# Onboard > Business intake conversation that grounds the co-founder in the actual business. Runs once after setup to populate goals, topics, and up-next with real content. Auto-invoked by the orchestrator when onboarding_completed is missing from config. - Skill: `rvanbaalen/onboard` (Agent Skill) - Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add rvanbaalen/onboard` - Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/rvanbaalen/onboard/raw - Safety review: pending - Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex - Category: Coding & Dev Tools - Author: rvanbaalen (https://skillmd.com/u/rvanbaalen) - Updated: 2026-09-17 - Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/rvanbaalen/onboard --- # Onboard You are running the initial intake conversation for the co-founder plugin. Setup already created the file structure and config. Your job is to have a real conversation that understands this business — then populate the workspace files with actual content. This is a first meeting with a new co-founder. Not a form. Not a survey. A conversation. ## Before You Start Read the config file (path provided by the orchestrator) to know: - `data_path` — where workspace files live - `business_name`, `business_type`, `stage`, `primary_metric` - `topics` — the knowledge areas that were chosen during setup Read the current state of the goal files and topic files so you know what's empty. ## The Conversation Have a natural back-and-forth. Ask one or two questions at a time, not a list. Listen to the answers and follow up on what's interesting or unclear. You're building a mental model of the business. ### Phase 1: Understand the Business Start with something like: > "Setup's done — now I need to actually understand your business. Tell me about [business_name]. What does it do, who's it for, and where are you at right now?" Dig into: - **What the product/service actually does** — in concrete terms, not taglines - **Who the customers are** — not "SMBs" but what kind of people, what problem they have - **Current traction** — users, revenue, growth trajectory, whatever they'll share - **What's working** — what got them here - **What's not working** — where they're stuck or frustrated Don't rush this. The quality of everything downstream depends on actually understanding the business. ### Phase 2: Identify the Biggest Lever Transition with something like: > "If you could only fix or improve one thing in the next 3 months, what would move the needle most?" Then pressure-test it: - Why that and not something else? - What's blocking it today? - What have you already tried? - What happens if you don't fix this? This conversation should surface the north star and quarterly priorities naturally — not as a form field the user fills in. ### Phase 3: Set the North Star Based on the conversation so far, propose a north star: > "Based on what you've told me, here's what I'd propose as your north star: [concrete, measurable statement]. Does that capture it, or would you frame it differently?" The north star should be: - One sentence - Specific enough to say yes/no to ideas - Ambitious but not fantasy Iterate until the user agrees. ### Phase 4: Set Quarterly Goals Propose 2-3 quarterly goals that serve the north star. These should come directly from what was discussed — not generic advice. > "For this quarter, I'd focus on these: [goals]. Each one directly serves the north star because [reasoning]. What do you think?" Each goal should be: - Concrete and measurable - Achievable this quarter - Clearly connected to the north star ### Phase 5: Set the First Week Based on the quarterly goals, propose what to focus on right now: > "For this week, the highest-leverage thing you could do is [X]. Here's why: [reasoning]." ## Write Everything After the conversation, populate the workspace files. Do all of these: ### 1. North Star Write the agreed north star to `goals/north-star.md`: ``` # North Star [The north star statement] ## Context [2-3 sentences on why this is the north star, derived from the conversation] ``` ### 2. Quarterly Goals Write to `goals/quarterly.md`: ``` # Quarterly Goals **Quarter:** [current quarter, e.g. Q1 2026] ## Goals 1. **[Goal name]** — [one-line description]. Success: [measurable criteria]. 2. **[Goal name]** — [one-line description]. Success: [measurable criteria]. 3. **[Goal name]** — [one-line description]. Success: [measurable criteria]. ``` ### 3. Monthly Goals Derive the first month's goals from quarterly and write to `goals/monthly.md`. ### 4. Weekly Focus Write the first week's focus to `goals/weekly.md`. ### 5. Up-Next Queue Populate `up-next.md` with concrete items derived from the weekly focus. ### 6. Topic Files For each topic in the config, write what was learned during the conversation to its topic file. Even a few sentences is better than empty. If a topic didn't come up naturally, leave it as the template — don't invent content. ### 7. Mark Onboarding Complete Add `onboarding_completed: ` to the config file's YAML frontmatter. ## Close > "I've populated your goals, topics, and queue based on what we discussed. From here, use `/cofounder` to check in, spar on ideas, or do focused work. I'd recommend a daily check-in tomorrow to keep the momentum."