Founder Stage Gate Operator

A rigorous stage-gate framework to validate ideas, limit MVP scope, and ensure audit-ready startup growth.

Install
cmdop skills install agensi-founder-stage-gate-operator

The Founder Stage-Gate Operator is a skill designed for solo founders and indie hackers who want to avoid premature scaling and building without validated user evidence. It enforces a structured stage-gate process across four startup lifecycle phases: Idea, MVP, Launch, and Scale.

The skill is explicitly skeptical in orientation. Rather than encouraging scope expansion, it forces a separation between assumptions and evidence before any code is written. It identifies the right moment to move from customer discovery into active development, so that AI coding agents — such as those using Cursor or Claude Code — receive high-context prompts that keep them within MVP boundaries.

Outputs produced by this skill include Stage Diagnoses, Assumption Maps, MVP Scope Gates, and AI Coding Context definitions. Each output ends with a “Next Smallest Action,” giving founders a concrete step forward without overcommitting resources. The skill also includes Moat Mapping to evaluate defensibility beyond generic AI-wrapper products, and Operational Audits to surface founder bottlenecks and systemization gaps.

This is not a general-purpose startup advisor. It is specifically structured around the stage-gate methodology and is intended for founders who want a disciplined, decision-framework-first approach before delegating work to AI agents. It does not provide financial modeling, investor relations support, or code execution.

Use cases

  • Validate a startup idea before writing any code by mapping assumptions against evidence
  • Define the minimum viable product scope and enforce a gate before expanding features
  • Generate high-context prompts for AI coding agents that stay within MVP boundaries
  • Identify whether a startup is ready to move from customer discovery to active development
  • Evaluate the defensibility of a product concept beyond surface-level AI integrations
  • Audit founder workflows to find bottlenecks and gaps suitable for systemization

When to use it

  • Building a new product as a solo founder or indie hacker and want to enforce discipline before coding
  • Using AI coding agents and need structured, scope-limited prompts to prevent drift
  • Unsure whether enough customer discovery has been done to justify moving to MVP
  • Evaluating whether a product idea has a defensible moat beyond being an AI wrapper
  • Wanting a structured "next action" output to maintain momentum without over-building

When not to use it

  • Looking for financial modeling, cap table management, or investor pitch tools
  • Need live data integrations or code execution — this skill produces frameworks, not running software
  • Operating in a team with formal product management processes already in place
  • Seeking general-purpose business strategy advice not tied to the stage-gate methodology
  • Requiring support for post-scale operational management or enterprise growth processes