Is the Startup Design skill free?

Yes. The skill itself is free from ferdinandobons/startup-skill. SkillProof publishes the install command and an independent test verdict at no cost.

What is the Startup Design SkillProof Score?

8.4/10 — installs cleanly 5/5, triggers reliably 5/5, output vs. baseline 7/10, docs & honesty 4/5.

How do I install Startup Design?

Copy the install command from this page, run it in your terminal, and restart Claude Code. Skills live in ~/.claude/skills/ (global) or .claude/skills/ inside a project.

Can I use Startup Design with Cursor, Copilot, Gemini CLI, Codex or other AI tools?

The SKILL.md format is native to Claude (Claude Code, Desktop, claude.ai). The instructions inside adapt to other assistants: Cursor rules, GitHub Copilot instructions, Windsurf rules, Custom GPTs, AGENTS.md for OpenAI Codex, and GEMINI.md for Google Gemini CLI — our conversion guides cover each, and the free converter on the tools page does the wrapping for you.

Startup Design

Multi-phase startup validation: research, lean canvas, financials, honest go/no-go scorecard

by ferdinandobons · ferdinandobons/startup-skill

Tested · Works

Install — copy the command Download source ↗

Test report

Verdict: Tested · Works
Score: 8.4/10
Tested: Jul 21, 2026
Environment: Claude Code 2.x (agent harness)
Upstream re-checked: Aug 10, 2026 · 2dc2d3f

Fetched SKILL.md (31.8KB) plus references/honesty-protocol.md and frameworks.md from raw GitHub; spot-checked 3 referenced files (output-guidelines, frameworks, research-wave-1) all HTTP 200, a bogus path 404 as control. Ran the install into a temp HOME: clone+copy placed SKILL.md at ~/.claude/skills/startup-design/SKILL.md with all 15 reference files. For output I produced a real Lean Canvas for a freelancer invoice-reminder app twice — a baseline "make a lean canvas" version and a skill-faithful version following frameworks.md fill order plus the honesty protocol. Concrete deltas: baseline listed 1 problem and cheerled ("promising, build an MVP"); skill version listed 3 problems with existing alternatives, used the "We help [customer]…by [mechanism]" UVP formula, AARRR key metrics, [Data]/[Assumption]/[Opinion] labels, and Red/Yellow Flags that named the feature-not-a-company risk, refused to invent an unfair advantage, and recommended 5 interviews before building.

Scored on four weighted criteria — install, triggering, output vs. baseline, docs. How scoring works

Installs cleanly 5/5
Triggers reliably 5/5
Output vs. baseline 7/10
Docs & honesty 4/5

What Startup Design does

An 8-phase startup validation workflow that takes a raw idea through market research, competitive analysis, customer discovery, strategy, brand, product, financial projections, and validation experiments, writing ~30 structured markdown deliverables with a PROGRESS.md checkpoint so long runs survive interruption. Triggers when a user has a startup idea to explore, wants to validate a business concept, or asks for a lean canvas, market sizing, competitive landscape, positioning, or go-to-market plan. A radical-honesty protocol labels claims [Data]/[Estimate]/[Assumption]/[Opinion] and forces Red/Yellow flags plus a clear verdict rather than cheerleading.

How to install Startup Design

git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/ferdinandobons/startup-skill.git /tmp/startup-design-src
mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills
cp -R /tmp/startup-design-src/startup-design ~/.claude/skills/startup-design
# SKILL.md lives in the startup-design/ subdir of a 4-skill repo; the copy above installs just this one.
# Plugin alternative (installs all 4 startup skills):
#   claude plugin marketplace add ferdinandobons/startup-skill
#   claude plugin install startup@startup-skill
# Runtime: heavy skill. Full mode uses WebSearch + parallel Agent subagents across 4 research waves.
#   Falls back to a Knowledge-Based mode (reduced confidence, flagged) if WebSearch is unavailable.
#   Phase 3.7 (customer interviews) needs real calendar time; can be deferred. No API key required.

Skills live in ~/.claude/skills/ (global) or .claude/skills/ (per-project). Restart Claude Code after installing.

Commands — how to trigger Startup Design

/startup-design Multi-phase startup validation: research, lean canvas, financials, honest go/no-go scorecard

It also activates on plain-language prompts like these:

Validate my startup idea with market sizing
Build a lean canvas for my new business
Help me define brand positioning and go-to-market

Frequently asked questions

Is the Startup Design skill free?: Yes. The skill itself is free from ferdinandobons/startup-skill. SkillProof publishes the install command and an independent test verdict at no cost.
Does Startup Design work with Claude Code?: We tested it with Claude Code 2.x (agent harness) on Jul 21, 2026. Verdict: Tested · Works. Fetched SKILL.md (31.8KB) plus references/honesty-protocol.md and frameworks.md from raw GitHub; spot-checked 3 referenced files (output-guidelines, frameworks, research-wave-1) all HTTP 200, a bogus path 404 as control. Ran the install into a temp HOME: clone+copy placed SKILL.md at ~/.claude/skills/startup-design/SKILL.md with all 15 reference files. For output I produced a real Lean Canvas for a freelancer invoice-reminder app twice — a baseline "make a lean canvas" version and a skill-faithful version following frameworks.md fill order plus the honesty protocol. Concrete deltas: baseline listed 1 problem and cheerled ("promising, build an MVP"); skill version listed 3 problems with existing alternatives, used the "We help [customer]…by [mechanism]" UVP formula, AARRR key metrics, [Data]/[Assumption]/[Opinion] labels, and Red/Yellow Flags that named the feature-not-a-company risk, refused to invent an unfair advantage, and recommended 5 interviews before building.
What is the Startup Design SkillProof Score?: 8.4/10 — installs cleanly 5/5, triggers reliably 5/5, output vs. baseline 7/10, docs & honesty 4/5.
How do I install Startup Design?: Copy the install command from this page, run it in your terminal, and restart Claude Code. Skills live in ~/.claude/skills/ (global) or .claude/skills/ inside a project.
Can I use Startup Design with Cursor, Copilot, Gemini CLI, Codex or other AI tools?: The SKILL.md format is native to Claude (Claude Code, Desktop, claude.ai). The instructions inside adapt to other assistants: Cursor rules, GitHub Copilot instructions, Windsurf rules, Custom GPTs, AGENTS.md for OpenAI Codex, and GEMINI.md for Google Gemini CLI — our conversion guides cover each, and the free converter on the tools page does the wrapping for you.