| name | ash-maurya-lean-metrics |
| description | Ash Maurya's Running Lean operating system — Lean Canvas business model design, single traction metric discovery, switching-trigger customer segmentation, MVP cocktail feature prioritization, demo-sell-build validation, and 7-powers unfair advantage strategy. |
| version | 2.0 |
| format | completion-engine |
| workflows | 3 |
| source | claude.ai export 2026-07-01 |
Ash Maurya — Lean Metrics & Business Model Validation
Ash Maurya (author of Running Lean, creator of Lean Canvas, founder of LeanStack) treats the business model — not the product — as the true product of a startup. His system replaces build-first instinct with a validation engine: find the one traction metric that leads revenue, segment customers by switching triggers instead of personas, sell the demo before building the product, and pick one compounding unfair advantage instead of a feature arms race.
Load this skill for: startup/product validation, traction metrics and vanity-metric audits, ICP/segmentation grounded in causality, MVP scoping, moat strategy, vision statements, and elevator pitches for new ventures.
Available Workflows
| # | Workflow | Produces |
|---|
| 01 | 01-find-traction-metric.md | The single traction metric for a business model + vanity-metric purge + traction narrative |
| 02 | 02-validate-business-model.md | 90-day demo-sell-build validation plan: Lean Canvas snapshot, jobs-based ICP, MVP cocktail, pre-sell campaign |
| 03 | 03-design-unfair-advantage.md | Unfair advantage strategy: 7-powers fit assessment + one moat picked and wired into product building |
Quick Reference
- Traction defined: the rate at which a business model captures monetizable value from its users. Rate, not cumulative. Leading, not lagging. Revenue and profit are after-effects.
- One metric per archetype: Direct model → key activity that drives purchase (Starbucks: time in store). Multi-sided → DAU + ARPU (Facebook reports only these two). Marketplace → transactions (Airbnb: guest nights booked).
- Personas fail early-stage: chase causality, not correlation. Good ICP = fewest distinguishing characteristics: switching trigger + desired outcome + chosen solution. Three trigger types: bad experience, change in circumstance, awareness event. Patterns emerge in 10–20 interviews.
- MVP = Minimum VALUABLE Product (Kano): one delighter as the UVP → minimum performance metric to be taken seriously → optional second axis of better → innovate around basic features (license, integrate, Wizard-of-Oz).
- Demo-sell-build: if you can't sell the demo, a working product won't help. 90-day timebox; traction (tangible commitments) is the goal that justifies going all-in.
- Bigger context: "Don't make a better X — make a better user of X." The customer is the hero; you are the guide; the product is the gift.
- Vision in 3 steps: Who is it for → their value-creating action → one North Star metric. Set minimum success criteria at 3 years, then 10x it for the stretch goal.
- Elevator pitch = movie trailer (3 acts): ordinary world + job to be done → switching trigger breaks existing alternatives → tease the better way. Never name or describe the product.
- Unfair advantage: anything worth copying will be copied. Pick ONE of the 7 powers matched to business model + stage; go all-in so moat-building becomes a side effect of product building.
- AI-era rule (Vibe Startup): AI made building fast, not right. Compress PDCA validation cycles from 6–8 weeks to ~1 week; building is no longer the bottleneck — thinking is.
Execution Prompts (structure-pure v2)
8 deterministic practitioner prompts — each carries an Output Contract, Output Skeleton, and Quality Gate. When a deliverable matches one, Read it and honor its contract instead of improvising the output shape.
- Ash Maurya — Demo-Sell-Build Validation Campaign —
skills/ash-maurya-lean-metrics/references/prompts-v2/demo-sell-build-campaign.md
- Ash Maurya — Hero's Journey Elevator Pitch —
skills/ash-maurya-lean-metrics/references/prompts-v2/elevator-pitch.md
- Ash Maurya — Lean Canvas & Founder-Market Fit Snapshot —
skills/ash-maurya-lean-metrics/references/prompts-v2/lean-canvas-fit-snapshot.md
- Ash Maurya — MVP Cocktail (Minimum VALUABLE Product) —
skills/ash-maurya-lean-metrics/references/prompts-v2/mvp-cocktail.md
- Ash Maurya — Switching-Trigger ICP & Interview Sprint Kit —
skills/ash-maurya-lean-metrics/references/prompts-v2/switching-trigger-icp-kit.md
- Ash Maurya — Traction Metric Analysis —
skills/ash-maurya-lean-metrics/references/prompts-v2/traction-metric-analysis.md
- Ash Maurya — Unfair Advantage Strategy (7 Powers) —
skills/ash-maurya-lean-metrics/references/prompts-v2/unfair-advantage-strategy.md
- Ash Maurya — Vision Statement (Who → Verb → North Star) —
skills/ash-maurya-lean-metrics/references/prompts-v2/vision-statement.md
