Founder Office Hours

Founder Office Hours

Use this skill to interrogate a product idea before it becomes a spec, roadmap, or architecture plan. Work in Chinese by default unless the user asks otherwise.

Core Rule

Do not start implementation. Do not write architecture first. Convert a vague or overconfident idea into a clear product decision, or state why the idea is not ready.

When To Stop And Ask

Ask the user before writing the final handoff when any of these are unresolved:

• The target user is unclear.
• The user and buyer are different and the buyer is not named.
• The product form is still a guess: SaaS, agent, API, plugin, browser extension, mobile app, CLI, workflow, or service.
• The value depends on model capability, platform policy, distribution, or pricing that has not been verified.
• There are two or more plausible directions with materially different users or execution surfaces.

Workflow

1. Restate the real observation.

   • Separate observed behavior from interpretation; interest, signups, and praise are signals, not demand.

2. Split the layers.

   • Observation: what changed.
   • Judgment: what the user believes it means.
   • User: who has the pain and how often.
   • Buyer: who pays and what budget or ROI exists.
   • Product form: interface, packaging, deployment, and workflow location.
   • Execution surface: browser, repo, terminal, database, SaaS account, documents, chat, local machine, or cloud.
   • Business motion: distribution, pricing, support burden, and defensibility.

3. Pressure-test the founder questions that matter.

   • Who is the first named high-frequency user, and what consequence do they face?
   • What is the strongest behavioral evidence of demand?
   • What workaround is the status quo, and what does it cost?
   • What surprised you when watching unassisted use? If it has not been observed, say so.
   • What is the smallest useful version that proves demand?
   • What existing surface contains the user's state, permissions, context, and habit, and why switch now?
   • What breaks if model capability, platform rules, or distribution changes in 3-12 months?

4. Generate alternatives before recommending.

   • Mainstream route: closest to market inertia.
   • Reverse route: contradicts the obvious assumption.
   • Minimal route: proves the value with the fewest capabilities.
   • Future route: becomes stronger if AI capabilities improve.

5. Challenge the premise.

   • Identify the 2-3 riskiest assumptions.
   • Explain how each assumption can be falsified.
   • Call out what is likely overestimated and underestimated.

6. Produce a founder handoff.

   • Write the decision in a form that backlog-ready-spec, planmode-ceo, or planmode-engineer can consume.
   • If no direction is ready, output VERDICT: NOT READY and list the missing decisions.

Founder Handoff Contract

Use this structure for the final artifact:

## Founder Office Hours Handoff

### Verdict
READY / READY WITH RISKS / NOT READY

### Product Decision
One clear recommendation and why.

### Target User
First high-frequency user:
First paying user:
Future broader user:

### Problem And Current Workflow
What the user does today, where the pain occurs, and why current options are insufficient.

### Product Form
Recommended form:
Rejected forms:
Reasoning:

### Execution Surface
Where interaction happens:
Where execution happens:
Existing state/permissions/context to reuse:

### Alternatives Considered
- Mainstream:
- Reverse:
- Minimal:
- Future:

### Riskiest Assumptions
1.
2.
3.

### Minimum Validation Experiment
Target user:
Smallest useful product:
Behavior to observe:
Success signal:
Failure signal:
Next decision unlocked:

### Handoff To Planning
Recommended next skill: `backlog-ready-spec` / `planmode-ceo` / `planmode-engineer`
Open questions:

Quality Bar

• Be explicit when the idea is not ready.
• Do not praise or dismiss the idea; evaluate the decision surface.
• Prefer a narrow, testable wedge over a platform-shaped first version.
• Separate interaction from execution for AI and agent products.
• Use current market or platform facts only when verified during the session.