| name | startup-failure-diagnosis |
| description | Diagnoses startup ideas, MVPs, pitch decks, rebuild plans, and business models using antipatterns distilled from 1100+ failed startup case studies and public startup post-mortem research. Use when evaluating startup ideas, PMF risk, startup failure risk, CAC/LTV, unit economics, platform dependency, competition, regulatory risk, 创业想法验证, or 创业失败诊断. |
| version | 0.1.0 |
| license | Apache-2.0 |
| allowed-tools | WebFetch, WebSearch |
| when_to_use | Use when the user asks whether a startup idea is viable, why startups fail, how to avoid startup failure, how to rebuild a failed startup idea, or how to diagnose business model risk. |
| argument-hint | <startup idea, landing page, pitch deck, business plan, product brief, or failed startup case> |
| metadata | {"tags":["startup","failure-analysis","business-model","pmf","unit-economics","startup-diagnosis","startup-failure","startup-autopsy","startup-idea-validation","创业失败诊断","创业想法验证","商业模式诊断","PMF风险"]} |
Startup Failure Diagnosis
This skill turns patterns distilled from 1100+ failed startup case studies into a practical diagnostic workflow. It is inspired by public startup post-mortem research, but it does not treat any single case as absolute truth. Use the patterns as risk lenses, then demand current evidence from customers, pricing tests, usage data, and unit economics.
What This Skill Does
- Maps a startup idea or plan to likely failure antipatterns.
- Scores risk across demand, product, competition, go-to-market, unit economics, cash, team, operations, timing, and regulation.
- Produces red flags, counter-evidence questions, validation experiments, and kill criteria.
- Suggests a safer rebuild angle when the original idea has recoverable demand.
Source Model
The skill uses 7 core failure antipatterns commonly found in startup post-mortems:
- No Market Need
- Ran Out of Cash
- Team/Founder Conflict
- Competition
- Product/Tech Failure
- Legal/Regulatory Issues
- Unit Economics
Startup failures rarely come from one reason. Product problems, competition, pricing/unit economics, focus drift, marketing/distribution, cash management, operational scalability, regulation, PMF, and team conflict compound into a failure chain.
For the detailed diagnostic library, read antipatterns.md. For examples, read examples.md.
Quick Start
Use this skill for prompts like:
Analyze this startup idea for failure risks: [idea]
Review this pitch deck like a failed-startup autopsy.
Will this product die from CAC/LTV, retention, or platform dependency?
Use failed startup patterns to rebuild this idea: [failed startup or concept]
请使用 startup-failure-diagnosis skill 分析这个创业想法：[idea]
这个项目最可能怎么失败？请给出失败链条、风险评分、验证实验和 kill criteria。
Required Inputs
If the user gives only a vague idea, ask for the missing pieces most likely to change the diagnosis:
- Target customer and urgent use case
- Current alternative or competitor
- Pricing and expected willingness to pay
- Acquisition channel
- Retention or repeat-use mechanism
- Delivery cost, gross margin, or inference/operations cost
- Regulatory or platform dependency
Do not block on perfect information. If data is missing, mark assumptions and diagnose what could be inferred.
