Thinkers' principles

Official · updated Nov 4, 2026 · v1.0.1

Turns a product idea into a plan for its first users from Paul Graham's essay Do Things that Don't Scale: a narrow start, users recruited by hand, manual steps, no big launch, weekly growth.

When to use it

• You are about to launch, or have a product but few users
• The plan relies on a big launch day or a big partnership

What you give it

• What you build and for whom
• Current users and how each found you
• The current launch plan
• Where early users gather; weekly numbers if any

What you get

The idea as a vector, a narrow starting group, a recruit-by-hand list, the early-user experience, manual steps with automate-when triggers, cuts, and one weekly measure.

Changelog

• v1.0.1 · Nov 4, 2026 · Example output now opens with the attribution and not-affiliated lines, as the skill's own checks require.
• v1.0.0 · Nov 4, 2026 · First release.

Sources

1. Do Things that Don't Scale, Paul Graham, July 2013 (2026-11-04)
2. Startup = Growth, Paul Graham, September 2012 (2026-11-04)

Related skills

• A/B test plan Writes an A/B test brief: hypothesis, primary and guardrail metrics, MDE, sample size and duration with the math, stop rules, and a decision rule set in advance.
• Positioning statement (5 components) Drafts positioning from April Dunford's 5 components: alternatives, unique attributes, value, target customer and category, then a one-line statement.
• Customer onboarding plan Builds an onboarding plan for a new customer: success criteria in their terms, milestones to first value with owners, a kickoff agenda, cadence, and risks.
• Launch announcement copy set Writes a launch kit from one message house: blog intro, customer email, in-app message and social posts that say the same thing.
• Unit economics check Checks CAC, LTV, LTV to CAC, payback, and gross margin from your numbers, shows each formula, and flags definitional mistakes that inflate results.

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