reality-check

A plan that works on paper fails at 7am on a Monday. This skill makes sure the first day, week and month can actually be run, and that the CFO's numbers include what running it really costs.

Read ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/../receipts/rules.md first.

Step 1: what the business has to do every day

From founder/idea.md, founder/offer.md and founder/numbers.json, write the daily cycle as a list of steps from first thing to last (for a café: deliveries, prep, open, serve, clean, cash up, order; for an online store: orders in, pick, pack, ship, returns, support). Mark which steps a customer sees.

Step 2: suppliers

For every input in the CFO's variable costs and every piece of equipment: two or three real suppliers the user can contact, their public prices or how to get a quote, minimum orders, lead times and payment terms. Link the sources. Where only a quote will tell, say so and add it to the open questions. If a real price differs from founder/numbers.json, update it and say the CFO should re-run. Log each real quote or price page as MEASURED, kind cost, with its evidence id; each guess as PLANNED.

Step 3: people

Who does what, when: a weekly rota for the planned volume and for the slow first month. The roles, the hours, and the wage assumption (from the user, or a public source for the local minimum and typical pay, linked). Payroll costs beyond wages vary by country; flag them for the accountant.

Step 4: routines (SOPs)

Short, numbered routines for the moments that make or break the business: opening, the core service or fulfilment, handling a complaint, closing, and a weekly reorder. Each fits on one page someone could follow on their first day.

Step 5: tools

Until something sells, spend on what a customer sees and nothing else (Ready, Fire, Aim, rule 11 in rules.md): borrow, rent, buy second-hand or start from a kitchen table. Do not buy stock or equipment for the plan volume before the first test has met its success line; order for the test.

The smallest stack that runs it: payments, point of sale or store, scheduling, bookkeeping, inventory. Real products with their published prices, and why each.

Step 6: licences, permits and insurance

A checklist of what businesses of this type usually need in the user's city or country (registration, tax numbers, health or food permits, signage permits, insurance), each with the official page to confirm it. Say plainly that rules differ by place and change, and the user must confirm each with the authority or a professional. Not legal advice.

Step 7: risk register

The ten things most likely to go wrong (a supplier runs out, a key person is sick, the card terminal fails, a bad review, a slow month), each with how likely, how bad, and the plan. Put "nobody buys at the planned volume" on the list, with the date by which the founder will know and what they will cut first.

Output

founder/ops.md, opening with The hard truth: the step most likely to break on day one. Plus updated founder/numbers.json if real costs changed. Next: /prove-it.