Validate Idea

Kill or confirm an idea cheaply before /new-project scaffolds anything. No code, no scaffolding — this skill produces a verdict, not a repo.

Copy this checklist and check off items as you complete them:

Validate-Idea Progress:
- [ ] Step 1: Frame — customer, problem, current alternative
- [ ] Step 2: Evidence — competitor scan + demand signals
- [ ] Step 3: Verdict — would they pay, differentiation
- [ ] Step 4: Cheapest real-world test
- [ ] Report

Step 1 — Frame

State each in one sentence. Use what the user gave; where they left gaps, state an assumption explicitly and label it unverified.

• Who exactly is the customer?
• What painful problem are they having?
• What do they use today instead (including "nothing" or "a spreadsheet")?

Vague answers here (e.g. "everyone," "it'd just be useful") are the first sign the idea isn't ready — say so instead of pushing forward.

Step 2 — Evidence

Delegate to the researcher agent with the framing from Step 1:

• Competitor scan: real products, real URLs, current prices — not "probably around $X."
• Demand signals: actual search results, community complaints and threads (Reddit, forums, X, App Store reviews) showing people describing this exact pain.

No evidence found is itself a finding — report it, don't paper over it with assumptions.

For a deeper pass — market sizing (TAM/SAM/SOM) or a full competitive landscape — delegate to the market-analyst agent with the same Step 1 framing.

Step 3 — Verdict

Delegate to the biz-strategist agent with the Step 2 evidence:

• Would the target customer actually pay for this, and roughly how much?
• What's the differentiation from what they use today — why switch?
• A verdict — go / no-go / pivot — with the reasoning that drove it, not just the label.

Numbers the agent can't source from real evidence get labeled unverified assumptions, not stated as fact.

Step 4 — Cheapest real-world test

Pick exactly ONE, matched to how fast/cheap it is to run for this idea:

• 5 target-customer conversations — real people who fit the customer profile, scheduled this week.
• Landing-page smoke test — one page, one CTA, traffic driven to it.
• Community post — pitch the problem/solution where the target customer already hangs out.

Spell out the concrete next actions (who does what, by when) and a numeric success threshold up front — e.g. "10 signups in a week," "3 of 5 conversations confirm the pain unprompted." No threshold means no test.

If the Step 3 verdict is go, point the user at /new-project to scaffold and /monetize to lock pricing before building features.

Report

• Verdict: go / no-go / pivot, one-line reason.
• Evidence: competitor and demand findings, with sources.
• Riskiest assumption: the single belief that, if wrong, breaks the idea.
• Cheapest next test: the chosen test, concrete actions, and the numeric success threshold.