{"id":"7e0ccb86-0265-49f2-be19-e15a417b8c1a","shortId":"RrHZJ2","kind":"skill","title":"startup-ideation","tagline":"Generate and evaluate startup ideas: theses table, scorecard, top idea brief, validation plan. See also: startup-pivoting (existing product).","description":"# Startup Ideation\n\n## Scope\n\n**Covers**\n- Turning vague \"startup ideas\" into structured **opportunity theses**\n- Expanding your **information diet** to find off-the-beaten-path opportunities\n- Running a **Why Now** analysis based on technology + behavior + distribution shifts\n- Identifying **tarpits** (ideas that look good but are structurally hard) and pruning early\n- Scoring ideas and producing a **top-idea 1‑pager** + **2‑week validation plan**\n\n**When to use**\n- \"Help me come up with startup ideas in/around <domain>.\"\n- \"We have 5 ideas — help us pick one and explain why.\"\n- \"What’s a good *Why Now* for this idea?\"\n- \"Pressure to do AI — where are real new opportunities?\"\n- \"How do we avoid idea tarpits and pick something differentiated?\"\n\n**When NOT to use**\n- You already chose an idea and need a delivery-ready PRD (use `writing-prds` or `working-backwards`)\n- You need to define the problem space for a specific user pain (use `problem-definition`)\n- You need to execute research (recruit, interview, synthesize) rather than frame it (use `conducting-user-interviews`)\n- You need market sizing / pricing / fundraising pitch materials (adjacent work, not covered here)\n- You already have a product but it is stuck or growth stalled and you are considering a direction change (use `startup-pivoting`)\n- You have a launched product and need to measure whether you have product-market fit (use `measuring-product-market-fit`)\n- You want to evaluate trade-offs between a small set of known options, not generate new ideas (use `evaluating-trade-offs`)\n\n## Inputs\n\n**Minimum required**\n- Founder/team context + constraints (time, budget, skills, regulatory constraints)\n- The decision to make + timeline (e.g., \"pick 1 idea to validate in the next 2 weeks\")\n- Target customer type (B2B/B2C; any preferred industries or segments)\n- Any starting ideas (even rough) + what prompted them\n\n**Missing-info strategy**\n- Ask up to 5 questions from [references/INTAKE.md](references/INTAKE.md).\n- If still missing, proceed with explicit assumptions and list **Open questions** that could change the recommendation.\n\n## Outputs (deliverables)\n\nProduce a **Startup Ideation Pack** in Markdown (in-chat; or as files if the user requests):\n\n1) **Context snapshot** (goal, constraints, decision, timeline)\n2) **Unfair advantage + off-the-beaten-path signals** (what you know/see that others might not)\n3) **Shift scan + Why Now candidates** (tech/behavior/distribution/regulatory shifts)\n4) **Opportunity theses table** (15–30 ideas, each structured + testable)\n5) **Tarpit & differentiation check** (prune to a shortlist)\n6) **Idea scorecard** (score top 3–5 with evidence)\n7) **Top idea brief (1‑pager)** (clear wedge + Why Now + ICP + risks)\n8) **2‑week validation plan** (fastest tests for the highest-risk assumptions)\n9) **Risks / Open questions / Next steps** (always included)\n\nTemplates: [references/TEMPLATES.md](references/TEMPLATES.md)  \nExpanded guidance: [references/WORKFLOW.md](references/WORKFLOW.md)\n\n## Workflow (8 steps)\n\n### 1) Intake + decision framing\n- **Inputs:** User context; [references/INTAKE.md](references/INTAKE.md).\n- **Actions:** Clarify decision, time horizon, and constraints. Define success as \"pick 1 idea to validate next\" (or similar).\n- **Outputs:** Context snapshot.\n- **Checks:** You can restate the decision in one sentence (\"We are deciding whether to… by <date>\").\n\n### 2) Inventory unfair advantage + off-the-beaten-path signals\n- **Inputs:** Founder/team background; past work; lived experience; access.\n- **Actions:** List 5–15 unique signals: personal pain, workflows you’ve seen, niche communities, privileged distribution, proprietary data access, or operator insight.\n- **Outputs:** Unfair advantage + signals list.\n- **Checks:** Each signal is specific (who/where/when) and could plausibly lead to a differentiated idea.\n\n### 3) Run a shift scan (\"Why now?\" raw material)\n- **Inputs:** Domain + constraints; current trends the user cares about.\n- **Actions:** Generate 10–20 \"shifts\" across: technology capability, buyer behavior, regulation, distribution, and cost curves. For each, write: \"This enables X that was hard before.\"\n- **Outputs:** Shift scan + Why Now candidates.\n- **Checks:** At least 5 shifts are concrete and falsifiable (not vague hype).\n\n### 4) Generate opportunity theses (structured ideas)\n- **Inputs:** Signals + shifts.\n- **Actions:** Produce 15–30 opportunity theses using the template: *Customer → Job → Pain → Why now → Wedge → First test*.\n- **Outputs:** Opportunity theses table.\n- **Checks:** Every idea includes a Why Now statement and a proposed first validation test.\n\n### 5) Tarpit & differentiation check (prune)\n- **Inputs:** Opportunity theses table.\n- **Actions:** Flag tarpits and thinly differentiated ideas. Apply \"off-the-beaten-path\" pressure: if an idea is widely discussed, require a strong wedge or discard.\n- **Outputs:** Pruned list + notes on tarpits/differentiation.\n- **Checks:** The remaining shortlist has at least one concrete advantage (distribution, insight, data, speed, regulatory, workflow depth).\n\n### 6) Score + shortlist top 3–5\n- **Inputs:** Pruned list; [references/RUBRIC.md](references/RUBRIC.md).\n- **Actions:** Score each shortlisted idea with evidence and assumptions. Highlight the 1–2 criteria that dominate the outcome (sensitivity).\n- **Outputs:** Idea scorecard + top 3–5 recommendation.\n- **Checks:** Scores cite specific evidence or clearly labeled assumptions (no hand-wavy numbers).\n\n### 7) Draft the top idea 1‑pager + 2‑week validation plan\n- **Inputs:** Top idea; [references/TEMPLATES.md](references/TEMPLATES.md).\n- **Actions:** Write a crisp 1‑pager (ICP, problem, Why Now, wedge, GTM motion hypothesis). Then design the fastest validation plan focused on the riskiest assumptions.\n- **Outputs:** Top idea brief + validation plan.\n- **Checks:** The plan includes: who to talk to, what to build (if anything), success criteria, and a stop/pivot rule.\n\n### 8) Quality gate + finalize pack\n- **Inputs:** Full draft pack.\n- **Actions:** Run [references/CHECKLISTS.md](references/CHECKLISTS.md) and score with [references/RUBRIC.md](references/RUBRIC.md). Add **Risks / Open questions / Next steps**.\n- **Outputs:** Final Startup Ideation Pack.\n- **Checks:** A stakeholder can review async and decide \"validate / park / discard\" without a meeting.\n\n## Anti-patterns (common failure modes)\n\n1. **Idea brainstorm without structure:** Generating a long list of ideas with no Why-Now analysis, no tarpit check, and no scoring. Volume without evaluation is noise, not ideation.\n2. **Tarpit blindness:** Falling in love with ideas that sound exciting but have well-known structural traps (marketplace cold-start, consumer social network effects, hardware-dependent plays). Always run the tarpit check before shortlisting.\n3. **Missing founder-market fit:** Evaluating ideas purely on market attractiveness without considering the team’s unfair advantages, domain expertise, or distribution access. An objectively good idea is bad if this team cannot win it.\n4. **Vague Why-Now claims:** Citing broad trends (\"AI is hot\", \"remote work is growing\") without connecting them to a specific enabling shift that makes this idea possible or necessary now vs. two years ago.\n5. **Skipping validation design:** Producing a polished top-idea brief but no concrete 2-week validation plan, leaving the founder with a thesis but no next action to test it.\n\n## Quality gate (required)\n- Use [references/CHECKLISTS.md](references/CHECKLISTS.md) and [references/RUBRIC.md](references/RUBRIC.md).\n- Always include: **Risks**, **Open questions**, **Next steps**.\n\n## Examples\n\n**Example 1 (B2B):** \"We’re ex-operators in logistics. Generate and score startup ideas; pick 1 to validate in 2 weeks.\"\nExpected: opportunity theses rooted in real workflows + a shortlist + a top idea 1-pager with a concrete validation plan.\n\n**Example 2 (AI shift):** \"We think new LLM capabilities enable something new in customer support; help us find a differentiated idea and Why Now.\"\nExpected: shift scan -> structured theses -> tarpit check -> top idea brief with a tight wedge and clear risks.\n\n**Boundary example 1:** \"Give me 100 startup ideas with no context.\"\nResponse: ask intake questions first; if the user won’t provide any, produce a small set of generic theses with explicit assumptions and advise on how to ground them in real signals.\n\n**Boundary example 2:** \"Our SaaS product has stalled at 50 customers and we are thinking about changing direction. Help us figure out what to do.\"\nResponse: this is a pivot decision, not greenfield ideation. Use `startup-pivoting` to diagnose what is stuck, run an exhaustion check, and evaluate pivot options before generating new ideas.","tags":["startup","ideation","lenny","skills","plus","liqiongyu","agent-skills","ai-agents","automation","claude","codex","prompt-engineering"],"capabilities":["skill","source-liqiongyu","skill-startup-ideation","topic-agent-skills","topic-ai-agents","topic-automation","topic-claude","topic-codex","topic-prompt-engineering","topic-refoundai","topic-skillpack"],"categories":["lenny_skills_plus"],"synonyms":[],"warnings":[],"endpointUrl":"https://skills.sh/liqiongyu/lenny_skills_plus/startup-ideation","protocol":"skill","transport":"skills-sh","auth":{"type":"none","details":{"cli":"npx skills add liqiongyu/lenny_skills_plus","source_repo":"https://github.com/liqiongyu/lenny_skills_plus","install_from":"skills.sh"}},"qualityScore":"0.474","qualityRationale":"deterministic score 0.47 from registry signals: · indexed on github topic:agent-skills · 49 github 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