."

If no progress file exists, start from Phase 1.

Phase 1: Intake Interview

The quality of everything downstream depends on how much context you extract now. Don't rush this — a thorough intake saves hours of misdirection later.

Core Questions

Ask these in a conversational flow, not as a rigid checklist. Group related questions naturally and adapt based on answers. Not every question applies to every startup — skip what's irrelevant.

The Idea

• What problem are you solving? Who has this problem?
• What's your proposed solution? How does it work?
• What triggered this idea? (personal pain, market observation, technical insight)
• Do you have any existing work? (prototypes, research, landing pages, waitlists)

The Founder(s)

• What's your background? Relevant domain expertise?
• Are you solo or do you have co-founders? What are their strengths?
• How much time can you dedicate? Full-time or side project?
• What's your budget/runway situation?

The Market

• Who is your ideal customer? Be as specific as possible.
• How do they currently solve this problem? (existing alternatives, workarounds)
• Do you know of direct competitors? Who are they?
• What geography/market are you targeting first?

The Business

• How do you plan to make money? (subscription, one-time, marketplace, freemium)
• Any idea of pricing?
• What does success look like in 6 months? 12 months? 3 years?
• What are your biggest unknowns or worries?

Constraints & Preferences

• Any technical constraints? (must be mobile-first, needs to integrate with X)
• Any strong opinions on brand/positioning? (premium vs accessible, playful vs serious)
• Regulatory considerations?

Hard Questions

After the core questions, ask these deliberately uncomfortable questions. They surface blind spots early:

• "Why are you the right person to build this? What unfair advantage do you have?"
• "If Google/a well-funded competitor launched this tomorrow, what would you do?"
• "What's the strongest argument against this idea?"
• "Have you talked to potential customers? What did they actually say (not what you hoped they'd say)?"
• "What would make you walk away from this idea?"

Don't skip these — they set the tone for the entire process and signal that this is an honest assessment, not a cheerleading session.

How to Interview

• Ask 3-5 questions at a time, not all at once
• Acknowledge and build on answers — show you're listening
• Probe vague answers: "You said 'small businesses' — can you narrow that down? Like, freelancers? 10-person agencies? Local retail?"
• After 2-3 rounds, summarize what you've understood and ask the user to confirm or correct

Output

Save the consolidated intake to {project-name}/00-intake/brief.md with all captured information organized clearly. The project name should be derived from the startup idea (kebab-case, e.g., pet-health-tracker).

Create PROGRESS.md at the project root with: project name, start date, language, a checklist of all 8 phases (mark Phase 1 complete), and a Notes section for session state.

Phase 2: Brainstorm

Before diving into research, explore the idea space. This prevents premature convergence on the first version of the idea.

Process

1. Diverge — Generate 5-8 variations of the core idea. Push boundaries:

   • What if the target market was completely different?
   • What if the business model was inverted?
   • What if you solved a smaller/larger version of the problem?
   • What adjacent problems could you solve instead?
   • What would the "10x version" look like vs. the "simplest possible version"?

2. Analyze — For each variation, note:

   • What's exciting about it
   • What's risky or hard
   • How it changes the competitive landscape

3. Converge — Present the variations to the user. Help them identify which elements resonate. The goal isn't to pick one variation — it's to enrich the original idea with insights from the exploration.

4. Refine — Based on the user's reactions, crystallize the refined idea. Update the brief if the idea evolved significantly.

Output

Save to {project-name}/00-intake/brainstorm.md. Update PROGRESS.md.

Phase 2.5: Research Depth Assessment

After intake (and brainstorm if applicable), assess market complexity and present the Research Depth recommendation to the user.

Reference: Read references/research-scaling.md for the complexity scoring matrix, tier definitions, wave configurations, and the user communication template.

Process

1. Score three factors from the intake: market breadth (1-3), known competitors (1-3), geographic scope (1-3)
2. Sum the scores (range 3-9) and map to a tier: Light (3-4), Standard (5-7), Deep (8-9)
3. Present the Research Depth table to the user (see research-scaling.md for the exact template)
4. Wait for user response: light, deep, or ok to accept the recommendation
5. Record the selected tier in PROGRESS.md

The selected tier determines the number of agents per wave and search rounds per agent in Phase 3. See research-scaling.md for exact wave configurations per tier.

Phase 3: Market Research

This is the most resource-intensive phase. It uses 4 sequential waves of web research, each building on the previous one's findings.

Environment Detection

Check if the Agent tool is available (Claude Code) or not (Claude.ai, other environments):

• Agent tool available: Spawn subagents in parallel within each wave, as described below. This is faster (~3-5 min per wave).
• Agent tool NOT available (Claude.ai, web): Execute the research yourself, sequentially. For each wave, follow the same agent templates from the reference files, but run the searc