| name | kai-growth-plan |
| description | Generate a stage-appropriate marketing plan based on your company's MRR/stage. Uses the marketing-by-stage playbook to tell you exactly what to do (and what NOT to do) at pre-launch, early ($0-10K MRR), growth ($10-100K MRR), or scale ($100K+ MRR). Use when "what should I do for marketing", "growth plan", "marketing plan", "I just raised a round", "marketing strategy", "what's the right marketing for my stage", "GTM strategy", or any request for a stage-appropriate marketing roadmap. |
Generate a marketing plan matched to your company stage. The wrong strategy at the wrong stage wastes money.
Phase 0: Load Product Context
Check if MARKETING.md exists in the project root (same directory as CLAUDE.md, README.md, package.json).
If it exists: Read it — skip product discovery questions. It has the product name, ICP, value prop, monetization, brand voice, current channels, and competitive landscape.
If it does NOT exist: Auto-explore the codebase to create it in the project root (next to CLAUDE.md). Do NOT ask the user what the product is. Read CLAUDE.md, README.md, PROJECT.md, package.json, landing pages, and any project files. Search for email/ad/analytics config. Then create MARKETING.md using the template from /kai-email-system. Present draft to user for confirmation.
Phase 1: Stage Assessment
Read from MARKETING.md. Only ask about things not covered there:
- Product — what do you do? (1 sentence)
- Revenue — current MRR/ARR? (determines stage)
- Team — how many people? Any marketing hire?
- Channels active — what are you already doing?
- Budget — monthly marketing budget?
- PMF status — do you have product-market fit? (retention cohorts, NPS, or gut feel)
- Top constraint — time, money, or knowledge?
Phase 2: Stage Diagnosis
Load: knowledge/playbooks/marketing-by-stage.md
Also load: knowledge/playbooks/growth-loops-applied.md
Also load: knowledge/playbooks/demand-generation.md
Also load: knowledge/playbooks/saas-metrics-guide.md
Also load: knowledge/playbooks/growth-hacker-first-hire-os.md when the request asks for distribution, a first growth hire, growth hacking, channel coverage, or a channel operating system.
Stage Map
| Stage | Revenue | Goal | Marketing Mode |
|---|
| Pre-Launch | $0 | Validate demand | Talk to humans, build waitlist |
| Early | $0-$10K MRR | Find PMF + first channel | Manual, unscalable, learn what works |
| Growth | $10K-$100K MRR | Optimize + expand channels | Systematize what works, test new channels |
| Scale | $100K+ MRR | Systematize + build team | Hire, automate, diversify |
Phase 3: Marketing Plan
For each stage, produce:
What to DO (prioritized)
| Priority | Activity | Why | /kai Skill to Use | Timeline |
|---|
| P0 | [activity] | [reason] | /kai-[skill] | Week 1-2 |
| P1 | [activity] | [reason] | /kai-[skill] | Week 3-4 |
| P2 | [activity] | [reason] | /kai-[skill] | Month 2 |
What NOT to do (critical)
| Don't Do This | Why It's Tempting | Why It's Wrong at This Stage |
|---|
| [activity] | [reason] | [reason] |
Growth Loop Recommendation
Based on the product, recommend 1-2 growth loops to design:
- Viral loop — does usage create shareable artifacts?
- Content loop — does user-generated content attract new users?
- Paid loop — can you profitably acquire and monetize?
- Sales loop — does each customer intro the next?
Point to /kai-growth-plan isn't the place to design the loop — it identifies which loop to build, then points to the right resources.
Metrics Dashboard
What to measure at this stage (from SaaS metrics guide):
| Metric | Target | Why It Matters |
|---|
| [metric] | [target] | [reason] |
90-Day Roadmap
| Month | Focus | Key Activities | Expected Outcome |
|---|
| Month 1 | [focus] | [activities] | [outcome] |
| Month 2 | [focus] | [activities] | [outcome] |
| Month 3 | [focus] | [activities] | [outcome] |
Budget Allocation
| Channel | % of Budget | Monthly $ | Why |
|---|
| [channel] | [%] | [$] | [reason] |
Load: knowledge/playbooks/marketing-budget-forecasting.md for budget frameworks.
Phase 4: Skill Routing
Map the plan to specific /kai skills the user should run next:
Your 90-day plan maps to these skills:
Week 1: /kai-landing-page → produce your core conversion page
Week 2: /kai-email-system → set up lifecycle emails
Week 3: /kai-content-calendar → plan first month of content
Week 4: /kai-ad-campaign → launch first paid campaign
Month 2: /kai-cold-outreach → start outbound
Month 3: /kai-surround-sound → build AI presence
Distribution OS: /kai-growth-hacker → score and test every B2B/B2C growth channel
Phase 5: Output
Save to workspace/growth-plan/:
workspace/growth-plan/
├── _stage-assessment.md # Your stage + diagnosis
├── _90-day-plan.md # The full plan
├── _budget-allocation.md # Where to spend
├── _metrics-dashboard.md # What to measure
├── _skill-routing.md # Which /kai skills to run next
└── _anti-patterns.md # What NOT to do