startup-design

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 numbered phases executed sequentially, plus a Pre-Flight Check (Phase 0.5) and a Customer Discovery gate (Phase 3.7). Each phase produces output files and updates the progress tracker. If a session is interrupted, resume from the last completed checkpoint.

PRE-FLIGHT → INTAKE → BRAINSTORM → RESEARCH → [Research Gate] → CUSTOMER DISCOVERY → [Interview Gate] → STRATEGY → BRAND → PRODUCT → FINANCIAL → VALIDATION

Modes

Full Mode (default): Execute all phases in order, including Pre-Flight and Customer Discovery. 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 0.5 (Pre-Flight Check) — always run, takes 5 minutes
2. Phase 1 (Intake) — shortened to 1 round of questions; capture any prior customer conversations
3. Phase 2 (Brainstorm) — 3 variations instead of 5-8
4. Phase 3 (Research) — Wave 1 + Wave 2 only (skip customer voice and distribution deep-dives)
5. Phase 3.5 (Research Gate) — go/no-go checkpoint
6. Phase 3.7 (Customer Discovery) — if founder has 5+ prior conversations, document them; if not, run at least 3 interviews before proceeding
7. Phase 4 (Strategy) — Lean Canvas only
8. Skip Phase 5 (Brand) and Phase 6 (Product)
9. Phase 7 (Financial) — Revenue model only, Stage A (assumption-based), no full projections
10. 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.