handshake

A plan is for the founder. A pitch is for one person and one yes. This skill writes it from what is actually known, so the founder can send it without having to defend a number they cannot back.

What the user typed after /handshake: $ARGUMENTS

Read ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/../receipts/rules.md first. The ledger tool:

python3 "${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/../receipts/ledger.py" <gate | scan | summary>

Below, LEDGER means exactly that.

Step 1: who, and what yes

Ask who it is for and the yes the founder wants, if not given. Name the receiver: a customer, a funder, an investor, a lender, someone inside their business, or the people who will use it. Read ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/receivers.md for what that receiver needs to see.

If there is a document from them (an RFP, a grant call, an email, a job post), read it first, pull out exactly what they ask for, and save it as founder/opportunities/<name>.md (shape: ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/../first-dollar/opportunity.md).

Push the ask down to the smallest real yes (rule 7). If the founder wants to ask a stranger for a big upfront fee, say plainly that a time-boxed pilot on the receiver's own numbers is more likely to get a yes, and offer both.

Step 2: what the folder can support

LEDGER check
LEDGER gate --audience <public | anonymised | permission>

Pick the audience from how the pitch will travel: public for anything that could be forwarded, anonymised for a private send, permission only if every ASK FIRST claim's person said yes in founder/evidence/people.md.

Build only from what gate prints. If the receiver needs something the folder cannot support, do not write around it: list it under Gaps at the end of the output, with how to get it (/receipts job 4 goes deeper). Never fill a gap with a guess, a panel quote or a board opinion.

If nothing about demand is MEASURED, the pitch says so honestly through its wording: "we are looking for three firms to run a pilot", not "firms are lining up".

Step 3: write it

1. The one sentence, the three sentences, the three-minute outline.
2. The receiver's format from receivers.md. Answer in the receiver's own headings when they gave you a call or RFP. Respect their limits (count characters for the NSF sections and say the count).
3. Cite every fact with its claim id, like [c04], in the working draft. Write PLANNED claims as goals ("we expect", "the pilot will test"), never as results.
4. A short What could go wrong section in plain words. Receivers trust it. 4b. Check the pitch stands on four legs (Ready, Fire, Aim, rule 11 in rules.md): one big idea, the big benefit to this receiver (about them, not you), one big promise joining the two, and proof. The proof leg comes only from the claims gate printed; with no MEASURED proof, the promise is the pilot's terms ("if it does not hit the line we set together, you owe nothing").
5. Gaps: what this pitch would need to be stronger, and the cheapest way to get each.

Save it as founder/outputs/<YYYY-MM-DD>-<receiver>.md.

Step 4: check it before it goes

LEDGER scan founder/outputs/<file>.md --audience <the same audience>

scan refuses any cited claim the audience may not see (a SIMULATED or PRIVATE one, an ASK FIRST without permission) and flags proof words ("validated", "proven", "strong demand") when no real buyer has paid or signed. Fix every problem it prints and run it again until it is clean. Then make a send-ready copy without the [c..] ids if the founder wants one, and keep the cited draft.

Rules

• No simulated buyer, board member or model output is ever quoted, counted or described as a customer, a user, an advisor or market research from real people.
• No invented advisors, partners, logos, client names or numbers. "Advisors in accounting" needs a real advisor in people.md who agreed to be listed.
• No market size without a source; otherwise write it as an estimate with the method.
• Sending is the founder's job. Draft the email or message; do not send it.

Output

founder/outputs/<date>-<receiver>.md (plus a clean copy if asked), and founder/opportunities/<name>.md if there was a call or RFP. End with the one sentence, the gaps, and the next action: who to send it to this week, and what to log with /receipts when they answer.