Startup Design (Idea Validation & Business Planning)

Takes a raw startup idea through 8 phases — market research, competition, brand, product, financials, validation — and outputs a full set of decision-ready markdown docs.

Marketing & SEOIntermediate★ 1,139⑂ 154AI score 9/10Last updated: Jul 1, 2026

What it does

Runs an 8-phase pipeline: pre-flight sanity check → intake interview → brainstorm → market research (4 research waves) → go/no-go gate → customer interviews → strategy → brand → product → financials → validation.
Writes structured deliverables into folders: TAM/SAM/SOM sizing, a competitor comparison matrix, personas and pain hierarchy, industry trends, and a confidence dashboard rating source quality.
Uses canonical frameworks: Lean Canvas, April Dunford positioning, Value Proposition Canvas, RICE/MoSCoW, plus a two-stage financial model (assumption-based vs. interview-evidence-based).
Tracks state in PROGRESS.md so an interrupted session resumes from the last completed checkpoint.
Enforces a "radical honesty protocol": every claim labeled [Data]/[Estimate]/[Assumption], red/yellow flags per phase, and a 1–10 scorecard with an explicit verdict.

Who it's for

Aspiring founders who want a blunt read on whether an idea is worth pursuing.
Early teams needing a business plan, lean canvas, and a concrete 30-day action plan.
Corporate innovation / new-product leads evaluating a concept.

Examples

"I have an idea for a pet health tracking app — is it worth pursuing?" → 5-minute pre-flight (dominant incumbents, prior failures, regulatory blockers) then the intake interview.
"Just give me a quick validation" → Fast Track mode produces Lean Canvas + revenue model + top 3 experiments only.
"Resume where we left off" → reads PROGRESS.md and restarts at the next incomplete phase.
After 5 customer interviews → synthesizes problem-confirmation rate and behavior signals, upgrading financials to Stage B (evidence-based).

· · · Install guide · · ·

Try it now, no install

Paste this into Claude to use the skill without installing anything.

Read the instructions in this file and follow them to help me:
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ferdinandobons/startup-skill/HEAD/startup-design/SKILL.md

What I want: (describe your task here)

If Claude can't open the link, open it yourself and paste the contents instead.

↓ If it works for you, download the ZIP below and install it. Then it runs on its own — no pasting each time.

Install in the Claude app (no terminal)

Download the ZIP with the button below.
In Claude, open Settings → Capabilities and turn on 'Code execution and file creation'. (one time)
Go to Customize → Skills → + → 'Upload a skill' and upload the ZIP.

↓ Download ZIP

Install in Claude Code

Let Claude do it — paste this into Claude Code

Install the skill I found on Claude Skill Mart.
Copy the startup-design folder from the GitHub repo ferdinandobons/startup-skill into my ~/.claude/skills/startup-design/.
When it's done, tell me in one line what this skill can do.

Install with a command instead

git clone https://github.com/ferdinandobons/startup-skill.git && mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills && cp -r startup-skill/startup-design ~/.claude/skills/

⚠ This is a third-party skill. Check the source repository before installing.

Open a terminal.
Clone the repo: git clone https://github.com/ferdinandobons/startup-skill.git
Create the skills folder: mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills
Copy the skill: cp -r startup-skill/startup-design ~/.claude/skills/
Verify that ~/.claude/skills/startup-design/ contains both SKILL.md and the references/ directory — several phases depend on those reference files.
Restart Claude Code and allow the WebSearch tool; Phase 3 market research needs live searches (otherwise it falls back to knowledge-based mode).
From an empty working directory, say: "Design my startup idea: (describe it)". Add "quick validation only" to run the lighter Fast Track path.

View source on GitHub ↗License: MIT