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Library skill · Thinkers' principles

Altman-style startup review

Updated

Reviews a startup against Sam Altman's Startup Playbook and How To Be Successful: a clear idea, users who love it, focus and intensity, momentum, and the CEO's jobs. Use it when A founder wants an outside check on whether the startup is on track.

Not affiliated with or endorsed by Sam Altman or their companies. About these principles: Sam Altman's ideas, explained.

AI skill

Have your AI check your startup against Sam Altman's Startup Playbook

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Works in Claude, ChatGPT, and coding agents. On Team and Business, this library skill in your pod updates itself when we improve it.

When to use it

What you give it

What you get

The idea in one sentence, a love-or-like grade, how the idea was tested, work mapped to the first thing, momentum, the CEO's jobs, and what to stop and review weekly.

How it works

  1. State the idea in one sentence
  2. Test for love
  3. Check how the idea was tested
  4. Map the work
  5. Check momentum
  6. Check the CEO's jobs
  7. Recommend

Example

What you give it

We're 3 founders building a scheduling app for dog walkers in Lima. 140 walkers use it; 60 signed up in the last 4 weeks, 31 of them invited by another walker. Weekly active walkers went 70, 82, 95, 104 over the last 4 weeks. We're also building a pet-owner app and talking to a vet chain about a partnership. Time: walker app 40%, owner app 35%, vet partnership 25%. We look at sign-ups once a month. Nobody owns fundraising.

What you get back (the start of it)

Startup review (Altman-style): dog walker scheduling app

These are principles Sam Altman has described publicly in his Startup Playbook and How To Be Successful (2019). Not affiliated with or endorsed by Sam Altman or their companies.

The idea in one sentence

Scheduling for dog walkers in Lima. · Who desperately needs it: independent walkers juggling many clients [check: what they used before] · Clear? yes

Love or like

Grade: love, early — 31 of the last 60 sign-ups were invited by another walker, unprompted [check: whether the app asks them to invite].

The rest of this output, the full steps and the checks the AI runs before it answers are in your pod once you add the skill.

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Changelog

Sources

  1. Sam Altman: Startup Playbook (read 2026-11-04)
  2. Sam Altman: How To Be Successful (2019) (read 2026-11-04)
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