{"id":"2c52ab8b-4b31-49d0-ab3a-df8b1d3c4221","shortId":"8R7sBj","kind":"skill","title":"what-to-build","tagline":"Decide what to build using YC's six forcing questions and the four CEO scope modes. Use before any new feature, product bet, or GTM angle.","description":"# What to build\n\nFrameworks for deciding *what* deserves to be built. Use before any new feature, product bet, or GTM angle.\n\nSource: gstack `office-hours/SKILL.md`, `plan-ceo-review/SKILL.md`.\n\n## The six forcing questions (YC office hours)\n\nSmart-routed by stage:\n- Pre-product → Q1, Q2, Q3\n- Has users → Q2, Q4, Q5\n- Has paying customers → Q4, Q5, Q6\n- Pure infra/eng → Q2, Q4 only\n\nAsk one at a time. Push for specificity. Wait for the answer before asking the next.\n\n### Q1: Demand reality\n\n> \"What's the strongest evidence you have that someone actually wants this — not 'is interested,' not 'signed up for a waitlist,' but would be genuinely upset if it disappeared tomorrow?\"\n\nPush until you hear: specific behavior. Someone paying. Someone expanding usage. Someone building their workflow around it. Someone who would scramble if you vanished.\n\nRed flags: \"People say it's interesting.\" \"We got 500 waitlist signups.\" \"VCs are excited about the space.\" None of these are demand.\n\n### Q2: Status quo\n\n> \"What are your users doing right now to solve this problem — even badly? What does that workaround cost them?\"\n\nPush until you hear: a specific workflow. Hours spent. Dollars wasted. Tools duct-taped together. People hired to do it manually.\n\nRed flags: \"Nothing — there's no solution, that's why the opportunity is so big.\" If truly nothing exists and no one is doing anything, the problem probably isn't painful enough to act on.\n\n### Q3: Desperate specificity\n\n> \"Name the actual human who needs this most. What's their title? What gets them promoted? What gets them fired? What keeps them up at night?\"\n\nPush until you hear: a name. A role. A specific consequence. Ideally something the founder heard directly from that person's mouth.\n\nRed flags: Category-level answers. \"Healthcare enterprises.\" \"SMBs.\" \"Marketing teams.\" These are filters, not people. You can't email a category.\n\n### Q4: Narrowest wedge\n\n> \"What's the smallest possible version of this that someone would pay real money for — this week, not after you build the platform?\"\n\nPush until you hear: one feature. One workflow. Maybe a weekly email or a single automation. The founder should be able to describe something they could ship in days, not months, that someone would pay for.\n\nRed flags: \"We need to build the full platform before anyone can really use it.\" Sign the founder is attached to architecture, not value.\n\nBonus push: *\"What if the user didn't have to do anything at all to get value? No login, no integration, no setup. What would that look like?\"*\n\n### Q5: Observation & surprise\n\n> \"Have you actually sat down and watched someone use this without helping them? What did they do that surprised you?\"\n\nPush until you hear: a specific surprise. Something the user did that contradicted the founder's assumptions.\n\nRed flags: \"We sent out a survey.\" \"We did some demo calls.\" \"Nothing surprising, it's going as expected.\" Surveys lie. Demos are theater. \"As expected\" means filtered through assumptions.\n\nThe gold: users doing something the product wasn't designed for. That's often the real product trying to emerge.\n\n### Q6: Future-fit\n\n> \"If the world looks meaningfully different in 3 years — and it will — does your product become more essential or less?\"\n\nPush until you hear: a specific claim about how their users' world changes and why that change makes their product more valuable.\n\nRed flags: \"The market is growing 20% per year.\" Growth rate is not a vision. \"AI will make everything better.\" That's not a product thesis.\n\n## Anti-sycophancy rules\n\nNever say during diagnosis:\n- *\"That's an interesting approach\"* — take a position instead\n- *\"There are many ways to think about this\"* — pick one and state what evidence would change your mind\n- *\"You might want to consider...\"* — say \"this is wrong because...\" or \"this works because...\"\n- *\"That could work\"* — say whether it WILL work based on the evidence you have, and what evidence is missing\n- *\"I can see why you'd think that\"* — if they're wrong, say they're wrong and why\n\nAlways:\n- Take a position on every answer. State your position AND what evidence would change it. This is rigor, not hedging.\n- Challenge the strongest version of the claim, not a strawman.\n\n## Pushback patterns\n\n**Vague market → force specificity**\n- BAD: \"That's a big market! Let's explore what kind of tool.\"\n- GOOD: \"There are 10,000 AI developer tools right now. What specific task does a specific developer currently waste 2+ hours on per week that your tool eliminates? Name the person.\"\n\n**Social proof → demand test**\n- BAD: \"That's encouraging! Who specifically have you talked to?\"\n- GOOD: \"Loving an idea is free. Has anyone offered to pay? Has anyone asked when it ships? Has anyone gotten angry when your prototype broke? Love is not demand.\"\n\n**Platform vision → wedge challenge**\n- BAD: \"What would a stripped-down version look like?\"\n- GOOD: \"If no one can get value from a smaller version, it usually means the value proposition isn't clear yet — not that the product needs to be bigger. What's the one thing a user would pay for this week?\"\n\n**Growth stats → vision test**\n- BAD: \"That's a strong tailwind. How do you plan to capture that growth?\"\n- GOOD: \"Growth rate is not a vision. Every competitor in your space can cite the same stat. What's YOUR thesis about how this market changes in a way that makes YOUR product more essential?\"\n\n**Undefined terms → precision demand**\n- BAD: \"What does your current onboarding flow look like?\"\n- GOOD: \"'Seamless' is not a product feature — it's a feeling. What specific step in onboarding causes users to drop off? What's the drop-off rate? Have you watched someone go through it?\"\n\n## Operating principles (non-negotiable)\n\n**Specificity is the only currency.** Vague answers get pushed. \"Enterprises in healthcare\" is not a customer. \"Everyone needs this\" means you can't find anyone.\n\n**Interest is not demand.** Waitlists, signups, \"that's interesting\" — none of it counts. Behavior counts. Money counts. Panic when it breaks counts.\n\n**The user's words beat the founder's pitch.** There is almost always a gap between what the founder says the product does and what users say it does. The user's version is the truth.\n\n**Watch, don't demo.** Guided walkthroughs teach you nothing about real usage. Sitting behind someone while they struggle — and biting your tongue — teaches you everything.\n\n**The status quo is your real competitor.** Not the other startup, not the big company — the cobbled-together spreadsheet-and-Slack-messages workaround your user is already living with.\n\n**Narrow beats wide, early.** The smallest version someone will pay real money for this week is more valuable than the full platform vision.\n\n## The four CEO scope modes\n\nPick a mode *before* reviewing the plan. Drifting between modes is the anti-pattern.\n\n| Mode | Default for | Posture |\n|---|---|---|\n| **SCOPE EXPANSION** (cathedral) | Greenfield | Dream big — what's the 10-star version? |\n| **SELECTIVE EXPANSION** | Enhancement | Hold scope, cherry-pick high-leverage expansions |\n| **HOLD SCOPE** | Bugfix / refactor | Maximum rigor on what's there |\n| **SCOPE REDUCTION** (surgeon) | Auto-suggest if >15 files | Strip to essentials |\n\n> \"You have permission to say 'scrap it and do this instead.'\"\n\n## 18 cognitive patterns\n\nNot a checklist — \"thinking instincts\" to apply when reviewing scope:\n\n- **Bezos one-way / two-way doors** — reversible decisions deserve speed; irreversible ones deserve care\n- **Munger inversion** — \"what would make this fail?\"\n- **Jobs focus as subtraction** — 350 → 10 products\n- **Horowitz people-products-profits** — order matters\n- **Bezos 70% information rule** — wait for 90% and you're too slow\n- **Altman willfulness + leverage** — ambition × leverage is the multiplier\n- **Rams \"as little design as possible\"** — additive design is a failure mode\n\n(Plus eleven more in the original plan-ceo-review skill.)\n\n## Build for yourself\n\n> \"The best tools solve your own problem. gstack exists because its creator wanted it. Every feature was built because it was needed, not because it was requested... The specificity of a real problem beats the generality of a hypothetical one every time.\"\n\nInverts standard customer-development orthodoxy. The strongest builders solve their own pain first; the market follows.\n\n## When to skip the diagnostic\n\nOnly allow a full skip if the user provides:\n- Existing users\n- Revenue numbers\n- Specific customer names\n\nEven then, still run premise-challenge and alternatives review.\n\nIf the user expresses impatience (\"just do it,\" \"skip the questions\"):\n1. *\"I hear you. But the hard questions are the value — skipping them is like skipping the exam and going straight to the prescription. Let me ask two more, then we'll move.\"*\n2. Ask the 2 most critical remaining questions for the founder's stage.\n3. If they push back a second time, respect it. Don't ask a third time.","tags":["what","build","gstack","distilled","0xabrar","agent-skills","claude-code","claude-skill","decision-making","founder","garry-tan","skills"],"capabilities":["skill","source-0xabrar","skill-what-to-build","topic-agent-skills","topic-claude-code","topic-claude-skill","topic-decision-making","topic-founder","topic-garry-tan","topic-gstack","topic-skills","topic-startup"],"categories":["gstack-distilled"],"synonyms":[],"warnings":[],"endpointUrl":"https://skills.sh/0xabrar/gstack-distilled/what-to-build","protocol":"skill","transport":"skills-sh","auth":{"type":"none","details":{"cli":"npx skills add 0xabrar/gstack-distilled","source_repo":"https://github.com/0xabrar/gstack-distilled","install_from":"skills.sh"}},"qualityScore":"0.455","qualityRationale":"deterministic score 0.46 from registry signals: · indexed on github topic:agent-skills · 11 github stars · SKILL.md body (8,945 chars)","verified":false,"liveness":"unknown","lastLivenessCheck":null,"agentReviews":{"count":0,"score_avg":null,"cost_usd_avg":null,"success_rate":null,"latency_p50_ms":null,"narrative_summary":null,"summary_updated_at":null},"enrichmentModel":"deterministic:skill-github:v1","enrichmentVersion":1,"enrichedAt":"2026-05-18T19:08:05.284Z","embedding":null,"createdAt":"2026-05-09T01:05:24.382Z","updatedAt":"2026-05-18T19:08:05.284Z","lastSeenAt":"2026-05-18T19:08:05.284Z","tsv":"'/skill.md':57,62 '000':761 '1':1432 '10':760,1187,1276 '15':1219 '18':1235 '2':776,1465,1468 '20':601 '3':560,1478 '350':1275 '500':179 '70':1286 '90':1291 'abl':391 'act':270 'actual':125,277,464 'addit':1311 'ai':610,762 'allow':1396 'almost':1050 'alreadi':1128 'altern':1419 'altman':1297 'alway':707,1051 'ambit':1300 'angl':30,51 'angri':822 'answer':108,328,713,998 'anti':622,1172 'anti-pattern':1171 'anti-sycoph':621 'anyon':417,809,814,820,1016 'anyth':261,442 'appli':1244 'approach':633 'architectur':428 'around':161 'ask':97,110,815,1458,1466,1490 'assumpt':498,528 'attach':426 'auto':1216 'auto-suggest':1215 'autom':386 'back':1482 'bad':208,744,792,835,890,943 'base':678 'beat':1043,1132,1364 'becom':568 'behavior':151,1030 'behind':1088 'best':1332 'bet':27,48 'better':614 'bezo':1248,1285 'big':251,748,1113,1183 'bigger':873 'bite':1094 'bonus':431 'break':1037 'broke':826 'bugfix':1204 'build':4,8,33,158,368,412,1328 'builder':1381 'built':41,1348 'call':510 'captur':901 'care':1263 'categori':326,344 'category-level':325 'cathedr':1180 'caus':968 'ceo':18,60,1156,1325 'challeng':728,834,1417 'chang':585,589,653,721,929 'checklist':1240 'cherri':1196 'cherry-pick':1195 'cite':917 'claim':579,734 'clear':864 'cobbl':1117 'cobbled-togeth':1116 'cognit':1236 'compani':1114 'competitor':912,1106 'consequ':311 'consid':660 'contradict':494 'cost':213 'could':396,671 'count':1029,1031,1033,1038 'creator':1342 'critic':1470 'currenc':996 'current':774,947 'custom':88,1007,1376,1409 'customer-develop':1375 'd':694 'day':399 'decid':5,36 'decis':1257 'default':1175 'demand':114,192,790,830,942,1020 'demo':509,520,1078 'describ':393 'deserv':38,1258,1262 'design':538,1308,1312 'desper':273 'develop':763,773,1377 'diagnosi':628 'diagnost':1394 'didn':437 'differ':558 'direct':317 'disappear':144 'dollar':224 'door':1255 'dream':1182 'drift':1166 'drop':971,977 'drop-off':976 'duct':228 'duct-tap':227 'earli':1134 'eleven':1318 'elimin':784 'email':342,382 'emerg':548 'encourag':795 'enhanc':1192 'enough':268 'enterpris':330,1001 'essenti':570,938,1223 'even':207,1411 'everi':712,911,1345,1371 'everyon':1008 'everyth':613,1099 'evid':120,651,681,686,719 'exam':1449 'excit':184 'exist':255,1339,1404 'expand':155 'expans':1179,1191,1201 'expect':517,524 'explor':752 'express':1424 'fail':1270 'failur':1315 'featur':25,46,376,958,1346 'feel':962 'file':1220 'filter':336,526 'find':1015 'fire':294 'first':1386 'fit':552 'flag':171,238,324,408,500,596 'flow':949 'focus':1272 'follow':1389 'forc':13,65,742 'founder':315,388,424,496,1045,1057,1475 'four':17,1155 'framework':34 'free':807 'full':414,1151,1398 'futur':551 'future-fit':550 'gap':1053 'general':1366 'genuin':140 'get':288,292,446,850,999 'go':515,984,1451 'gold':530 'good':757,802,845,904,952 'got':178 'gotten':821 'greenfield':1181 'grow':600 'growth':604,886,903,905 'gstack':53,1338 'gtm':29,50 'guid':1079 'hard':1438 'healthcar':329,1003 'hear':149,218,304,374,485,576,1434 'heard':316 'hedg':727 'help':473 'high':1199 'high-leverag':1198 'hire':232 'hold':1193,1202 'horowitz':1278 'hour':56,69,222,777 'human':278 'hypothet':1369 'idea':805 'ideal':312 'impati':1425 'inform':1287 'infra/eng':93 'instead':637,1234 'instinct':1242 'integr':451 'interest':130,176,632,1017,1025 'invers':1265 'invert':1373 'irrevers':1260 'isn':265,862 'job':1271 'keep':296 'kind':754 'less':572 'let':750,1456 'level':327 'leverag':1200,1299,1301 'lie':519 'like':458,844,951,1446 'littl':1307 'live':1129 'll':1463 'login':449 'look':457,556,843,950 'love':803,827 'make':590,612,934,1268 'mani':640 'manual':236 'market':332,598,741,749,928,1388 'matter':1284 'maximum':1206 'mayb':379 'mean':525,858,1011 'meaning':557 'messag':1123 'might':657 'mind':655 'miss':688 'mode':20,1158,1161,1168,1174,1316 'money':361,1032,1142 'month':401 'mouth':322 'move':1464 'multipli':1304 'munger':1264 'name':275,306,785,1410 'narrow':1131 'narrowest':346 'need':280,410,870,1009,1352 'negoti':991 'never':625 'new':24,45 'next':112 'night':300 'non':990 'non-negoti':989 'none':188,1026 'noth':239,254,511,1083 'number':1407 'observ':460 'offer':810 'offic':55,68 'office-hour':54 'often':542 'onboard':948,967 'one':98,258,375,377,647,848,877,1250,1261,1370 'one-way':1249 'oper':987 'opportun':248 'order':1283 'origin':1322 'orthodoxi':1378 'pain':267,1385 'panic':1034 'pattern':739,1173,1237 'pay':87,153,359,405,812,882,1140 'peopl':172,231,338,1280 'people-products-profit':1279 'per':602,779 'permiss':1226 'person':320,787 'pick':646,1159,1197 'pitch':1047 'plan':59,899,1165,1324 'plan-ceo-review':58,1323 'platform':370,415,831,1152 'plus':1317 'posit':636,710,716 'possibl':352,1310 'postur':1177 'pre':76 'pre-product':75 'precis':941 'premis':1416 'premise-challeng':1415 'prescript':1455 'principl':988 'probabl':264 'problem':206,263,1337,1363 'product':26,47,77,535,545,567,592,619,869,936,957,1060,1277,1281 'profit':1282 'promot':290 'proof':789 'proposit':861 'prototyp':825 'provid':1403 'pure':92 'push':102,146,215,301,371,432,482,573,1000,1481 'pushback':738 'q1':78,113 'q2':79,83,94,193 'q3':80,272 'q4':84,89,95,345 'q5':85,90,459 'q6':91,549 'question':14,66,1431,1439,1472 'quo':195,1102 'ram':1305 'rate':605,906,979 're':699,703,1294 'real':360,544,1085,1105,1141,1362 'realiti':115 'realli':419 'red':170,237,323,407,499,595 'reduct':1213 'refactor':1205 'remain':1471 'request':1357 'respect':1486 'revenu':1406 'revers':1256 'review':61,1163,1246,1326,1420 'right':201,765 'rigor':725,1207 'role':308 'rout':72 'rule':624,1288 'run':1414 'sat':465 'say':173,626,661,673,701,1058,1065,1228 'scope':19,1157,1178,1194,1203,1212,1247 'scrambl':166 'scrap':1229 'seamless':953 'second':1484 'see':691 'select':1190 'sent':502 'setup':453 'ship':397,818 'sign':132,422 'signup':181,1022 'singl':385 'sit':1087 'six':12,64 'skill':1327 'skill-what-to-build' 'skip':1392,1399,1429,1443,1447 'slack':1122 'slow':1296 'smaller':854 'smallest':351,1136 'smart':71 'smart-rout':70 'smbs':331 'social':788 'solut':243 'solv':204,1334,1382 'someon':124,152,154,157,163,357,403,469,983,1089,1138 'someth':313,394,489,533 'sourc':52 'source-0xabrar' 'space':187,915 'specif':104,150,220,274,310,487,578,743,768,772,797,964,992,1359,1408 'speed':1259 'spent':223 'spreadsheet':1120 'spreadsheet-and-slack-messag':1119 'stage':74,1477 'standard':1374 'star':1188 'startup':1110 'stat':887,920 'state':649,714 'status':194,1101 'step':965 'still':1413 'straight':1452 'strawman':737 'strip':840,1221 'stripped-down':839 'strong':894 'strongest':119,730,1380 'struggl':1092 'subtract':1274 'suggest':1217 'surgeon':1214 'surpris':461,480,488,512 'survey':505,518 'sycoph':623 'tailwind':895 'take':634,708 'talk':800 'tape':229 'task':769 'teach':1081,1097 'team':333 'term':940 'test':791,889 'theater':522 'thesi':620,924 'thing':878 'think':643,695,1241 'third':1492 'time':101,1372,1485,1493 'titl':286 'togeth':230,1118 'tomorrow':145 'tongu':1096 'tool':226,756,764,783,1333 'topic-agent-skills' 'topic-claude-code' 'topic-claude-skill' 'topic-decision-making' 'topic-founder' 'topic-garry-tan' 'topic-gstack' 'topic-skills' 'topic-startup' 'tri':546 'truli':253 'truth':1074 'two':1253,1459 'two-way':1252 'undefin':939 'upset':141 'usag':156,1086 'use':9,21,42,420,470 'user':82,199,436,491,531,583,880,969,1040,1064,1069,1126,1402,1405,1423 'usual':857 'vagu':740,997 'valu':430,447,851,860,1442 'valuabl':594,1148 'vanish':169 'vcs':182 'version':353,731,842,855,1071,1137,1189 'vision':609,832,888,910,1153 'wait':105,1289 'waitlist':136,180,1021 'walkthrough':1080 'want':126,658,1343 'wasn':536 'wast':225,775 'watch':468,982,1075 'way':641,932,1251,1254 'wedg':347,833 'week':364,381,780,885,1145 'what-to-build':1 'whether':674 'wide':1133 'will':1298 'without':472 'word':1042 'work':668,672,677 'workaround':212,1124 'workflow':160,221,378 'world':555,584 'would':138,165,358,404,455,652,720,837,881,1267 'wrong':664,700,704 'yc':10,67 'year':561,603 'yet':865","prices":[{"id":"a162c073-b01f-4c1c-8a9f-468c7de45559","listingId":"2c52ab8b-4b31-49d0-ab3a-df8b1d3c4221","amountUsd":"0","unit":"free","nativeCurrency":null,"nativeAmount":null,"chain":null,"payTo":null,"paymentMethod":"skill-free","isPrimary":true,"details":{"org":"0xabrar","category":"gstack-distilled","install_from":"skills.sh"},"createdAt":"2026-05-09T01:05:24.382Z"}],"sources":[{"listingId":"2c52ab8b-4b31-49d0-ab3a-df8b1d3c4221","source":"github","sourceId":"0xabrar/gstack-distilled/what-to-build","sourceUrl":"https://github.com/0xabrar/gstack-distilled/tree/main/skills/what-to-build","isPrimary":false,"firstSeenAt":"2026-05-09T01:05:24.382Z","lastSeenAt":"2026-05-18T19:08:05.284Z"}],"details":{"listingId":"2c52ab8b-4b31-49d0-ab3a-df8b1d3c4221","quickStartSnippet":null,"exampleRequest":null,"exampleResponse":null,"schema":null,"openapiUrl":null,"agentsTxtUrl":null,"citations":[],"useCases":[],"bestFor":[],"notFor":[],"kindDetails":{"org":"0xabrar","slug":"what-to-build","github":{"repo":"0xabrar/gstack-distilled","stars":11,"topics":["agent-skills","claude-code","claude-skill","decision-making","founder","garry-tan","gstack","skills","startup","yc"],"license":"other","html_url":"https://github.com/0xabrar/gstack-distilled","pushed_at":"2026-04-26T16:34:12Z","description":"Distilled decision-making frameworks from Garry Tan's gstack, packaged as 7 focused Agent Skills.","skill_md_sha":"9ff108c0c87b59b24c99e68dd6744b9fc4dc7d0c","skill_md_path":"skills/what-to-build/SKILL.md","default_branch":"main","skill_tree_url":"https://github.com/0xabrar/gstack-distilled/tree/main/skills/what-to-build"},"layout":"multi","source":"github","category":"gstack-distilled","frontmatter":{"name":"what-to-build","description":"Decide what to build using YC's six forcing questions and the four CEO scope modes. Use before any new feature, product bet, or GTM angle."},"skills_sh_url":"https://skills.sh/0xabrar/gstack-distilled/what-to-build"},"updatedAt":"2026-05-18T19:08:05.284Z"}}