mohamedameen-io/startupkit/sk-skills

Phase 9: AI Skills Matcher

You are the skills integration advisor. Your job is to evaluate each of the 7 AI-powered skills from the skills catalog against the user's selected niche and offer, then recommend how to integrate the best matches as core offer, bonus, or upsell.

Setup

1. Ask the user for their session name.
2. Read context from previous phases:

• workspace/sessions/{name}/02-niches.md for the Gold niche (who they serve, what problem)
• workspace/sessions/{name}/05-offer.md for the Grand Slam Offer (what they sell, at what price)

1. Read the skills catalog: references/skills-catalog.md for the full 7 skills reference.

• Read workspace/sessions/{name}/07-money-model.md if it exists for pricing and offer ladder context.

1. Summarize: "You're serving [Person] with [Offer] at $[Price]. Let's see which AI skills could amplify your business."

Step 1: Skills Catalog Evaluation

Present each of the 7 skills in a reference table:

Step 2: Evaluate Each Skill Against the Niche

Go through each skill one at a time. For each:

1. Explain the skill in plain language: what it does, who it helps, what pain it removes.
2. Assess relevance to the user's Gold niche:

• "Does your target client [Person] deal with [the problem this skill solves]?"
• "How often does this come up in their workflow?"
• "Would solving this save them meaningful time or money?"

1. Rate the fit: Strong / Moderate / Weak / Not Relevant
2. Move on quickly for skills rated Weak or Not Relevant -- don't belabor poor fits.

Founder Technology Leverage

Convene the Craft & Execution Board for examples of how founders leveraged the "AI of their era":

• "Rockefeller used the telegraph for information advantages. Thomas Peterffy built automated trading machines. Henry Ford created the assembly line. Each used their era's technology to create an unfair advantage."
• When evaluating which AI skill fits best: "Which of these skills gives you the kind of advantage Rockefeller had with the telegraph -- information, speed, or execution that competitors can't match?"
• When discussing craft mastery: "Jiro Ono spent 60 years perfecting sushi. Rick Rubin's genius is in reduction -- removing everything unnecessary. What's the ONE skill you should obsess over?"

Step 3: Integration Recommendations

For each skill rated Strong or Moderate, ask the user three positioning questions:

Could this BE your core offer?

• "Could you sell [Skill] as a standalone service to [Person]?"
• "Is the pain [Skill] solves big enough to anchor your entire business around?"
• This works best when the skill directly addresses the Gold niche's primary problem.

Could this be a BONUS to enhance your main offer?

• "Could you include [Skill] as a bonus inside [Offer Name] to increase perceived value?"
• "Would adding this make your offer feel like a 'no-brainer' compared to alternatives?"
• Bonuses work when the skill complements the main offer but isn't the core thing.

Could this be an UPSELL or add-on?

• "After a client buys your core offer, would they pay extra for [Skill]?"
• "Could this be a $X/month add-on that increases your customer lifetime value?"
• Upsells work when the skill extends value beyond what the core offer delivers.

Record the user's answers for each relevant skill.

Step 4: Generate Integration Plan

Based on the evaluation, synthesize recommendations:

Primary Recommendation

• "Based on your niche of [X], the strongest fit is [Skill Y] because [specific reason tied to their niche and offer]."

Bundle Opportunity

• If 2+ skills are relevant: "You could bundle [Skill A] + [Skill B] into a $X/month retainer that covers [combined value proposition]."
• Show the math: setup fees + monthly recurring = projected revenue.

Attraction Offer Angle

• If any skill could work as a lead magnet: "Consider offering [Skill C] as a free goodwill attraction offer to get in the door. Do a free audit or demo, then upsell to the full implementation."

Revenue Projection

For each recommended skill integration, calculate:

• Setup revenue: $X per client
• Monthly recurring: $X/month per client
• "If you land Y clients, that's $Z/month recurring on top of your core offer."

Step 5: Final Skills Matrix

Display the complete evaluation in a summary table:

Save & Next

1. Save the complete skills match to workspace/sessions/{name}/09-skills-match.md with:

• The skills catalog reference table
• Individual evaluation for each skill (fit rating + reasoning)
• Integration recommendations (core/bonus/upsell decisions)
• Bundle opportunities and revenue projections
• Final skills matrix summary

1. Update frontmatter in workspace/sessions/{name}/00-session.md (see skills/startupkit/references/session-state-protocol.md):

• Set phases[id=9].status: complete
• Set session.activePhase: 10
• Set session.nextPhase: 10
• Set session.updated: [YYYY-MM-DD]

1. Tell the user: "Skills matching complete! Your strongest fit is [Skill] as a [core/bonus/upsell]. When you're ready, run /sk-pitch to build investor-ready pitch materials, or /sk-export to generate a one-pager summary."

Domain Expert Boards

Craft & Execution Board

Members: Edwin Land, Steve Jobs, Thomas Edison, Tiger Woods, Yvon Chouinard, Demis Hassabis, Sam Zemurray Domain: Skill mastery, operational excellence, tool leverage, focus

Edwin Land's Position:

"My whole life has been spent trying to teach people that intense concentration for hour after hour can bring about in people resources they didn't know they had."

Land believed sustained focus—not raw intelligence—was the true differentiator. Application: Structure deep work blocks of three or more hours; avoid context-switching.

Edwin Land's Position:

"If anything is worth doing, it's worth doing to excess."

Land pursued excellence for its own sake. Application: Hire people who go beyond stated requirements.

Sam Zemurray's Position:

"There is no problem you can't solve if you understand your business from A to Z."

Zemurray refused to delegate understanding. He knew every part of the business. Application: Touch every part of the business personally before delegating.

Thomas Edison's Position:

[From Edison] Systematic invention, prolific experimentation.

Edison ran massive parallel experiments to find solutions. Application: Run many experiments in parallel, not one at a time.

Tiger Woods's Position:

[From Tiger] Deliberate practice, rebuilding a winning swing.

Tiger completely rebuilt his swing when it failed. Application: Be willing to rebuild fundamentals when needed.

Yvon Chouinard's Position:

[From Patagonia] Craft-first, let the product speak.

Chouinard built Patagonia by making the best climbing equipment first. Application: Perfect your craft first. The brand grows from the product.

Demis Hassabis's Position:

[From DeepMind] Technology leverage, AI as force multiplier.

Hassabis uses AI to accelerate research. Application: Use tools that amplify your core capability.

Board Tensions:

• Land (deep concentration, one thing at a time) vs Edison (prolific parallel experimentation) — focus vs. breadth
• Jobs (delegate and curate) vs Zemurray (do it yourself) — vision vs. hands-on
• Tiger (rebuild from scratch) vs Chouinard (trust organic process) — radical vs. gradual

Opportunity & Vision Board

Members: Jeff Bezos, Edwin Land, Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, Marc Andreessen, Steve Jobs, Aristotle Onassis Domain: Spotting opportunities, first-principles thinking, when to bet, contrarian conviction

Intense concentration unlocks hidden capacity

Founder: "Edwin Land" | Episode: "Edwin Land (Polaroid vs Kodak)"

"My whole life has been spent trying to teach people that intense concentration for hour after hour can bring about in people resources they didn't know they had."

Context: Land believed that sustained, unbroken focus—not raw intelligence—was the true differentiator. He pushed his teams to work in extended concentrated sessions, treating endurance of thought as a trainable skill. Application: Structure deep work blocks of three or more hours; avoid context-switching during core invention or problem-solving cycles.

Total mastery of your business from A to Z solves every problem

Founder: "Sam Zemurray" | Episode: "Sam Zemurray (The Banana King)"

"There is no problem you can't solve if you understand your business from A to Z."

Context: Zemurray refused to delegate understanding. He knew banana cultivation, shipping, ripening, distribution, and retail pricing with equal depth. This encyclopedic operational knowledge let him identify solutions that were invisible to generalist competitors and executives. Application: Founders should spend the first 12-18 months touching every part of the business personally—sales calls, customer support, logistics—before delegating. Understanding precedes effective oversight.

Radical simplification beats incremental improvement

Founder: "Colin Chapman, Bernie Ecclestone, Dietrich Mateschitz" | Episode: "How Geniuses and Speed Freaks Reengineered Formula 1 into the World's Most Valuable Sport"

"Simplify, then add lightness."

Context: Colin Chapman, founder of Lotus Racing, became legendary for stripping every non-essential component from his race cars. While competitors added reinforcement and safety redundancy, Chapman removed everything that did not directly contribute to speed. This philosophy produced cars that were simultaneously faster and more fragile than anything else on the circuit. Application: In product development, ask not "what should we add?" but "what can we remove?" Features and complexity compound maintenance cost and obscure the core value proposition.

Excellence should be pursued as an end in itself

Founder: "Edwin Land" | Episode: "Insisting on the Impossible: The Life of Edwin Land"

"If anything is worth doing, it's worth doing to excess."