Idea Elaboration: B2B Painkiller

This reference file contains instructions for elaborating a business-to-business (B2B) idea that addresses a clear organizational pain — a problem companies actively experience and want solved.

It is loaded by the whats-next skill's initialization workflow after scaffolding is complete. It is not a skill and should not be invoked independently.

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Context

You already have:

• seed_description — the founder's initial idea description
• project_name — the working name chosen during init
• startup/core.md — already written with version and name in frontmatter, ## Seed Description populated, and an empty ## Core section

Goal

Help the founder articulate, with precision:

• Who the product is for — the ideal customer profile (ICP): what kind of company, what size, what industry
• Who buys vs. who uses — the buyer (signs the contract, holds budget) vs. the end user (uses it daily); these are often different people
• What business pain they experience — framed as cost, risk, inefficiency, compliance burden, or missed revenue
• How the product solves it — the solution direction
• Where they plan to launch first — geography, if it affects the competitive landscape

This is the most foundational piece of context for everything downstream. Competitor discovery, validation, and pricing all depend on a crisp ICP and problem statement. Vague answers here cost time later.

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How to run the conversation

Opening: Briefly acknowledge the seed description and project name. Then frame the conversation with its concrete output:

"Let's build a clear picture of your idea — by the end, we'll have something that shows how it reads to someone who doesn't know it yet. That's useful for sharing with advisors or potential customers, but also as a baseline to revisit as the idea evolves. Before we dig in, there are a few things I want to understand."

Then ask your first question — typically something like "Who specifically is experiencing this problem today — what kind of company, and what role?"

Style:

• Be concise and direct
• B2B problems are often framed as inefficiency, compliance risk, revenue loss, or competitive disadvantage — help the founder find the right framing when they describe it as a generic pain
• Push back on overly broad ICPs like "all companies" or "any SMB" — ask what industry or function feels most acute
• The buyer/user distinction is critical: press on it if the founder conflates the two ("who actually signs the contract?" vs. "who opens the app every day?")
• Use concrete counter-examples ("You said 'mid-market' — can you describe the last company that would have paid for this?")
• Acknowledge good thinking briefly, then keep moving
• The founder is in charge — if they push back after you've challenged them once, accept it and move on

What good looks like:

• ICP company size: "Series A–C SaaS companies, 50–300 employees" — not "startups and scale-ups."
• ICP industry: "B2B SaaS companies selling to enterprise, where compliance documentation slows down sales cycles" — not "technology companies."
• Buyer role: "VP of Sales or CRO — whoever owns the revenue number and is measured on deal velocity" — not "sales leadership."
• End user role: "Account executives who fill in the compliance questionnaires manually today" — not "the sales team."
• Problem: "Responding to security questionnaires takes AEs 4–6 hours per deal and delays close by 2–3 weeks, costing pipeline velocity" — not "compliance is slow."
• Solution: "AI that auto-fills questionnaires from a pre-approved knowledge base, cutting response time to under 30 minutes per deal" — not "a tool to speed up compliance."

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Geography question

Once the ICP, buyer/user split, and problem are reasonably clear, ask about launch geography — but only if it's relevant. Geography matters when:

• Regulations, data residency laws, or compliance frameworks vary by region (e.g., GDPR in Europe, SOC 2 in the US)
• The competitive landscape differs significantly by market
• The founder's existing network or partnerships are geographically concentrated

Ask something like:

"Where are the companies you're targeting primarily based? Are you starting in a specific market, or going global from day one?"

If the answer is "global" or "it doesn't matter," that's fine — note it and don't push.

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When you have enough clarity

Once you have a solid understanding of at least ICP and problem (buyer/user distinction and solution can be rougher):

1. Reflect back what you heard — summarize each dimension in your own words so the founder feels heard and can correct anything.
2. Propose the fields — show concretely what you'd add under ## Core:

- **ICP Company Size:** ...
- **ICP Industry:** ...
- **Buyer Role:** ...
- **End User Role:** ...
- **Problem:** ...
- **Solution:** ...
- **Geography:** ...

Omit any field you don't have good clarity on — it's fine to leave Solution, End User Role, or Geography out if they're still uncertain.

3. Ask for confirmation — "Does this capture it accurately? I can adjust anything before saving, but we can always modify this later on."

4. On confirmation, read startup/core.md, add or update these fields as - **Key:** Value list items under the ## Core section, and write the file back. Leave the frontmatter and ## Seed Description untouched.

5. Produce the pitch mirror. Read the ## Core fields you just saved. Write 2–3 sentences showing how the idea reads to an outsider — honest and specific, not marketing copy. Focus on the business pain, who it hits, and what the solution does. Then read startup/core.md again and append a ## How It Reads section after ## Core, write the file back.

6. Deliver the exit handoff — one observation specific to this idea, plus a forward-looking sentence. An example:

   "You now have a clear picture of your idea from the outside — [one specific observation, e.g., 'it reads as a compliance risk play rather than an efficiency tool — that framing is stronger for enterprise buyers']. This is your baseline: as you learn more from customers and competitors, you'll see exactly where this framing holds up and where it needs sharpening."

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Completion criteria

• startup/core.md has ICP Company Size (or ICP Industry) and Problem entries under ## Core
• startup/core.md has a ## How It Reads section with 2–3 outsider-facing sentences
• The buyer/user distinction has been discussed, even if the roles end up being the same person
• The founder has confirmed the definitions

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What comes next

After this is complete, the initialization workflow will propose the first plan — a short set of next steps based on what's been defined so far.