validate-idea▌
slavingia/skills · updated Apr 8, 2026
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You are a business advisor channeling the philosophy of The Minimalist Entrepreneur by Sahil Lavingia. Help the user validate their business idea before they write a single line of code or spend a dollar.
You are a business advisor channeling the philosophy of The Minimalist Entrepreneur by Sahil Lavingia. Help the user validate their business idea before they write a single line of code or spend a dollar.
Core Principle
Validation happens through selling, not building. Most founders spend months building a product nobody wants. Instead, validate by selling a manual version of your solution first.
The Minimalist Validation Process
Step 1: Define the Problem (not the solution)
Ask the user:
- Who specifically has this problem? (Be precise — not "businesses" but "freelance graphic designers who struggle with invoicing")
- How are they solving it today? (The current workaround is your real competition)
- How painful is this problem? (Mild annoyance vs. hair-on-fire)
- Would they pay to make this problem go away?
Step 2: Can You Solve It Manually First?
Before building anything, can you solve this problem for people by hand?
- Sahil calls this "processizing" — creating a manual valuable process
- Do it yourself first. Hire yourself. Write down every step on a piece of paper
- If you can solve it manually for a few people, you can eventually automate it
- Example: Gumroad started as Sahil manually collecting PayPal info and paying creators one by one
Step 3: Will People Pay?
The ultimate validation is a transaction. Ask:
- Can you charge for this manual service right now?
- Have you talked to at least 10 potential customers?
- Have at least 3 of them said they'd pay (or actually paid)?
- What price point feels natural?
Step 4: Four Questions to Ask Before Building
From the book — ask yourself:
- Can I ship it in the span of a weekend? First iteration should be prototyped in 2-3 days.
- Is it making my customers' life a little better? That's a minimum viable product.
- Is a customer willing to pay me for it? Profitable from day one.
- Can I get feedback quickly? The faster the feedback loop, the faster you build something worth paying for.
Red Flags (Do Not Build If...)
- Nobody is currently trying to solve this problem (no existing workarounds)
- You can't name 10 specific people who have this problem
- The only validation is "my friends think it's a cool idea"
- You need to educate people that they have this problem
- You're building for a community you don't belong to
Green Flags (Worth Pursuing If...)
- People are already paying for inferior solutions
- You've manually solved this for a few people and they loved it
- The community is actively complaining about this problem
- You can describe the customer and their pain point in one sentence
- You're scratching your own itch
Output
Give the user a clear verdict:
- Validated: Strong signals, proceed to MVP
- Needs more validation: Specific next steps to gather evidence
- Pivot: The idea needs fundamental changes — suggest directions
How to use validate-idea on Cursor
AI-first code editor with Composer
Prerequisites
Before installing skills in Cursor, ensure your development environment meets these requirements:
- ›Cursor installed and configured on your development machine
- ›Node.js version 16.0+ with npm package manager (verify with
node --version) - ›Active project directory or workspace where you want to add validate-idea
Execute installation command
Execute the skills CLI command in your project's root directory to begin installation:
The skills CLI fetches validate-idea from GitHub repository slavingia/skills and configures it for Cursor.
Select Cursor when prompted
The CLI will show a list of available agents. Use arrow keys to navigate and space to select Cursor:
Verify installation
Confirm successful installation by checking the skill directory location:
Reload or restart Cursor to activate validate-idea. Access the skill through slash commands (e.g., /validate-idea) or your agent's skill management interface.
Security & Verification Notice
We perform automated surface-level scans (Gen AI Scanner, Socket, Snyk) during installation. These checks detect common vulnerabilities but do not guarantee complete security. Always review skill source code and verify the publisher's reputation before production use.
Skills execute code in your development environment. Always verify the publisher's identity, review recent commits, and test in isolated environments before production deployment.
List & Monetize Your Skill
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Use Cases▌
User Story & Requirements Generation
Create detailed user stories, acceptance criteria, and feature specs
Example
Generate user stories for 'password reset feature' with acceptance criteria, edge cases, and test scenarios
Reduce spec writing time by 50%, ensure comprehensive coverage
Competitive Analysis
Research competitors, compare features, identify gaps
Example
Analyze 5 competitor products, create feature comparison matrix, suggest differentiation opportunities
Complete competitive research in 2 hours instead of 2 days
Roadmap Prioritization
Evaluate features using frameworks (RICE, ICE, Kano) and create prioritized backlogs
Example
Score 20 feature ideas using RICE framework, generate prioritized roadmap with rationale
Make data-driven prioritization decisions faster
Stakeholder Communication
Draft PRDs, status updates, and stakeholder presentations
Example
Create executive summary of Q3 roadmap, monthly progress report, feature launch announcement
Save 3-5 hours/week on communication overhead
Implementation Guide▌
Prerequisites
- ›Claude Desktop or compatible AI client
- ›Access to product documentation and roadmap tools (Jira, Notion, etc.)
- ›Understanding of product management frameworks (RICE, Jobs-to-be-Done, etc.)
- ›Stakeholder contact information and communication channels
Time Estimate
30-60 minutes to see productivity improvements
Installation Steps
- 1.Install product management skill
- 2.Start with user story generation for known feature
- 3.Progress to competitive analysis: research 2-3 competitors
- 4.Use for roadmap prioritization: apply RICE/ICE scoring
- 5.Draft stakeholder communications and refine based on feedback
- 6.Build template library for recurring PM tasks
- 7.Share effective prompts with product team
Common Pitfalls
- ⚠Not validating competitive research—verify facts before sharing
- ⚠Accepting user stories without involving engineering team
- ⚠Over-relying on frameworks without qualitative judgment
- ⚠Not customizing outputs to company culture and communication style
- ⚠Skipping stakeholder validation of generated requirements
Best Practices▌
✓ Do
- +Validate research and competitive analysis with real data
- +Collaborate with engineering when generating technical requirements
- +Customize frameworks and templates to your company context
- +Use skill for first drafts, refine with stakeholder input
- +Document successful prompt patterns for PM tasks
- +Combine AI efficiency with human judgment and intuition
✗ Don't
- −Don't publish competitive analysis without fact-checking
- −Don't finalize user stories without engineering review
- −Don't make prioritization decisions solely on AI scoring
- −Don't skip customer validation of generated requirements
- −Don't ignore company-specific context and culture
💡 Pro Tips
- ★Provide context: company goals, constraints, customer feedback
- ★Ask for alternatives: 'Show 3 ways to prioritize this roadmap'
- ★Request stakeholder-specific formatting: 'Executive summary vs. engineering spec'
- ★Use skill for 70% generation + 30% customization to company needs
When to Use This▌
✓ Use When
Use for user story writing, competitive research, roadmap prioritization, stakeholder communication, and PRD drafting. Best for reducing repetitive documentation and research work.
✗ Avoid When
Avoid for strategic product vision (requires deep customer empathy), pricing decisions (needs market and financial expertise), or when face-to-face customer discovery is more valuable than speed.
Learning Path▌
- 1Basic: user stories, feature specs, status updates
- 2Intermediate: competitive analysis, prioritization frameworks, PRDs
- 3Advanced: product strategy, go-to-market planning, OKR setting
- 4Expert: product vision, market positioning, business model innovation
Discussion
Product Hunt–style comments (not star reviews)- No comments yet — start the thread.
Ratings
4.7★★★★★55 reviews- ★★★★★Luis Mehta· Dec 28, 2024
I recommend validate-idea for anyone iterating fast on agent tooling; clear intent and a small, reviewable surface area.
- ★★★★★Chen Garcia· Dec 28, 2024
Solid pick for teams standardizing on skills: validate-idea is focused, and the summary matches what you get after install.
- ★★★★★Pratham Ware· Dec 20, 2024
Useful defaults in validate-idea — fewer surprises than typical one-off scripts, and it plays nicely with `npx skills` flows.
- ★★★★★James Huang· Dec 20, 2024
Useful defaults in validate-idea — fewer surprises than typical one-off scripts, and it plays nicely with `npx skills` flows.
- ★★★★★Diya Kim· Dec 4, 2024
validate-idea has been reliable in day-to-day use. Documentation quality is above average for community skills.
- ★★★★★Harper Brown· Nov 23, 2024
Keeps context tight: validate-idea is the kind of skill you can hand to a new teammate without a long onboarding doc.
- ★★★★★Camila Liu· Nov 19, 2024
validate-idea is among the better-maintained entries we tried; worth keeping pinned for repeat workflows.
- ★★★★★Camila Zhang· Nov 11, 2024
validate-idea reduced setup friction for our internal harness; good balance of opinion and flexibility.
- ★★★★★Aarav Jain· Oct 14, 2024
validate-idea is among the better-maintained entries we tried; worth keeping pinned for repeat workflows.
- ★★★★★Luis Dixit· Oct 10, 2024
Keeps context tight: validate-idea is the kind of skill you can hand to a new teammate without a long onboarding doc.
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