validate-segment

A startup that sells to everyone sells to no one. This skill picks the one group to build for first: the people who feel the top pain hardest, already spend money on it, and can be found. The table comes from a script. The choice is yours to argue, but only from that table and from real quotes.

What the user typed after /validate-segment: $ARGUMENTS

The tool

python3 "${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/segments.py" [--dir validator] [--min 3]

If the path is not expanded, use the base directory Claude Code printed for this skill. It needs validator/labels.jsonl, so run /validate-cluster first. /validate-pain should have run too, because you will need pain.md.

Step 1: run the table

Run segments.py. It writes validator/segments.md and segments.json with two cuts of the same complaints:

• By stated role: what the post says the writer does (recruiter, founder). Plurals and articles are merged ("Recruiters", "a recruiter").
• By community: where it was said (a subreddit, Hacker News, an app's reviews). Most posts never state a role, so the place is often the better clue to who someone is.

Each group shows its size, how many different people, money and workaround signals (the same rules as the Pain Index), intensity and its top themes. Lower --min to 2 if the data is small, and say that you did.

Step 2: pick one beachhead

Read segments.md and pain.md. Pick ONE group by these four tests, in order:

1. Feels a pain worth money. Their top themes are the ones pain.md rated worth money or real.
2. Already spends. Money signals, and tools they named in tried (themes.json). A group with workarounds and no money talk is a maybe.
3. Can be reached. A community you can post in, or a role you can search for on LinkedIn. A group you cannot find is not a beachhead.
4. Is big enough to matter, now or as a first step to a bigger group.

If idea.json names a target and the data points elsewhere, say so plainly, with the numbers. Do not edit idea.json yourself. The user decides whether to change the target.

Step 3: write validator/segment.md

# Beachhead: <group>

Why them: <the numbers from segments.md: complaints, people, money, workaround, top theme>
Against: <what is weak: small, few money signals, hard to reach, mostly one community>
In their words: <two or three quotes, each with its ID and link>
Runner-up: <the next group and why it lost>
Where to find them: <communities, job titles, events, newsletters, with links where known>

Quotes come only from the quote field in labels.jsonl (look them up with python3 "${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/../validate-mine/store.py" show <id> for the link), or from pain.md. Those passed a word-for-word check. Anything you put in your own words goes without quotation marks.

Mark every "where to find them" item you did not see in the data as a suggestion, not a finding.

Step 4: tell the user

Give them the beachhead in one line, the strongest number for it, the strongest number against it, and the runner-up. Ask whether they agree before /validate-wtp prices for that group.

Honest limits, say them once

Roles come only from what people chose to say about themselves, so the role cut is small and skews towards people who introduce themselves. Communities are a proxy: not everyone in r/recruiting is a recruiter. Treat the beachhead as the best bet from public talk, to be confirmed in interviews (/validate-interview).

Output

validator/segments.md, validator/segments.json, validator/segment.md.

Next: /validate-wtp reads what this group says about money.