
startup-ideation
Help users generate and evaluate startup ideas. Use when someone is brainstorming business ideas, trying to find a startup concept, evaluating whether an idea is worth pursuing, or looking for unique market opportunities.
- Installs
- 2.5K
- Last 24h
- —
- Trending rank
- —
- Security
- Not audited
Install
Works with every agent the skills CLI supports.
npx skills add https://github.com/refoundai/lenny-skills --skill startup-ideation- 01
Install
Run the command in your project. The CLI asks which agents to install for.
- 02
Describe the task
Ask your agent for something this skill covers. It loads startup-ideation automatically when relevant.
- 03
Review the result
The agent follows the SKILL.md steps, scripts and references bundled with the skill.
SKILL.md
The instructions your agent reads when the skill is triggered.
Startup Ideation
Help the user generate and evaluate startup ideas using frameworks and insights from 2 product leaders.
How to Help
When the user asks for help with startup ideation:
- Understand their background - Ask about their personal experience, skills, and what problems they've encountered firsthand
- Explore information sources - Discuss what they read, who they talk to, and whether their information diet is differentiated
- Apply the Why Now test - Help them identify what has changed that makes this idea newly possible
- Identify tarpit risks - Flag common idea patterns that attract many founders but rarely succeed
Core Principles
Go off the beaten path
Dalton Caldwell: "Try to go more off the beaten path either from your personal experience." The best startup ideas come from unique personal experiences and perspectives that others don't have access to. Avoid starting from popular trends that everyone is chasing.
Ask what's newly possible
Ryan Hoover: "What new thing can you build today that couldn't be built yesterday?" Look for technology shifts (like AI or Web3), behavior shifts, or infrastructure changes that create new opportunities that weren't viable before.
Diversify your information diet
Build a unique perspective by consuming information from sources that most founders don't. If everyone reads the same articles and follows the same people, everyone will have the same ideas.
Avoid idea tarpits
Certain startup ideas are attractive to many founders but rarely succeed. Be skeptical of ideas in crowded spaces where hundreds of companies have already tried and failed.
Questions to Help Users
- "What problem have you personally experienced that frustrated you deeply?"
- "What do you know or have access to that most people don't?"
- "Why is this idea possible now when it wasn't possible two years ago?"
- "How many other startups are working on something similar, and why did they fail?"
- "What would have to be true for this to be a billion-dollar business?"
Common Mistakes to Flag
- Starting from trends instead of problems - Chasing hot topics like AI without a specific problem leads to undifferentiated products
- Identical information diet - Reading the same sources as every other founder produces the same ideas
- Ignoring the Why Now - Ideas without a clear reason they're newly possible often indicate missed timing
- Tarpit ideas - Certain idea categories attract founders repeatedly despite low success rates
Deep Dive
For all 2 insights from 2 guests, see references/guest-insights.md
Related Skills
- Measuring Product-Market Fit
- Defining Product Vision
- Working Backwards
- Startup Pivoting
FAQ
What does the startup-ideation skill do?
Help users generate and evaluate startup ideas. Use when someone is brainstorming business ideas, trying to find a startup concept, evaluating whether an idea is worth pursuing, or looking for unique market opportunities.
How do I install startup-ideation?
Run npx skills add https://github.com/refoundai/lenny-skills --skill startup-ideation in your project. The skills CLI detects the agents you use and copies the skill into the right folder. For Claude Code you can also place the skill folder at ~/.claude/skills/startup-ideation/ (personal) or .claude/skills/startup-ideation/ (project).
Which AI agents can use startup-ideation?
Any agent that supports the open Agent Skills format (a folder with a SKILL.md file), including Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, Windsurf, Cline, OpenCode and more.
Is startup-ideation safe to install?
No partner security audit is available yet. Skills can run commands and scripts, so read the SKILL.md and any bundled files before installing.
Who maintains startup-ideation?
It is published by refoundai in refoundai/lenny-skills. It has 2,544 recorded installs.
More from refoundai/lenny-skills
personal-productivity
refoundai/lenny-skills
Help users manage their time and tasks more effectively. Use when someone is overwhelmed with work, struggling with focus, trying to balance multiple responsibilities, or asking how to get more done.
writing-prds
refoundai/lenny-skills
Help users transform abstract ideas into actionable project specs that align engineering and design teams on the problem and success metrics.
ai-product-strategy
refoundai/lenny-skills
Help users decide where to apply AI effectively, manage the transition from deterministic to probabilistic software, and build long-term defensibility through verticalization and proprietary data.
competitive-analysis
refoundai/lenny-skills
Help users understand and respond to competition. Use when someone is positioning against competitors, evaluating market threats, running competitive war games, or deciding how much to focus on competitors versus customers.
founder-sales
refoundai/lenny-skills
Help users master the transition from product development to active selling by leveraging their unique status as founders to bridge the trust gap and define a scalable sales motion.
analyzing-user-feedback
refoundai/lenny-skills
Help users convert massive volumes of qualitative and quantitative feedback into high-confidence product decisions through rigorous synthesis and internal immersion.
Popular business & finance skills
sales-enablement
coreyhaines31/marketingskills
When the user wants to create sales collateral, pitch decks, one-pagers, objection handling docs, or demo scripts. Also use when the user mentions 'sales deck,' 'pitch deck,' 'one-pager,' 'leave-behind,' 'objection handling,' 'deal-specific ROI analysis,' 'demo script,' 'talk track,' 'sales playbook,' 'proposal template,' 'buyer persona card,' 'battle card,' 'battlecard,' 'competitive one-pager,' 'win-loss analysis,' 'why are we losing deals,' 'loss reasons,' 'how do I respond to this objection,' 'prospect just said,' 'help my sales team,' 'sales materials,' or 'what should I give my sales reps,' 'cold call script,' or 'voicemail script.' Use this for any document or asset that helps a sales team close deals. For public competitor comparison pages, see competitors. For running buyer interviews or churn research, see customer-research. For marketing website copy, see copywriting. For cold outreach emails, see cold-email. For the offer being sold (bonuses, guarantees, pricing structure),
revops
coreyhaines31/marketingskills
When the user wants help with revenue operations, lead lifecycle management, or marketing-to-sales handoff processes. Also use when the user mentions 'RevOps,' 'revenue operations,' 'lead scoring,' 'outbound pipeline stages,' 'lead routing,' 'MQL,' 'SQL,' 'pipeline stages,' 'deal desk,' 'CRM automation,' 'marketing-to-sales handoff,' 'data hygiene,' 'leads aren't getting to sales,' 'pipeline management,' 'lead qualification,' or 'when should marketing hand off to sales.' Use this for anything involving the systems and processes that connect marketing to revenue. For cold outreach emails, see cold-email. For email drip campaigns, see emails. For pricing decisions, see pricing.
sales-funnel-blueprint
autonnel/autonnel-skills
Turn an offer into a concrete multi-step sales funnel spec - page-by-page structure, price ladder, copy outline and the metrics each step must hit. Use when asked to build a sales funnel, marketing funnel, landing page flow, lead magnet funnel, webinar funnel, tripwire or VSL funnel, when planning a product launch page flow, or when someone asks "what pages do I need" for selling something online.
pricing
coreyhaines31/marketingskills
When the user wants help with pricing decisions, packaging, or monetization strategy. Also use when the user mentions 'pricing,' 'pricing tiers,' 'freemium,' 'free trial,' 'packaging,' 'price increase,' 'value metric,' 'Van Westendorp,' 'willingness to pay,' 'monetization,' 'how much should I charge,' 'my pricing is wrong,' 'pricing page,' 'annual vs monthly,' 'per seat pricing,' 'should I offer a free plan,' 'pricing page teardown,' 'pricing page audit,' 'is my pricing page AI-readable,' or 'can AI read my pricing.' Use this whenever someone is figuring out what to charge, how to structure their plans, or wants to audit a pricing page (for humans and for the AI agents that shortlist tools). For in-app upgrade screens, see paywalls. For offer construction (bonuses, guarantees, value framing, naming) on services/courses/coaching/high-ticket B2B, see offers.
cross-border-ecommerce
nexscope-ai/ecommerce-skills
Cross-border e-commerce expansion advisor. Scores target markets on 8 weighted dimensions (market size, ecommerce penetration, competition, regulatory complexity, logistics infrastructure, payment ecosystem, cultural distance, IP protection), compares 5 fulfillment models with cost and transit data, provides country-by-country tax/duty compliance guides (EU VAT/IOSS, UK VAT, US sales tax, CA GST, AU GST, JP consumption tax), maps local payment preferences by market, and builds a phased expansion roadmap. No API key required.
pricing-strategy
coreyhaines31/marketingskills
When the user wants help with pricing decisions, packaging, or monetization strategy. Also use when the user mentions 'pricing,' 'pricing tiers,' 'freemium,' 'free trial,' 'packaging,' 'price increase,' 'value metric,' 'Van Westendorp,' 'willingness to pay,' 'monetization,' 'how much should I charge,' 'my pricing is wrong,' 'pricing page,' 'annual vs monthly,' 'per seat pricing,' or 'should I offer a free plan.' Use this whenever someone is figuring out what to charge or how to structure their plans. For in-app upgrade screens, see paywall-upgrade-cro.