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name: founder-sprint description: > Use when the user asks to run a structured venture sprint, check their stage, advance to the next phase, hand off to forge for execution, or asks "what should I do next" in the context of building a venture. Phase 2 subskill of the founder family. Lean gatekeeper and state machine: Diagnose -> Evidence -> Decision -> Handoff. Gate enforcement, next-subskill picker. NOT a planner, NOT an executor. Routes via parent founder skill. Trigger on: "run a sprint", "where am I", "what's next", "advance to next stage", "hand off to forge", "am I ready to build", "check my gates", "sprint status".

Founder Sprint (Phase 2)

Child of founder. Lean gatekeeper and state machine managing the founder journey from idea to forge handoff. Four stages with gate enforcement. Picks the next subskill. Updates venture-brief. NOT a planner, NOT an executor -- a gatekeeper.

Scope: Stage management and gate enforcement only. Sprint picks the right subskill to invoke, checks gate criteria, and advances the venture-brief state. It does NOT do task decomposition, work package creation, owner assignment, or sequencing beyond "which subskill next." Task decomposition is bob's job after forge takes over.

Siblings (parent = founder):

• founder-ideation — Phase 1 — adversarial brainstorm + data grounding
• founder-validation — Phase 2 — experiments, interviews, evidence capture
• founder-business-model — Phase 2 — calculator mode unit economics
• founder-gtm — Phase 3 (deferred) — positioning, distribution, channel selection

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Inherited hard rules (from parent founder): HR-1 through HR-11 all apply. Additionally, HR-V1 through HR-V5 (from validation) and HR-BM1 through HR-BM6 (from business-model) are enforced through the subskill invocations sprint orchestrates.

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The Four Stages

Stage 1: DIAGNOSE

Question: Is there anything worth validating?

Invokes: founder-ideation (Phase 1)

Gate criteria:

• venture-brief has >= 3 ranked ideas with data citations (HR-5)
• 1 idea selected (status: candidate or better, marked as selected)
• >= 3 assumptions listed in venture-brief.assumptions[]
• >= 3 kill criteria across the selected idea (HR-4)

Venture-brief updates on stage entry:

sprint_state:
  stage: diagnose

Venture-brief updates on gate pass:

sprint_state:
  stage_completed_at:
    diagnose: <timestamp>

Abort condition: All ideas scored below kill threshold by adversarial cross-fire.

sprint_state:
  stage: aborted
  outcome: "no viable ideas — all scored below kill threshold"
  abort_reason: "adversarial cross-fire killed all candidate ideas"

Stage 2: EVIDENCE

Question: Do we have enough evidence to commit?

Invokes: founder-validation (Phase 2)

Gate criteria:

• Top-3 riskiest assumptions each have >= 1 experiment with recorded evidence
• >= 1 real interview logged (interview_count >= 1, HR-V2)
• No high-risk viability assumption falsified without either:
  • A documented pivot (pivots[] entry), OR
  • An explicit accepted_risk disposition with user-stated reasoning

Venture-brief updates on stage entry:

sprint_state:
  stage: evidence

Venture-brief updates on gate pass:

sprint_state:
  stage_completed_at:
    evidence: <timestamp>
interview_count: <N>

Abort condition: Viability assumption falsified, user refuses pivot or accept-risk.

sprint_state:
  stage: aborted
  outcome: "killed at evidence gate"
  abort_reason: "viability assumption '[claim]' falsified; user declined pivot"

Stage 3: DECISION

Question: Is this a viable business we should build?

Invokes: founder-business-model (Phase 2), optionally conversion-psychology for CTA work

Gate criteria:

• business_model block populated in venture-brief:
  • price with tag
  • unit_econ ranges (contribution_margin at minimum)
  • decision_rule stated
  • decision_verdict: GREEN or CONDITIONAL_GO with user acknowledgment
• forge_brief block drafted:
  • problem (non-empty)
  • solution (non-empty)
  • success_criteria (non-empty list)
  • non_goals (non-empty list)

Venture-brief updates on stage entry:

sprint_state:
  stage: decision

Venture-brief updates on gate pass:

sprint_state:
  stage_completed_at:
    decision: <timestamp>
business_model: { ... }      # populated by founder-business-model
forge_brief: { ... }         # drafted during this stage

Abort condition: Calculator mode returns RED on decision rule AND user declines to adjust.

sprint_state:
  stage: aborted
  outcome: "killed at decision gate — unit economics"
  abort_reason: "decision rule returned RED; user declined to adjust pricing/costs"

Stage 4: HANDOFF

Question: Are we ready to build?

Invokes: Nothing — runs a checklist, flips the flag, invokes forge.

Gate criteria:

• All previous stages have stage_completed_at timestamps
• forge_brief populated with all required fields
• User gives explicit "ship it" confirmation

Venture-brief updates on gate pass:

sprint_state:
  stage: handoff
  stage_completed_at:
    handoff: <timestamp>
forge_handoff_ready: true
handoff_at: <timestamp>

Handoff method: Sprint routes to forge with explicit spawn prompt:

came_from_founder: true
venture_brief_path: .founder/venture-brief.yaml
forge_brief:
  problem: <from venture-brief>
  solution: <from venture-brief>
  success_criteria: <from venture-brief>
  non_goals: <from venture-brief>
  complexity_hint: <from venture-brief>
  open_questions: <from venture-brief>

Forge reads the brief from the spawn prompt, NOT from ambient session-start discovery.

Abort condition: User changes mind.

sprint_state:
  stage: handoff
  outcome: "paused at handoff"
forge_handoff_ready: false
# forge_brief remains intact for later

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Sprint Operation

On Entry

1. Read venture-brief.yaml. Refuse if missing.
2. Check schema_version. Must be 2. Refuse with migration guidance if 1.
3. Read sprint_state.stage to determine current position.
4. If no sprint_state exists, initialize at diagnose.
5. Present current state to user:

   "Your venture is at stage [STAGE]. Here's what we need to advance: [list gate criteria with checked/unchecked status]"

Advancing

1. Check ALL gate criteria for current stage.
2. If all pass: advance to next stage. Update venture-brief.
3. If some fail: show what's missing and invoke the appropriate subskill.
4. Never auto-advance through multiple stages in one invocation.

Subskill Picker

Current stage	Gate failing on	Invoke
diagnose	< 3 ranked ideas	founder-ideation with generate_ideas
diagnose	< 3 assumptions	Help user list assumptions (direct, no subskill)
diagnose	< 3 kill criteria	founder-ideation with evaluate_idea
evidence	Top assumptions untested	founder-validation with design_experiment
evidence	0 interviews	founder-validation with draft_interview
evidence	Evidence uncaptured	founder-validation with capture_evidence
evidence	Assumption falsified	Present pivot options; if user pivots, re-run validation
decision	No business model	founder-business-model with unit_economics
decision	No forge_brief	Help user draft forge_brief (direct, uses template)
decision	Decision rule RED	founder-business-model with what_must_be_true
handoff	forge_brief incomplete	Return to decision stage
handoff	User not ready	Pause; record outcome

Resetting

User can request reset to an earlier stage:

• Reset clears the later stage_completed_at timestamps
• Reset does NOT delete evidence, experiments, or business model data
• Reset records a pivots[] entry explaining why
• Reset is an explicit user action, not automatic

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Cross-Stage Rules

1. Brief is authoritative — when sprint and subskills disagree, venture-brief.yaml wins
2. No stage-skipping — sprint refuses to jump. Reset allowed.
3. Evidence or no transition — each gate requires artifacts, not assertions
4. Aborts are recorded — outcome + reason written to brief so next invocation knows
5. Sprint does NOT do task decomposition — that's bob's job after forge takes over
6. If no venture-brief.yaml exists — refuse; tell user to run founder-ideation first

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Venture-Brief Integration

Sprint reads and writes the following venture-brief fields:

Stage	Reads	Writes
diagnose	ideas_considered[], assumptions[]	sprint_state.stage, sprint_state.stage_completed_at.diagnose
evidence	assumptions[], experiments[], interview_count	sprint_state.stage, sprint_state.stage_completed_at.evidence, interview_count
decision	business_model, forge_brief	sprint_state.stage, sprint_state.stage_completed_at.decision, business_model, forge_brief
handoff	all previous + forge_brief	sprint_state.stage, forge_handoff_ready, handoff_at
abort	sprint_state	sprint_state.outcome, sprint_state.abort_reason

See references/venture-brief-state-rules.md for the complete field-level contract.

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Failure Modes

Failure	Detection	Response
No venture-brief	File not found	Refuse: "Run founder-ideation first to create your venture brief"
Schema version mismatch	schema_version != 2	Refuse with migration guidance
Stage-skip attempt	User asks to jump from diagnose to handoff	Refuse: "Cannot skip stages. Current stage: [X]. Next required: [Y]."
Gate criteria not met	Checklist has unchecked items	Show what's missing, invoke appropriate subskill
Abort without reason	User wants to quit without explaining	Record outcome but require a 1-line reason
Subskill invocation fails	Subskill returns error	Surface the error, don't auto-retry; let user decide
Concurrent modification	venture-brief changed by another process	Re-read on entry; always use latest state

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Anti-Patterns

Anti-Pattern	Why It Fails	Correct Approach
Skipping Evidence stage ("I know it's valid")	Without evidence, you're building on assumptions	Enforce gate: >= 1 interview, >= 1 experiment per top assumption
Sprint doing task decomposition	Sprint is a gatekeeper, not a project manager	Surface what's needed; let subskills and eventually bob handle the work
Auto-advancing through multiple stages	Loses user control; decisions need human deliberation	One stage advance per invocation; present the next gate
Maintaining separate state from venture-brief	Drift between sprint's view and brief's view	venture-brief is the single source of truth (HR-7)
Accepting "trust me" for gate criteria	Evidence-free gates produce false confidence	Require artifacts: experiments, interviews, calculator output
Calling forge without explicit handoff	Ambient coupling creates stale-state bugs	Use explicit came_from_founder: true spawn prompt

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Reference Files

Read these as needed during sprint operation:

• references/stage-machine-spec.md — complete state transition diagram, allowed/forbidden paths, edge cases
• references/gate-criteria.md — detailed checklist per gate with specific evidence artifacts required and pass/fail rubrics
• references/venture-brief-state-rules.md — which fields sprint reads/writes per stage, schema version check, migration notes
• references/forge-handoff-protocol.md — explicit handoff spawn prompt template, came_from_founder flag, what forge does on receipt

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When NOT to Use This Skill

• User wants quick ideas without committing to a sprint — use founder-ideation directly
• User wants to validate without the stage machine — use founder-validation directly
• User wants unit economics without the stage machine — use founder-business-model directly
• User is already building (post-forge handoff) — sprint is done; use forge/bob directly
• User wants legal/tax/valuation advice — REFUSED (HR-1, HR-2)
• Sprint is optional — users CAN invoke subskills directly without going through sprint