Library skill · Thinkers' principles
Paul Graham-style unscalable launch plan
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. Use it when you are about to launch, or have a product but few users.
Not affiliated with or endorsed by Paul Graham or their companies. About these principles: Paul Graham's ideas, explained.
AI skill
Have your AI plan how to win your first users by hand
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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
- 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.
How it works
- Write the vector (principle 10)
- Pick the contained fire (principle 6)
- List who to recruit by hand (principle 2)
- Design the early-user experience (principles 4 and 5)
- Choose one user to build for (principle 7)
- Mark what stays manual (principle 8)
- Cut the big bets (principle 9)
- Set the weekly measure (principle 3)
Example
What you give it
We built a booking and reminder tool for independent hair salons. 4 salons use it, all friends of my co-founder. Plan: launch on a big product directory next month and try to partner with a salon supply chain. Our onboarding is a sign-up form; reminders are sent by our code but setting up the salon's services takes them an hour and most quit.
What you get back (the start of it)
These are principles Paul Graham has described publicly in "Do Things that Don't Scale" (July 2013) and "Startup = Growth" (September 2012). Not affiliated with or endorsed by Paul Graham or their companies.
The vector
Build: booking and reminders for independent salons. Do by hand: set up each salon's services and staff ourselves, in the salon, and check in weekly.
Contained fire
Independent salons in one district of one city [check: count], where owners know each other and can see the tool working at a friend's salon.
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
- v1.0.1 · · Example output now opens with the attribution and not-affiliated lines, as the skill's own checks require.
- v1.0.0 · · First release.
Sources
- Do Things that Don't Scale, Paul Graham, July 2013 (read 2026-11-04)
- Startup = Growth, Paul Graham, September 2012 (read 2026-11-04)