Skip to content

Instantly share code, notes, and snippets.

@dpaluy

dpaluy/basics.md

Created July 14, 2025 14:45
Show Gist options
  • Save dpaluy/9a28cb4c3f1ee58137b9e8c066fe61c2 to your computer and use it in GitHub Desktop.
Save dpaluy/9a28cb4c3f1ee58137b9e8c066fe61c2 to your computer and use it in GitHub Desktop.
Download ZIP
The Foundation Sprint - set of prompts
Raw
basics.md

Phase 1: The Basics

Prompt 1 - Target Customer Definition

Acting as a startup strategist, help me define our target customer through independent analysis. Ask me to describe our product idea briefly, then guide me through identifying: (1) the specific person or organization who experiences the problem most acutely, (2) their current behavior patterns, (3) their pain points and frustrations, (4) their willingness and ability to pay for solutions. Use the "work alone together" principle by having me write answers before we discuss. Format the output as a clear customer persona with demographics, psychographics, and behavioral characteristics.

Prompt 2 - Core Problem Identification

You're a problem validation expert. Based on my target customer from the previous exercise, help me articulate the core problem we're solving. Guide me through: (1) the specific situation or trigger that creates this problem, (2) the consequences of not solving it, (3) how frequently this problem occurs, (4) current attempts to solve it and why they fail. Challenge assumptions and push for specificity. End with a single, clear problem statement that a customer would recognize and say "yes, that's exactly my issue."

Prompt 3 - Competitive Landscape Mapping

As a market research analyst, help me map our competitive landscape comprehensively. First, identify direct competitors (solving the same problem the same way), indirect competitors (solving the same problem differently), and substitute behaviors (workarounds customers use). For each competitor, analyze: business model, target customer, core features, pricing, strengths/weaknesses, and market position. Create a competitive matrix that reveals gaps and opportunities in the current market.

Raw
differentiation.md

Phase 2: Differentiation

Prompt 4 - Unique Advantage Discovery

You're a differentiation strategist. Help me identify what makes our approach unique using a systematic framework. Analyze our team's: (1) unique insights about the problem/market, (2) special capabilities or expertise, (3) unfair advantages (network, technology, access), (4) passionate motivations driving this solution. Then explore classic differentiators (faster, cheaper, better UX, more features, different business model) and score our idea vs competitors on each. Identify our 2-3 strongest differentiators.

Prompt 5 - Value Proposition Positioning

Acting as a positioning expert, help me create a clear value proposition using a 2x2 matrix. Based on our differentiation analysis, identify the two most important dimensions customers care about when choosing solutions. Plot our competitors and our proposed solution on this matrix. Then craft a positioning statement: "For [target customer] who [problem/need], our [product] is the [category] that [unique benefit] unlike [competitor], because [reason to believe]."

Raw
formation.md

#Phase 4: Hypothesis Formation

Prompt 8 - Founding Hypothesis Creation

You're a lean startup methodologist. Help me synthesize our Foundation Sprint work into a clear, testable founding hypothesis. Structure it as: "We believe that [target customer] experiences [core problem] and will choose our [solution approach] over [specific competitors] because of [primary differentiator] and [secondary differentiator]. We'll know we're right when we see [specific behavioral evidence] from customers." Make this hypothesis specific enough to test and falsify.

Raw
implementation.md

Phase 3: Approach & Implementation

Prompt 6 - Implementation Path Brainstorming

You're a product strategy consultant. Help me brainstorm multiple approaches to building our solution. Generate at least 5 different implementation paths varying by: scope (minimal vs full-featured), target segment (narrow vs broad), business model (B2B vs B2C, subscription vs transaction), technology approach (simple vs sophisticated), and go-to-market strategy. For each path, outline: required resources, timeline, risks, potential outcomes, and validation methods needed.

Prompt 7 - Approach Evaluation & Selection

As a startup advisor, guide me through evaluating our implementation options using structured criteria. Score each approach on: (1) likelihood of customer adoption, (2) competitive differentiation strength, (3) resource requirements vs our capabilities, (4) speed to market/learning, (5) scalability potential, (6) risk level. Use a weighted scoring matrix to identify the top 2 approaches. Help me select a primary path and backup option based on our team's situation and constraints.

Raw
validation.md

Phase 5: Validation Planning

Prompt 9 - Experiment Design

Acting as a validation expert, help me design experiments to test our founding hypothesis over the next 2-4 weeks. Create a testing roadmap with: (1) assumption mapping (what must be true for our hypothesis to work), (2) experiment prioritization (highest risk/uncertainty first), (3) specific test designs (customer interviews, landing pages, prototypes, etc.), (4) success metrics and failure criteria, (5) resource requirements and timeline. Focus on maximum learning with minimum effort.

Prompt 10 - Learning Framework Setup

You're a startup advisor focused on rapid iteration. Help me establish a framework for capturing and acting on learnings from our validation experiments. Create templates for: (1) experiment documentation (hypothesis, method, results, insights), (2) decision-making criteria (when to pivot, persevere, or pause), (3) regular review cadence and team alignment processes, (4) hypothesis updating based on new evidence. Include specific trigger points that would require revisiting our Foundation Sprint conclusions.

@dpaluy
Copy link
Author

dpaluy commented Jul 14, 2025

Reference: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/introducing-the-foundation-sprint

Sign up for free to join this conversation on GitHub. Already have an account? Sign in to comment