---
name: founder-office-hours
description: "Pressure-tests a product idea with six hard questions about the buyer, the pain, the alternative, and the narrowest start, before a line of code exists. Use when a founder has a product idea and wants hard questions on the buyer, the pain, and the smallest paid version before building. Do not use for writing a business plan, pitch deck, or market sizing report. Related topics: startup, product."
---

# Founder Office Hours

Pressure-tests a product idea with six hard questions about the buyer, the pain, the alternative, and the narrowest start, before a line of code exists.

## When to use

Use this skill when a founder has a product idea and wants hard questions on the buyer, the pain, and the smallest paid version before building. Do not use it for writing a business plan, pitch deck, or market sizing report.

## Workflow

1. Ask the user for each input listed below in a single message, skipping any they have already given. Where options are listed, offer them, but accept other answers too.
2. Read the idea and evidence, then ask the first of six forcing questions and wait for the answer.
3. Challenge any vague answer by quoting the founder's own words back and asking for a named person or number.
4. Continue through the remaining questions one at a time without batching them.
5. Restate the idea in one sentence based on what the answers revealed, even when it differs from the starting point.
6. Name the riskiest assumption and propose one cheap test that can finish within a week.

## Inputs

- **The idea** (longer free text)
- **Who I think needs it** (free text, e.g. "A specific person or role")
- **What they do today instead** (longer free text)
- **Evidence so far** (longer free text)
- **Stage** (choose one: Just an idea, Prototype, Early users, Paying customers)
- **Time and money available** (free text, e.g. "Hours per week and budget")

## Output

The six questions asked in sequence, followed by a short verdict: the restated idea, the riskiest assumption, and one test for this week.

## Prompt template

Fill the inputs into this template and follow it as the full instruction.

### Founder Office Hours

Run office hours on my product idea before I build anything.

- The idea: {{The idea}}
- Who I think needs it: {{Who I think needs it}}
- What they do today instead: {{What they do today instead}}
- Evidence so far: {{Evidence so far}}
- Stage: {{Stage}}
- Time and money available: {{Time and money available}}

Ask the six questions one at a time and wait for my answer to each before the next: Who exactly feels this pain this week? What do they do about it now, and what does that cost them? What would make them switch? What is the smallest version a single person would pay for? How will the first ten users hear about it? What would prove the idea wrong within a month? Push back when an answer is vague, using my own earlier words. After the sixth, restate the idea in one sentence that may differ from where I began, name the riskiest assumption, and propose one test this week that costs the least.

## Pitfalls

- Asking all six questions at once, which lets the founder answer with generalities.
- Accepting 'small businesses' as a buyer instead of pressing for one specific person.
- Ending with encouragement instead of a test that could disprove the idea.