# Build Cycle > Use when working with the recurring founder ritual — run after every meaningful ship or weekly, whichever comes first. Guides you through honest reflection, user signal synthesis, MPP/PMF assessment, and one clear decision for the next cycle. Produces a dated cycle record that compounds over time. Use whenever you've shipped something and want to figure out what it taught you and what to do next. - Skill: `tomevault-io/build-cycle` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 2 files) - Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add tomevault-io/build-cycle` - Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/tomevault-io/build-cycle/raw - Safety review: pending - Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex - Category: Coding & Dev Tools - Author: tomevault-io (https://skillmd.com/u/tomevault-io) - Updated: 2026-09-17 - Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/tomevault-io/build-cycle --- # Build Cycle The ritual you run again and again — all the way to PMF and beyond. ## What This Is Not a tool you pick up once. A rhythm. Engineers document every solved problem so the next occurrence takes minutes, not hours. That's `/compound`. The Build Cycle is the founder equivalent: after every meaningful ship, you run this ritual. It asks the honest questions, synthesizes what you learned, and produces one record that compounds over time. After 10 cycles, you have a complete record of your product's evolution — what you tried, what you learned, how you navigated each failure point, and exactly how you got to where you are. **Cadence:** Run after each meaningful ship. Or weekly if you ship continuously. Never less than once a week. Never more than once a day — daily cycles are too granular to surface real signal. ## Quick Start Say: **"Run build cycle"** or **"Let's do our cycle"** or **"What did we learn?"** This takes 20–30 minutes. Do it with intention — not rushed. Total time invested compounds. **What gets produced:** - `cycles/YYYY-MM-DD.md` — the permanent cycle record - Updated `founder-context.md` — your source of truth ## How It Opens Before asking you anything, the skill reads two things: 1. **`founder-context.md`** — your product's current state, north star, stage 2. **The most recent `cycles/` document** — what happened last cycle, what you decided If neither exists, the skill runs a one-time **First Cycle Setup** (see below). After reading both, the skill opens with a single orienting statement — not a question: > "Last cycle you decided to [X]. Before we reflect on how that went, I want to name one thing I noticed from your context: [observation]. Let's start there." This is borrowed from the best therapy and coaching: name what you see before asking what they feel. --- ## The Six Phases Run in order. Don't skip phases even when you're in a hurry — the order matters. --- ### Phase 1 — The Honest Open **One question:** "What actually happened since last cycle — not what you hoped would happen, but what actually happened?" This is not a status update. The agent is listening for: - The gap between what was planned and what shipped - What got avoided or deprioritized - Tone: are you energized, exhausted, confused, or numb? After you answer, the agent reflects back what it heard — including the things you said but might have glossed over. This is the "document-review" move: surface what's being minimized. > **The uncomfortable question for this phase:** "What are you not saying?" --- ### Phase 2 — What Users Actually Did **One question:** "What did your users do — not what you hoped they'd do, not what they said they'd do, but what they actually did?" This phase separates signal from noise by distinguishing: | Signal Type | Weight | |------------|--------| | **Behavior** (what they did without being asked) | High | | **Unprompted feedback** (what they said without being asked) | High | | **Prompted feedback** (what they said when you asked) | Medium | | **What you want to believe** | Zero | The agent asks follow-up questions here — one at a time, never more than three: - "Did any users do something you didn't expect?" - "Did any users NOT do something you expected?" - "Has anyone told someone else about this without you asking them to?" > **The uncomfortable question:** "Is there user behavior you've been avoiding looking at?" --- ### Phase 3 — The Honest Assessment (Parallel) Phase 3 runs three independent analyses simultaneously — MPP scoring, PMF signal assessment, and cycle pattern reading. These have no dependencies on each other. Run them in parallel. **Spawn these 3 agents simultaneously:** **Agent A — MPP Scorer** Reads: `founder-context.md`, last cycle record, any user behavior data from Phases 1–2 Task: Score MPP using the 5 criteria from [mpp-criteria.md](../mpp-evaluator/mpp-criteria.md) Returns: Composite score (1–10) + the single criterion holding the score back + one sentence on why **Agent B — PMF Signal Analyst** Reads: `founder-context.md`, all `cycles/` records Task: Assess PMF signal strength Signal levels: - **None:** Users use it once and don't return. No unprompted sharing. - **Faint:** Some users return. 1–2 unprompted mentions across all cycles. - **Building:** A core group retains consistently. Word of mouth starting without incentive. - **Clear:** Users would be upset if it disappeared. Usage grows without effort. Returns: Signal level + the specific evidence for that rating + the one behavior that would move it to the next level **Agent C — Pattern Reader** Reads: All `cycles/` records (last 3 minimum, all if available) Task: Identify patterns across cycles Patterns to find: - Momentum: Is MPP score trending up, flat, or declining? - Effort: What type of work keeps repeating without producing signal? - Avoidance: What has been mentioned across cycles but never acted on? - User: Is there a user type showing stronger signal than others? Returns: Momentum trend + the most important pattern (effort or avoidance, whichever is stronger) **Wait for all 3 agents. The orchestrator presents findings.** The orchestrator does NOT soften the assessment. If the score is 3/10, say 3/10. Present all three agent findings, then ask: > **"What's the most honest reason we're at this score?"** This is not rhetorical. It's the most important question in the cycle. Take time here. > **The uncomfortable question:** "If this score doesn't improve next cycle, what does that mean?" > **If Pattern Reader returns 3+ consecutive flat or declining cycles:** Do not continue to Phase 5. Name it: "I need to flag something. We've had [N] cycles without improving signal. That's not a reason to panic, but it is a reason to diagnose before deciding. I want to run the Failure Navigator before we choose what to do next." See [failure-modes.md](failure-modes.md). #### Sequential Fallback (Codex / OpenCode) If the agent cannot run parallel subagents, run Phase 3 in this order: 1. MPP Scorer 2. PMF Signal Analyst 3. Pattern Reader 4. Orchestrator synthesis Same output. ~2–3× longer. --- ### Phase 4 — Synthesis With all three agent returns from Phase 3 in hand, the orchestrator (no subagents — this is synthesis work) connects the findings: - What does the MPP score tell us about the Phase 1 and 2 findings? - What does the PMF signal tell us about which parts of the product are working? - What does the pattern read reveal that neither score alone would show? One paragraph. No lists. This is the co-founder thinking out loud — connecting the dots between what was built, what users did, and what the numbers say. --- ### Phase 5 — One Decision Not a list. One thing. The agent synthesizes everything from Phases 1–4 and proposes a single decision for the next cycle. The format is always: > "The most important thing you can do in the next [cycle period] is [specific action], because [reason grounded in the cycle's findings]. You'll know it worked if [specific observable signal]." Then the agent asks: "Does this feel right — or is there something the data is pointing to that I'm missing?" This is the co-founder moment. Not just presenting the analysis — checking it against your instinct, which sometimes sees things data doesn't. The one decision becomes the `commitment` field in the cycle record. --- ### Phase 6 — The Record The agent writes two things: **1. `cycles/YYYY-MM-DD.md`** — the permanent record Following the template in [cycle-template.md](cycle-template.md). This document is never edited after the cycle closes — it's a permanent record, like a ship's log. Future cycles can reference it, but not change it. **2. Updated `founder-context.md`** The source of truth is updated: - Stage (has it changed?) - North star metric and current value - MPP score - PMF signal strength - Current focus (the one decision from Phase 5) - Last cycle date and key learning --- ## First Cycle Setup If no `founder-context.md` or `cycles/` exists, the agent runs a one-time setup: It asks 6 questions — one at a time: 1. "What are you building, in one sentence?" 2. "Who specifically is your first customer — describe their situation, not their demographics." 3. "What stage are you at? (Pre-launch / Just launched / Have users / Revenue)" 4. "What's the one metric you're tracking right now?" 5. "What's the biggest thing you're unsure about?" 6. "What did you try most recently, and what happened?" This creates `founder-context.md` and `cycles/[today].md` (the first cycle). Setup takes 10 minutes. --- ## The Cycle Record Each cycle produces one document. The document structure is in [cycle-template.md](cycle-template.md). The `cycles/` directory becomes your product's memory: ``` cycles/ ├── 2026-02-01.md # First ship — the baseline ├── 2026-02-08.md # First users ├── 2026-02-15.md # First feedback ├── 2026-02-22.md # First sign something is working └── ... # The full story, in your own words ``` After 10 cycles, you'll have something most founders don't: a clear record of why you made every significant decision, what you learned from it, and how the product evolved. This is not just useful for you — it's the clearest possible input for a fundraising narrative, a co-founder conversation, or a moment of doubt where you need to remember why you started. --- ## What the Build Cycle Is Not - **Not a retrospective format** borrowed from engineering sprints. Those are team-coordination tools. This is a founder-learning tool. - **Not cheerleading.** If your signal is weak, the cycle says so. Honest over kind. - **Not a feature planning session.** Features happen after the cycle. The cycle decides what problem to solve — not how to solve it. - **Not skippable when things are going well.** The best cycles happen when things feel good. They find the fragility before it becomes a crisis. --- ## Related Skills - Use **mpp-evaluator** for a deep-dive MPP scoring session between cycles - Use **failure-navigator** when build-cycle detects stagnation (3+ flat cycles) - Use **founder-partner** (Partner phase) for the broader PMF journey and beyond - Use **pmf-signal-reader** (PMF phase) when build-cycle shows "Building" PMF signal and you want to understand it deeply --- > Converted and distributed by [TomeVault](https://tomevault.io/claim/gvkhosla) — claim your Tome and manage your conversions.