The Claude GTM Prompts Playbook: 10 Prompts, One Strategy

How to Use This Playbook

The Premise

A $500/hour GTM consultant produces a go-to-market strategy by doing 10 things: defining your customer, positioning against the market, designing pricing, building a 90-day plan, mapping partnerships, running competitive analysis, building defensibility, stress-testing revenue, preparing for investors, and synthesising it all into an execution brief.

These 10 prompts replicate that process. Total time: 2-3 hours. Total cost: free.

The 10 Prompts

Foundation

1. ICP Builder - who exactly to sell to, including trigger events and exact customer language
2. Positioning Statement Builder - why they choose you, using April Dunford's framework with 3 channel-specific variations
3. 3-Tier Pricing Designer - what to charge, with psychological anchoring logic at every tier

Go-to-Market Execution

1. 90-Day GTM Plan - week-by-week with weekly milestones and daily non-negotiables for Month 1
2. Partnership Opportunity Generator - 20 specific opportunities with 50-word outreach messages ready to send

Competitive Intelligence

1. Competitive Analysis Builder - gap map, quick-win campaigns, and what to never compete on
2. Competitive Moat Builder - 90-day defensibility plan and investor-ready moat language

Business Model and Fundraising

1. Revenue Model Stress Test - unit economics, break-even, and your single model vulnerability
2. Investor-Ready One-Pager - complete draft one-pager including the closing sentence

Synthesis

1. Complete Startup Launch System - one-page execution brief with first 5 customer messages, top 3 risks, and the one thing to do in the next 7 days

How to Use This Playbook

The sequence matters

Run the prompts in order. Each one builds on the previous. The ICP feeds the positioning. The positioning feeds the pricing. The outputs from 1-9 feed Prompt 10. Running Prompt 10 first without the others produces a generic brief.

Fill in every bracket

Every prompt has [BRACKET] input fields. The quality of Claude's output is directly proportional to the specificity of what you put in. Generic inputs produce generic outputs.

Before each prompt: have your one-sentence product description ready. Have your ICP assumption ready. Have a specific goal ready - not "get customers" but "sign 5 paying customers at $500/month by day 30."

What makes these prompts work

Each prompt opens by assigning Claude a specific expert role with a credibility signal: "300 B2B and B2C companies", "50 product launches", "100 early-stage founders." This primes Claude to respond with specialist-level depth rather than surface-level advice.

Each prompt then demands specificity in its deliverables - the ICP prompt asks for something usable for "every marketing, sales, and product decision", not a rough sketch. Specific demands produce specific outputs.

When the output is too generic

If any section reads like it could apply to a competitor, say: "This is too generic. Make [section] specific enough that it cannot describe any company other than mine." Claude will sharpen it. Iterate until it passes that test.

How to Run All 10 Prompts

The Full Sequence

10 prompts. Run them in order. Each one feeds the next. The output of Prompt 1 is the input for Prompt 2. The outputs of Prompts 1-9 are the input for Prompt 10.

Total time if you move fast: 2-3 hours. Output: a complete, executable GTM strategy you would pay a consultant $5,000-$50,000 to produce.

The Order and Why It Matters

Session 1: Foundation (Prompts 1-3)

Run these back to back. They build on each other directly.

• Prompt 1 (ICP Builder): defines who you are selling to
• Prompt 2 (Positioning): defines why they should choose you -- needs the ICP as input
• Prompt 3 (Pricing): defines what to charge and how to structure it -- needs the positioning as input

By the end of Session 1 you have: a specific customer, a differentiated position, and a 3-tier pricing structure.

Session 2: Go-to-Market Execution (Prompts 4-5)

• Prompt 4 (90-Day GTM Plan): week-by-week execution plan -- needs your ICP and channels as input
• Prompt 5 (Partnerships): 20 specific partnership opportunities -- needs your ICP and niche as input

By the end of Session 2 you have: a 12-week action plan and 20 distribution opportunities ranked by speed to result.

Session 3: Competitive Intelligence (Prompts 6-7)

• Prompt 6 (Competitive Analysis): gaps, threats, and quick-win opportunities
• Prompt 7 (Competitive Moat): how to build defensibility before a funded competitor copies you

Run these together. Prompt 6 tells you who the threat is. Prompt 7 tells you what to build before they move.

By the end of Session 3 you have: a competitive map, 3 quick-win campaigns, and a 90-day moat-building plan.

Session 4: Business Model and Fundraising (Prompts 8-9)

• Prompt 8 (Revenue Model Stress Test): pressure-tests your unit economics before you build around broken assumptions
• Prompt 9 (Investor One-Pager): produces a complete investor-ready one-pager in draft form

By the end of Session 4 you have: validated unit economics and a one-pager you can send to investors today.

Session 5: The Master Brief (Prompt 10)

• Prompt 10 (Complete Startup Launch System): synthesises everything into one executable brief

Before running Prompt 10, collect the key outputs from Prompts 1-9:

• Your ICP document
• Your positioning statement
• Your pricing structure
• Your 90-day plan milestones
• Your top 3 competitive risks
• Your model vulnerability (from Prompt 8)

Paste all of this into the [FULL CONTEXT] field in Prompt 10. The output is your one-page execution brief.

The Non-Negotiables

Fill in every bracket

Every prompt has input fields marked with [BRACKETS]. Incomplete inputs produce generic outputs. A generic ICP, generic positioning statement, or generic GTM plan is not useful.

The quality of Claude's output is directly proportional to the specificity of what you put in.

Do not run Prompt 10 first

Prompt 10 synthesises the thinking from all the others. Running it without the prior context produces a generic startup brief that could apply to any business. It is designed to be the last step, not a shortcut.

Iterate when the output is too generic

If any output reads like it could apply to a competitor, say: "This is too generic. Make [section] specific enough that it cannot describe any company other than mine." Claude will sharpen it.

The total time investment

Session 1: 30-45 minutes

Session 2: 30 minutes

Session 3: 30 minutes

Session 4: 30 minutes

Session 5: 20 minutes

Total: approximately 2.5 hours. A consultant charging $500/hour would bill $1,250 for one of these sessions.

What You Have at the End

After all 10 prompts you have a complete GTM strategy document including:

• A specific ICP with 10 named watering holes and exact trigger events to monitor
• A positioning statement tested against the so-what framework with 3 channel-specific variations
• A 3-tier pricing structure with psychological anchoring logic and upgrade triggers per tier
• A 12-week go-to-market plan with weekly milestones and daily non-negotiables
• 20 partnership opportunities with outreach messages ready to send
• A competitive analysis with 3 quick-win campaigns and a gap map
• A 90-day moat-building plan with investor-ready defensibility language
• Pressure-tested unit economics with your single model vulnerability identified
• A complete investor one-pager in draft form
• A one-page execution brief with your first 5 customer messages, top 3 risks, and the one thing to do in the next 7 days

This is the foundation. Every marketing, sales, and product decision for the next 90 days should be checked against it.

Prompt 1: Build Your ICP

The Prompt

Copy and paste this - fill in your details where marked

You are a customer research specialist who has built ICPs for 300 B2B and B2C companies.

I need a complete, specific, actionable ICP that I can use to guide every marketing, sales, and product decision.

Please provide:

• Demographic profile: Age, job title, company size, industry, geography, and income level -- only the details that directly affect buying behaviour for my offer
• Psychographic profile: Core values, identity, how they see themselves professionally, what they are afraid of being seen as, and what they want to be known for
• Pain point hierarchy: Top 5 pains ranked by urgency -- which they will pay to fix today vs which they can tolerate
• Buying trigger: The specific event, moment, or realisation that makes someone in this profile actively search for a solution right now
• Decision-making style: Do they buy fast or slow, do they need social proof, are they risk-averse or risk-tolerant, do they decide alone or involve a team
• Language map: The exact words and phrases they use to describe their problem -- not my language, their language
• Watering holes: The 10 specific places this person is reachable today (named subreddits, LinkedIn groups, newsletters, podcasts, communities, events)
• Objection profile: The top 5 reasons they hesitate to buy and what each objection is really about underneath
• First customer description: One specific person who fits this profile -- their job title, company type, situation, and the exact pain that makes them a perfect first buyer
• Message that opens the door: One sentence I could say to this person that makes them immediately want to know more

Format as a complete ICP document I can share with a sales team, designer, or copywriter.

My product or service: [DESCRIBE WHAT YOU SELL]

Who I currently think my customer is: [YOUR CURRENT ASSUMPTION]

How to Use the Output

The watering holes section

Claude gives you 10 named places your ICP is reachable today. Go to each one this week. Spend 20 minutes reading what people post. Do not pitch. Just read. You will hear exact phrases that belong in your subject lines and hooks.

The language map

Copy every phrase in this section into a swipe file. These are the words your ICP uses for their own problems. Use them verbatim in cold email subject lines, LinkedIn hooks, and landing page headlines. Mirror language converts. Your language does not.

The buying trigger

This is the signal you are monitoring in Clay, Apollo, or LinkedIn. Hiring for a specific role, a funding event, a new tool in their stack, a leadership change - the trigger tells you when someone is actively in-market. Build your outbound lists around it.

The objection profile

The top 5 objections Claude surfaces are the scripts you need before your first sales call. For each objection, Claude tells you what it is really about underneath. That underlying concern is what you address - not the surface objection.

Feed it to Prompt 2

Copy the full ICP output. Paste it at the top of Prompt 2 as context before sending. Your positioning will be written against your actual customer, not a generic one.

Prompt 2: Write Your Positioning Statement

The Prompt

Copy and paste this - paste your ICP output above it first

[Paste your full ICP from Prompt 1 here]

You are a positioning strategist trained in April Dunford's framework.

I need a positioning statement so specific that removing my company name still makes it obvious who wrote it.

Please provide:

• Draft positioning statement in this structure: For [target customer] who [problem or desire], [product name] is a [category] that [key benefit]. Unlike [main alternative], we [key differentiator].

• So what test: After writing it, challenge every phrase. If any part could describe a competitor without changing a word, rewrite it until it is specific to me only

• Competitor differentiation matrix: How my positioning differs from the top 3 competitors on the 4 dimensions that matter most to my customer

• 3 positioning variations:

  -- Version 1 for a cold email opening

  -- Version 2 for a homepage hero section

  -- Version 3 for a 30-second verbal pitch

• The one sentence version: Compress everything into under 15 words that still passes the so what test

• Validation question: One question to ask 5 potential customers to test whether this positioning actually resonates before I commit to it

My business: [DESCRIBE WHAT YOU DO]

My target customer: [WHO BUYS THIS]

My main alternative: [WHAT CUSTOMERS DO TODAY WITHOUT ME]

My key differentiator: [WHAT MAKES ME GENUINELY DIFFERENT]

The "So What" Test

This is built into the prompt. After Claude writes the positioning statement, it applies the so what test: can this phrase describe a competitor without changing a word?

If the answer is yes to any phrase, the prompt instructs Claude to rewrite until it cannot. Do not skip this. Positioning that passes the so what test is rare - most founders accept the first draft and wonder why it does not resonate.

How to Use the Output

The 3 positioning variations

Claude gives you 3 versions for 3 contexts. Use them immediately:

• Version 1 (cold email opening): Replace the first line of your current cold email sequence with this
• Version 2 (homepage hero): Send this to your designer or update your own homepage today
• Version 3 (verbal pitch): Memorise this. Say it at the next networking event or sales call when someone asks what you do.

The validation question

Claude gives you one question to ask 5 potential customers before committing to the positioning. Ask it. The answer tells you whether you have a resonance problem, a specificity problem, or neither. Do not skip this step - bad positioning at launch is expensive to unwind.

The one sentence version

This goes on your LinkedIn headline, email signature, and Twitter/X bio immediately. It is your highest-impression copy and most people never optimise it.

Feed it to Prompt 3

Copy the positioning statement and differentiators. Paste them at the top of Prompt 3. Your pricing tiers should reflect your positioning - premium positioning requires a pricing structure that signals premium value.

Prompt 3: Design Your 3-Tier Pricing

The Prompt

Copy and paste this - paste your positioning output above it first

[Paste your positioning statement and differentiators from Prompt 2 here]

You are a pricing strategist who has designed monetization models for SaaS, services, and physical products.

I need a 3-tier pricing structure with psychological anchoring logic built into every level.

Please provide:

• Tier 1 -- Entry: The lowest tier designed to remove every reason not to start. What it includes, what it excludes, and why the exclusions make Tier 2 obvious
• Tier 2 -- Core: The tier you actually want most customers on. Price it so the upgrade from Tier 1 feels like an obvious decision. What it includes and the anchoring logic that makes it feel like the smart choice
• Tier 3 -- Premium: Designed to make Tier 2 look reasonable by comparison. What enterprise or high-value buyers get that justifies a significant price increase

For each tier:

• Exact price point recommendation with reasoning
• The psychological anchor it creates relative to the other two tiers
• The customer profile most likely to choose this tier
• The upgrade trigger -- what event or realisation causes someone to move from this tier to the next

After the 3 tiers:

• Annual vs monthly discount: Whether to offer annual pricing, at what discount percentage, and how to frame it to maximise uptake
• Price anchoring on the page: The exact order to display tiers (hint: never lead with the cheapest) and why
• Free trial logic: Whether to offer a free trial, for how long, and whether credit card upfront increases or decreases conversion for my product type
• One pricing mistake to avoid: The most common pricing error in my specific category and how to avoid it

My product: [DESCRIBE WHAT YOU SELL]

My current pricing instinct: [WHAT YOU WERE GOING TO CHARGE]

My target customer: [WHO BUYS THIS]

The Anchoring Logic Explained

The prompt asks for psychological anchoring logic built into every level. Here is what that means in practice:

Tier 3 exists to make Tier 2 feel reasonable

Most buyers will not purchase Tier 3. Its job is not to be purchased - it is to make Tier 2 look like the smart middle option. Set Tier 3 at 2.5-3x the Tier 2 price.

Tier 2 is the target

This is the tier you want most customers on. It should contain everything they actually need. The price should feel uncomfortable to justify skipping down to Tier 1 but very comfortable compared to Tier 3.

Tier 1 limits the thing that matters most

Tier 1 should be genuinely useful - but it should hit a ceiling exactly at the point where a buyer starts getting real value. That ceiling is the upgrade trigger. Do not make Tier 1 so limited it feels like a trap, and do not make it so complete there is no reason to upgrade.

How to Use the Output

The upgrade trigger

Claude identifies the feature or limit at each tier that drives upgrades. The Tier 1 trigger is a hypothesis. Validate it by giving 10 real customers Tier 1 access and watching where they hit friction. That friction point is the real trigger - adjust accordingly.

The annual vs monthly framing

Claude tells you whether to offer annual pricing, at what discount, and how to frame it. Annual pricing improves cash flow and reduces churn dramatically. Most early-stage companies underuse it because they worry about asking for commitment too early. The prompt gives you the framing that makes annual feel like the obvious choice.

The free trial logic

Claude recommends whether to offer a free trial for your specific product type. This varies significantly by category. Do not default to "of course free trial" - some product types convert better without one. Use Claude's recommendation and the reasoning behind it.

The one pricing mistake

This is stage and category specific. The most common: pricing based on cost rather than value, and not raising prices after finding PMF. Read this section before deciding on your final numbers.

Prompt 4: Build Your 90-Day GTM Plan

The Prompt

Copy and paste this exactly - fill in the brackets

You are a go-to-market strategist who has launched 50 products from zero to first revenue.

I need a week-by-week plan for the first 90 days with zero paid advertising budget.

Please provide:

• ICP restatement: My ideal first buyer in one sentence — specific enough to find them by name today
• Channel ranking: The top 3 distribution channels for my ICP ranked by expected ROI in the first 90 days with reasoning for each

Month 1 — Validation sprint (weeks 1-4):

• Week 1: Setup and first outreach — what to build, who to contact, what success looks like
• Week 2: First conversations — how many calls or demos to run, what to learn from each, what a green light looks like
• Week 3: First close attempt — how to ask for money, what offer to make, how to handle the first objection
• Week 4: Debrief and iterate — what to change based on weeks 1-3 before scaling anything

Month 2 — System building (weeks 5-8):

• Which manual processes from month 1 to systematize
• First content or community play to begin compounding
• First referral or partnership conversation to initiate

Month 3 — Momentum (weeks 9-12):

• How to convert early customers into case studies
• Outbound at scale using validated messaging from months 1 and 2
• The one metric that tells me I have product-market signal and can begin investing in growth

Weekly milestones: A specific measurable target for each of the 12 weeks

Daily non-negotiables: The 2 actions to take every single day in month 1

My product: [DESCRIBE WHAT YOU SELL]

My ICP: [WHO YOUR IDEAL BUYER IS]

Channels I have access to: [LINKEDIN / X / EMAIL / COMMUNITIES / NETWORK / OTHER]

Why Month 1 Is the Only One That Matters Right Now

The 90-day plan is structured as a funnel, not a roadmap. Month 1 is validation. If month 1 fails, nothing in months 2 or 3 matters.

The most common mistake founders make with a 90-day plan is treating all 12 weeks equally. They spend week 1 building infrastructure and never reach week 3 (the first close attempt) before running out of runway or motivation.

Focus entirely on the Month 1 output first. Do not read months 2 and 3 until you have paid customers.

How to Use Each Section of the Output

Channel ranking → ignore everything else

Claude will rank 3 channels. Work only channel 1 for the first 30 days. Do not start channel 2 until channel 1 is generating conversations. Spreading across channels before validating one is the fastest way to produce nothing measurable.

Week 1 tasks → your Monday morning to-do list

Take the Week 1 output and turn it into a literal task list for Monday morning. Do not abstract it or plan to plan. Every item should have a completion criteria: not "do outreach" but "send 20 connection requests to [specific title] at [specific company type] with [specific message]."

What a green light looks like (Week 2) → your decision rule

Claude will define what a green light looks like after your first conversations. Write this down before you start the conversations. If you wait until after the calls to decide what counts as a green light, you will rationalise weak signals as strong ones.

Daily non-negotiables → protect them like meetings

Block the daily non-negotiables in your calendar as fixed recurring slots. They are the only two actions that directly control your month 1 outcome. Everything else is secondary.

Weekly milestones → your accountability system

Each week has a specific measurable target. Review it every Friday. If you missed the target, do not move the goalpost — understand why you missed it and fix the input (message, channel, ICP targeting) before the next week starts.

The PMF signal metric (Month 3) → your investment gate

Claude will identify the single metric that signals product-market fit. Do not spend money on paid channels, hire, or scale anything until you hit this metric. It is the gate between validation and growth.

Prompt 5: Find 20 Partnership Opportunities

The Prompt

Copy and paste this exactly - fill in the brackets

You are a partnerships strategist who finds distribution leverage through other people's audiences.

I need 20 specific partnership and co-marketing opportunities I can pursue in the next 90 days.

Please provide:

• Partner type 1 — Complementary products: 5 specific types of businesses whose customers are my exact ICP but whose product does not compete with mine — include the partnership mechanic for each
• Partner type 2 — Audience owners: 5 specific newsletter operators, podcast hosts, community leaders, or influencers in my niche who reach my ICP — include the co-marketing format that works best for each
• Partner type 3 — Referral partners: 5 types of professionals or service providers who regularly interact with my ICP and could refer them to me — include the referral incentive structure to offer
• Partner type 4 — Integration or tech partners: 5 platforms or tools my ICP already uses where an integration or official partnership would put me in front of buyers at the moment they need me

For each of the 20 opportunities:

• Specific partner description (not vague — named or clearly typed)
• The partnership mechanic (co-promotion, integration, referral, bundle, guest content, joint event)
• What I offer them in return
• First outreach message in under 50 words

After the full list:

• Top 3 to pursue this week: Ranked by speed to first result
• The one partnership that could 10x my reach if it works

My product: [DESCRIBE WHAT YOU SELL]

My ICP: [WHO YOUR IDEAL CUSTOMER IS]

My niche: [INDUSTRY OR CATEGORY]

Why Partnerships Beat Paid at Early Stage

Paid advertising requires budget and data you don't have yet. Partnerships borrow someone else's trust and audience. For a company with no brand recognition and no case studies, showing up inside a newsletter or community your ICP already trusts converts better than any ad.

The frame: you are not asking for a favour. You are offering to make someone else's audience more valuable.

How to Use Each Section of the Output

Top 3 to pursue this week → start here, not at the list of 20

Do not read the full list of 20 first. Go straight to the "Top 3 to pursue this week" section. Speed to first partner contact determines whether this prompt was useful or just interesting. Send the outreach messages today.

The 50-word outreach messages → use them verbatim

The first outreach message Claude writes for each partner is designed to be under 50 words. Do not expand them. Longer partner outreach converts worse. The goal is to get a reply, not to explain everything. If they reply, you can explain everything.

Complementary products (Partner type 1) → fastest to close

These are typically the fastest to activate because the value exchange is obvious: you promote their product to your audience, they promote yours to theirs. Zero cost, symmetric benefit. Start with the co-promotion mechanic before proposing anything more complex.

Audience owners (Partner type 2) → highest leverage

A single newsletter feature or podcast appearance reaches more of your ICP in one day than a month of organic posting. Prioritise by audience size and ICP density, not by follower count. 5,000 subscribers who are all your ICP beats 50,000 who are not.

Integration partners (Partner type 4) → longest to build, highest retention value

Integrations take time to build but create switching costs once live. A customer who uses your product inside a tool they already depend on is harder to churn than one using it standalone. Plan these for month 2-3, not week 1.

The one partnership that could 10x reach → your moonshot play

This is the one to invest real time in. Write a longer, more personalised pitch. Offer something more substantial. Put the CEO or founder on the outreach. Do not treat it like the other 19.

Prompt 6: Run a Competitive Analysis

The Prompt

Copy and paste this exactly - fill in the brackets

You are a competitive intelligence analyst.

I need a complete competitive analysis that identifies gaps, threats, and quick-win opportunities I can act on this week.

Please provide:

• Competitor identification: The 5 most relevant competitors ranked by how directly they compete with me for the same customer

For each competitor:

• Business model: How they make money, who they serve, and at what price point
• Core strengths: Their 2 biggest competitive advantages I should not try to fight directly
• Core weaknesses: Their most consistent customer complaints and the strategic blind spots that create openings for me
• Customer segment they ignore: The specific buyer type they are underserving based on their positioning, pricing, or product focus

After all 5:

• Gap map: The competitive white space no one currently owns that my ICP would pay for
• Threat assessment: Which competitor is most likely to copy my model within 12 months if I gain traction — and how to build defensibility before they do
• Quick-win opportunities: The 3 fastest moves I can make in the next 30 days to take customers from a specific competitor based on their known weaknesses
• The one thing to never compete on: The dimension where the incumbent is so strong that fighting them directly is a guaranteed loss

My product: [DESCRIBE WHAT YOU SELL]

Competitors I know of: [LIST NAMES OR DESCRIBE SIMILAR BUSINESSES]

How to Verify Claude's Competitive Intel

Claude builds the competitive analysis from training data. Some of it will be accurate. Some will be outdated. Here's how to verify before acting on it:

Verify competitor weaknesses before using them in messaging

Go to G2, Capterra, or Trustpilot for each competitor. Filter reviews by 1-3 stars. The complaints you see repeated 3+ times are real weaknesses. If Claude's weaknesses match what you see in reviews — they are real. If they don't appear in reviews — treat them as hypotheses, not facts.

Verify pricing from the competitor's actual website

Pricing changes frequently. Check every competitor's pricing page before using any price point in your positioning or sales conversations.

Verify the ignored customer segment with direct research

For each "ignored segment" Claude identifies, spend 20 minutes in the relevant Reddit community or LinkedIn group. Are people with that profile complaining about existing solutions? If yes, the gap is real. If not, Claude may be wrong about it.

How to Use Each Section of the Output

Quick-win opportunities → your 30-day hit list

These 3 moves are the most immediately actionable output. Turn each into a specific outreach campaign targeting customers who are likely using a specific competitor. Use that competitor's known weakness as the hook: "We noticed a lot of [competitor] users switching to us because of [specific complaint]. Here's what's different."

The gap map → your product roadmap input

The white space Claude identifies is where your positioning should live. If you are currently positioned in contested space, the gap map shows where to move. Share this section with your product team.

The threat assessment → your moat-building brief

Feed the threat assessment section directly into Prompt 7 (The Competitive Moat Builder). The competitor most likely to copy you in 12 months is the one you need defensibility against first.

The one thing to never compete on → a non-negotiable constraint

Treat this as a hard rule, not advice. If the incumbent owns breadth of features, do not try to out-feature them. If they own price, do not race to the bottom. Fighting incumbents on their own terms is how startups lose. Build the constraint into your product strategy and messaging.

Prompt 7: Build Your Competitive Moat

The Prompt

Copy and paste this exactly - fill in the brackets

You are a business strategy advisor who helps early-stage founders build defensibility before they need it.

I need to identify and begin building a real competitive moat before a well-funded competitor decides to copy me.

Please provide:

• Moat type assessment: Rate my current potential for each of the 5 moat types (network effects, switching costs, cost advantages, intangible assets, efficient scale) from 1 to 10 with reasoning
• Most buildable moat: The 1 or 2 moat types most realistic for my business at this stage and what building them actually looks like in practice
• 90-day moat actions: Specific things I can do in the next 90 days that begin creating defensibility — even small, early actions that compound over time
• Incumbent attack scenario: If the largest player in my market decided to replicate exactly what I do with 10x my resources, where would I be most vulnerable and what would reduce that vulnerability
• Proprietary asset identification: Any data, relationships, process, or community I am building that gets harder to replicate over time and how to accelerate its growth
• Moat signal to investors: How to describe my defensibility strategy in 2 sentences that an investor would find credible at an early stage

My business: [DESCRIBE YOUR PRODUCT AND MODEL]

My current unfair advantage: [WHAT YOU HAVE THAT IS HARD TO COPY]

The 5 Moat Types Explained for Early-Stage Founders

Understanding these before reviewing Claude's output means you can push back on any score that seems wrong.

Network effects

The product becomes more valuable as more people use it. Marketplaces, communication tools, and data platforms can have network effects. Most SaaS tools do not. If your product is equally useful to a customer whether 1 or 1,000,000 others use it, you do not have network effects.

Switching costs

The cost (time, money, risk, effort) of switching to a competitor. CRM tools have high switching costs because of data migration and workflow re-training. Commodity tools have low switching costs. The more deeply your product integrates into a customer's daily workflow, the higher the switching cost.

Cost advantages

You can deliver the same product at lower cost than a competitor due to scale, process, proprietary technology, or access to cheaper inputs. Hard to build at early stage unless you have a structural advantage.

Intangible assets

Brand, patents, licenses, data, proprietary methodology. Brand is the most realistic intangible asset for an early-stage B2B company to build. Proprietary data is the most valuable if you can accumulate it.

Efficient scale

You serve a market that is large enough for one player but not large enough to attract a second. Rare for most startups — relevant for niche infrastructure or regulated industries.

How to Use Each Section of the Output

Moat type assessment scores → your strategic reality check

If Claude scores all 5 moat types below 4, that is important information. It means your business is currently easy to replicate. Do not ignore this. Address it directly by using the "most buildable moat" section to start construction now.

90-day moat actions → add to your GTM plan

Take the 90-day moat actions and insert them into your 90-day GTM plan from Prompt 4 alongside revenue-generating activities. Moat-building and revenue-generating are not separate workstreams. They run in parallel.

Incumbent attack scenario → your risk register

This is the scenario you most need to plan for. If a well-funded competitor clones you, what would you have that they cannot buy? The answer to that question is what you should be building right now.

Proprietary asset identification → protect and accelerate

If Claude identifies a data asset, relationship network, or community you are building — this should become a strategic priority, not a side effect. Intentionally accelerate it. The asset that compounds is worth more than any single feature.

Moat signal to investors → add to your pitch deck

The 2-sentence moat description goes directly into your pitch deck under "defensibility" or "why us" slide. Feed this into Prompt 9 (the one-pager) when you get there.

Prompt 8: Stress Test Your Revenue Model

The Prompt

Copy and paste this exactly - fill in the brackets

You are a financial model reviewer and startup advisor.

I need you to pressure-test my revenue model before I build a business around assumptions that will break at scale.

Please provide:

• Unit economics breakdown: Revenue per customer, cost to acquire that customer, and cost to serve them — is the margin viable at small scale and does it improve or worsen at scale
• Break-even analysis: How many customers I need to cover fixed costs and how many months of runway that requires at my current burn rate
• Churn risk: Based on my business model, the most likely reason customers stop paying and how it affects lifetime value
• Concentration risk: If my first 5 customers represent more than 50% of revenue, what that dependency risk looks like and how to reduce it
• Pricing pressure scenario: If a competitor drops their price by 30% next quarter, whether my unit economics survive a matching price reduction
• Growth math: What customer growth rate is required to reach $10K, $50K, and $100K monthly recurring revenue — and whether that rate is realistic given my channel plan
• Model vulnerability: The single assumption my entire revenue model rests on that, if wrong, would require a fundamental pivot
• Improvement lever: The one change to pricing, packaging, or cost structure that would most improve unit economics in the next 90 days

My revenue model: [DESCRIBE HOW YOU MAKE MONEY]

My current pricing: [WHAT YOU CHARGE]

My cost structure: [ROUGH COST TO ACQUIRE AND SERVE A CUSTOMER]

What This Prompt Is Actually Testing

Most founders build revenue models that look good at scale but break at early stage — or look fine at early stage but become unviable as they grow. This prompt finds both failure modes before you build a business around them.

The most dangerous output to ignore is the model vulnerability section. It identifies the single assumption the entire model rests on. If that assumption is wrong — not if competitors are tougher, not if growth is slower, but if that one specific assumption is wrong — you need to pivot. Knowing it now is the point.

How to Use Each Section of the Output

Unit economics breakdown → your first financial decision filter

If the unit economics are not viable at small scale, fix them before acquiring more customers. Scaling a broken unit economics model means losing more money faster. The improvement lever section tells you the single change that fixes it fastest.

Break-even analysis → your runway reality check

Take the customer number Claude gives you and ask: at your current customer acquisition pace from month 1, how many months until you hit break-even? If it's more than your current runway — either raise your prices, cut costs, or raise more capital. There is no fourth option.

Churn risk → your customer success priority list

The most likely churn reason Claude identifies should become the thing you address most aggressively in your onboarding and customer success process. Churn compounds. Fixing the top churn driver in month 1 is worth more than acquiring 3 new customers.

Pricing pressure scenario → your negotiation floor

If your unit economics do not survive a 30% price reduction, you cannot match a price war. Know this before you enter a competitive deal where pricing comes up. Your negotiation floor is not zero — it is wherever your unit economics break.

Growth math → your channel investment decision

If the growth rate required to hit $10K MRR is higher than what your current channel plan can realistically deliver, you need either more channels or a higher price point. This output makes that trade-off visible before you hit month 3 and wonder why numbers aren't moving.

Model vulnerability → your single most important thing to validate

Whatever assumption Claude identifies here — validate it first. Before building product. Before hiring. Before raising. The cheapest validation is a conversation with 5 potential customers. If the assumption holds in those 5 conversations, build. If it doesn't, redesign the model.

Prompt 9: Write Your Investor One-Pager

The Prompt

Copy and paste this exactly - fill in the brackets

You are a pitch deck advisor who has helped 100 early-stage founders raise their first round.

From my rough product description, build a complete investor-ready one-pager.

Please provide:

• Problem statement: One sentence on the problem — specific, painful, and backed by a scale signal
• Solution: What I built, in plain language, without jargon
• Market size: How to frame TAM, SAM, and SOM credibly for my specific market without fabricating numbers
• Business model: How I make money, simply stated
• Traction section: How to present early signals credibly even if I have no revenue yet — pilots, waitlist size, letters of intent, or notable customer conversations
• Competition slide logic: How to frame my competitive position without dismissing competitors or overclaiming differentiation
• Team section: How to present a small founding team in a way that instills confidence
• The ask: How to frame the funding amount, use of funds, and milestone it funds in a way that feels specific and accountable
• One-pager layout: The exact section order and word count per section for a single page that investors will actually read
• The sentence that closes it: The last line of the one-pager that leaves the reader wanting a meeting

Write the full one-pager in draft form based on the information I give you.

My product: [DESCRIBE WHAT YOU BUILT OR ARE BUILDING]

My traction so far: [ANY EARLY SIGNALS — REVENUE, USERS, PILOTS, WAITLIST]

My team: [WHO IS BUILDING THIS]

What Investors Actually Read on a One-Pager

Investors spend 3-5 minutes on an initial one-pager. They read in this order: problem, team, traction, ask. Everything else is context they use to fill in the gaps between those four.

This means: if your problem section is weak, they stop. If your team section raises doubts, they stop. If your traction section is empty (no signals at all), they file it and wait. If your ask is vague, they assume you don't know what you're doing.

Claude's output is a starting draft. You need to apply your real numbers and real story on top of it.

How to Use Each Section of the Output

The draft one-pager → your edit, not your send

Claude writes the full draft. Do not send it as-is. Your job is to replace every placeholder with real specifics. The draft gives you the structure and tone. Your actual numbers, customer names, and team backgrounds give it credibility.

Market size framing → cite sources, don't fabricate

Claude will show you how to frame TAM/SAM/SOM credibly without making up numbers. The most important instruction: use a bottom-up calculation alongside any top-down market research number. "$50B market" means nothing. "200,000 companies in our ICP, each spending $5K/year on this problem = $1B SAM" is credible.

Traction section with no revenue → use signal language precisely

Claude will show you how to present pre-revenue signals. Use the exact language it gives you. Do not upgrade signals: a "pilot conversation" is not a "pilot." A "letter of intent" is not a "signed contract." Investors check. Getting caught misrepresenting traction ends the conversation permanently.

The closing sentence → test it on a non-founder

Ask someone who has never heard of your company to read the closing sentence. If their first reaction is not "I want to know more" or "how do I reach them" — rewrite it. The last line of a one-pager is the most important for getting a reply.

The ask → make it specific before sending to anyone

The ask section should answer three questions without the investor having to ask: how much are you raising, what will you spend it on (by category, not vague), and what milestone does it fund. If Claude's draft leaves any of these as general statements, push back: "Make the use of funds more specific. Break it into three line items with percentages."

Prompt 10: Build Your Complete Launch System

The Prompt

Copy and paste this exactly - fill in the brackets

You are a founding team advisor who has taken 25 companies from raw idea to funded and growing.

Synthesize everything into one complete, executable startup launch document I can act on starting today.

Please provide:

• Idea clarity: My business in one sentence that a 12-year-old and a sophisticated investor would both understand immediately
• ICP in one line: The single most specific description of my ideal first customer — named role, named pain, named context
• Positioning in one line: What I do, for whom, and why it is different — under 15 words
• Pricing summary: My 3-tier structure with the core tier highlighted
• 30-day action plan: Exactly what to do in the first 30 days — week by week, specific daily actions, and the single metric that determines if month 1 was a success
• First 5 customers: Who they are, where to find them, and the exact first message to send each one
• Top 3 risks right now: The 3 most likely ways this fails in the next 6 months and the specific action that reduces each risk
• The one thing: If I can only do one thing in the next 7 days to maximize the chance of making money, what is it and exactly how do I do it
• 90-day success definition: What specific, measurable outcome at day 90 would prove I have something worth continuing to build

Format as a clean one-page execution brief with no fluff, no hedging, and no open questions left unanswered.

My idea: [FULL CONTEXT — PRODUCT, MARKET, STAGE, BACKGROUND]

My biggest uncertainty right now: [WHAT YOU ARE MOST UNSURE ABOUT]

My goal at 90 days: [WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE]

How to Get the Most Out of This Prompt

This is the master prompt. The output quality is directly proportional to the quality of your inputs. The three variables at the bottom are the most important part.

My idea: give full context, not a pitch

Do not write a polished pitch in this field. Write the messy reality: what you built or are building, who you thought the customer was, what stage you are at, what has worked, what hasn't, and any relevant background about you and the team. The more honest and specific this is, the more accurate the output.

My biggest uncertainty: be specific about what actually keeps you up at night

Do not write "whether it will work." Write the specific thing you are most unsure about: "Whether the $500/month price point is too high for my ICP" or "Whether I can get distribution without a network in this market" or "Whether the technical complexity will slow delivery to the point where customers churn before seeing value."

Claude will address the specific uncertainty you name. If you name a vague one, you get a vague answer.

My goal at 90 days: make it measurable

"Traction" is not a goal. "3 paying customers at $500/month each" is a goal. "10 discovery calls completed with decision-makers at companies over $5M revenue" is a goal. The more specific your 90-day goal, the more specific the plan Claude builds to reach it.

How to Use This Prompt: Two Modes

Mode 1: Run it first (before prompts 1-9)

If you are just starting and want the full picture fast, run this prompt first. Use the output to identify which of the 9 specific prompts you need to go deeper on. The master prompt gives you breadth. Prompts 1-9 give you depth on each dimension.

Mode 2: Run it last (as your synthesis)

If you have already run prompts 1-9, paste the key outputs from each into the "My idea" field and run this prompt as a synthesis. The output will be dramatically better because Claude is now synthesising real work rather than building from a blank brief.

This is the recommended approach. Run it last and give it everything.

How to Use Each Section of the Output

The one thing (next 7 days) → do it before reading the rest

Read this section first. Do it before you read anything else in the output. The one thing is the highest-leverage action available to you right now. Everything else in the document is lower priority. If you read the full 30-day plan first, you will spend time on lower-leverage items while the highest-leverage one waits.

First 5 customers → your outreach list for today

Claude gives you who they are, where to find them, and the exact first message. This is not a planning exercise. Open LinkedIn, find the first person who matches the profile, and send the message Claude wrote. Today.

Top 3 risks → your risk register

For each risk, Claude gives you a specific action that reduces it. Assign a deadline to each action. If the risk is "competitors copy the model within 6 months" and the action is "build the data asset that compounds" — that action goes into your calendar this week.

90-day success definition → your decision gate

At day 90, evaluate against this definition only. Not against your ambitions, not against what a competitor is doing, not against what investors want to see. If you hit the specific measurable outcome Claude defines, you have something worth continuing. If you don't, you have real data to diagnose why — not a feeling.