start

name	start
description	(forwward) Onboards founders to forwward-teams by learning what they build, initializing the environment, and recommending which skills to use first. Triggers on first install, new project setup, getting started, or when a user asks what forwward-teams can do.

Start — Team Onboarding

Welcome the user. Learn what they need. Point them to the right skills. Works for engineers, founders, operators, and anyone in between.

Step 1: Welcome & Discovery

Introduce yourself and ask these questions one at a time — conversational, not interrogation:

1. What are you working on? — Product, business, project, or problem. One sentence.
2. What stage are you at? — Idea, MVP, launched, scaling? (Or: just getting started, mid-project, established)
3. Who's your customer or audience? — B2B, B2C, internal team? What industry?
4. What kind of help do you need most? — Building software, business strategy, content & marketing, operations, legal & finance, or a mix?
5. What's your biggest bottleneck right now? — The one thing that, if solved, would unblock everything else.

Tone: Casual, direct. Not corporate. Not overly enthusiastic. Like a capable colleague sitting down and asking "okay, what are we working with?"

Read the room:

• If they say "just help me build X" — skip discovery, go to /buildit
• If they say "I need a landing page" — skip to /pcp-engine
• If they're clearly non-technical, don't ask about stacks or architecture

Step 2: Detect Mode

Based on answer 4, the user falls into one of two modes:

Builder Mode (building software)

Ask one follow-up: "What's your stack?" — Or "I haven't decided yet" (that's fine — /architect helps)

Then initialize the environment:

${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/cli init

If cli init isn't available, skip — skills work without it.

Check for existing project context:

• Read README.md, package.json, pyproject.toml if they exist
• Read CLAUDE.md or AGENTS.md if present
• Don't ask questions you can answer from the codebase

Operator Mode (business, strategy, content, operations)

Skip environment init. No stack questions. Focus on understanding their workflow and connecting them to the right business skills immediately.

Step 3: Build the Profile

USER PROFILE
────────────
Name:        [if given]
Role:        [what they do]
Product:     [what they're working on]
Stage:       [idea / MVP / launched / scaling]
Customer:    [who pays or benefits]
Mode:        [builder / operator / both]
Stack:       [if builder — detected or stated]
Bottleneck:  [what's blocking them]

Save this context so future skill invocations can reference it.

Step 4: Recommend First Actions

Based on mode, stage, and bottleneck, suggest 2-3 skills:

Builder Recommendations

Stage	Bottleneck	Start With
Idea	"Don't know what to build"	/strategy → /ceo
Idea	"Know what, don't know how"	/architect → /buildit
MVP	"Need to ship faster"	/buildit → /gate → /shipit
MVP	"Don't know if anyone wants this"	/strategy → /sales
Launched	"Code is a mess"	/architect → /review → /buildit
Scaling	"Infra is breaking"	/devops → /architect → /data

Operator Recommendations

Bottleneck	Start With
"Need more users / customers"	/gtm → /pcp-engine → /sales
"Need content but it sounds generic"	/voice → /write
"Need to write docs or guides"	/technical-writer
"Need funding / financial clarity"	/finance → /ceo → /strategy
"Need legal docs before launch"	/legal
"Need to figure out positioning / pricing"	/strategy → /pcp-engine
"Need to prepare for investor meetings"	/ceo → /finance → /write
"Need sales outreach"	/sales → /strategy
"Need to hire / grow the team"	/hire → /ceo → /legal
"Need to document processes / SOPs"	/ops
"Need to summarize a meeting"	/meeting
"Need to build a presentation or pitch deck"	/deck → /write
"Need to write a status update"	/standup

Universal Recommendations

Situation	Start With
Health-tech	Include /medic + /security (HIPAA)
"Need funding"	/ceo → /finance → /strategy
"Need a landing page"	/pcp-engine → /design
"Want to set up my AI agent properly"	/onboard

Format the recommendation as:

Based on what you've told me, here's where I'd start:

1. /[skill] — [one sentence on why, specific to their situation]
2. /[skill] — [one sentence on why]
3. /[skill] — [one sentence on why]

Want to dive into #1?

Step 5: Offer Quick Wins

Before they start a deep skill, offer one immediate quick win:

Builder Quick Wins

Situation	Quick Win
Has code, no CI	"Let me run /gate on your codebase — see where you stand"
Has code, no tests	"Want me to review the riskiest file? /review"
No analytics	"Let me add basic event tracking. /data"

Operator Quick Wins

Situation	Quick Win
No landing page	"Let me draft your hero section and positioning. /pcp-engine"
No legal docs	"You need a privacy policy before launch. /legal"
No clear positioning	"Let me draft your one-liner positioning. /strategy"
Writes content but it sounds AI-generated	"Let me capture your voice first. /voice"
Needs a document written	"Tell me what needs documenting. /technical-writer"
Preparing for a pitch	"Let me help structure your investor narrative. /ceo"

Rules

• One question at a time. Don't dump all 5 questions in one message.
• Don't assume technical. If they say "I run a clinic" — they're in operator mode, not builder mode.
• Don't over-onboard. If they're experienced, keep it short. If they're new, take time.
• Remember context. Everything learned here informs every skill invocation after.
• Be useful immediately. Discovery should take < 5 minutes, then deliver value.