| name | Sky Tan - Format Engine |
| description | Short-form video format engineering for founder/B2B personal brands — discover, build, test, and saturate the ONE winning repeatable format that prints views AND converts to clients. The 20-minute strategy spine (Purpose→Avatar→Market→Format→Hook), the 4 money formats (reaction / process breakdown / authority hijack / live strategy session), cross-niche format theft, 3-hook stacking, the 2x/4-video test, and the saturation blitz. Core thesis: formats get views, expertise gets sales. |
| version | 1.0 |
| format | completion-engine |
| workflows | 12 |
| tier | system |
Sky Tan — Format Engine
Invocation: /deploy-skill sky-tan-format-engine (or any /sky-* workflow)
Domain: Short-Form Video Format Engineering • Founder/B2B Personal Brand • Content→Client Conversion • Counter-Positioning • Format Discovery & Testing
Sky Tan is the founder of ClipCut, a short-form content agency (VERIFIED — clipcut.com, web-confirmed 2026-05-30). Track record: Pack Leader Dogs (Steve Del Savio) at 754K followers VERIFIED (~1M views/video LIKELY); Diary of a CEO at 3M followers VERIFIED (~600K-view clips LIKELY); his personal "15K→~100K in ~17 days, $70K cash" is UNCONFIRMED (self-reported). Agency revenue web-cited at ~$25K/mo–$300K/yr (one source).
His system answers one question most content advice gets wrong: not "what should I post?" but "what is the ONE repeatable format that lets me dominate this category AND convert viewers into paying clients?"
Core Philosophy:
- Formats get you views. Expertise gets you paid. A format that prints views without demonstrating expertise is a vanity engine — reject it (the Conversion Gate).
- Content is a format-discovery problem, not an ideas problem. Refuse "30 ideas." Find one format, run it 50+ times.
- Steal formats from outside your niche (first-mover), never inside it (too late).
- Purpose (the offer) dictates everything: Avatar → Market → Format → Hook all derive from it.
- Build the format fully before filming: list activities → pair visuals → make repeatable → stack 3 hooks.
- Validate with the 2x/4-video test; low views are data, not failure.
- On confirmation, saturate (6/day) to own the format before copycats — every copycat becomes your social proof.
- Framing > production. One in-group authority keyword can 10x reach with no edit upgrade.
Where This Fits in the Content Stack:
- Lara Acosta = LinkedIn written positioning + authority (written voice layer)
- Diandra Escobar = LinkedIn growth funnel + borrowed-attention formats (funnel layer)
- Tim Runia / Nicolas Cole = video/story scripting (script layer, downstream of format choice)
- Kallaway = virality theory / jackpost mechanics
- Sky Tan = short-form VIDEO format discovery + testing + conversion (the format layer nobody else owns)
Available Workflows
Tier 1 — Foundation (the irreducible methodology)
| # | Workflow | Produces | Use When |
|---|
| 1 | strategy-spine /sky-strategy-spine | A founder's full content strategy: Purpose→Avatar→Market→Format→Hook | Net-new content strategy from zero |
| 2 | find-format /sky-find-format | The ONE winning format: cross-niche theft + twist + 4 build steps | "What format should I run?" |
| 3 | format-test /sky-format-test | The 2x/4-video validation + saturation-blitz schedule + evolution protocol | Validating/scaling a format |
Tier 2 — Practitioner (granular deployment)
| # | Workflow | Produces | Use When |
|---|
| 4 | reaction /sky-reaction | A reaction-video spec (45° framing, concept labels, bold claim, breakdown) | Building a reaction video |
| 5 | process-breakdown /sky-process-breakdown | A "free-consulting" step-by-step with real artifacts | Proving you can do the thing you sell |
| 6 | authority-hijack /sky-authority-hijack | An authority-hijack clip (search string + framing keyword) | Borrowing credibility / no proof yet |
| 7 | live-session /sky-live-session | A raw live-strategy-session spec (the "streamer" format) | High-ticket / filtering serious buyers |
| 8 | hook-stack /sky-hook-stack | The three hooks (visual/verbal/written) engineered into frame one | Any short-form video |
| 9 | counter-position /sky-counter-position | An outlier-map of 20–40 competitors → the empty gap to occupy | Market research / positioning |
| 10 | conversion-gate /sky-conversion-gate | An audit vs the Conversion Gate + 7-criterion rubric | Auditing existing content/format |
Tier 3 — Stacking (cross-expert / system)
| # | Workflow | Produces | Stacks With |
|---|
| 11 | atomize-format /sky-atomize-format | The ONE repeatable format to atomize a long-form source into | /atomize, /parallax |
| 12 | x-funnel /sky-x-funnel | Format selection (Sky) + 4-bucket growth funnel (Diandra) composite | Diandra Escobar |
Stacking Guide
| Pair With | Combined Output |
|---|
| Lara Acosta | Sky engineers the video format-engine; Lara engineers the written/voice layer for the same brand |
| Diandra Escobar | Sky selects the format; Diandra wraps the 4-bucket growth funnel + conversion (/sky-x-funnel) |
| Tim Runia / Nicolas Cole | Sky picks the format; they script the chosen format deeper |
| ICP / McRaney deep-canvass | Avatar belief-map feeds /sky-counter-position |
| /atomize, /parallax | /sky-atomize-format finds the format BEFORE repurposing — one series, not 11 random clips |
Quick Reference — The Spine
Purpose (offer) → Avatar (pain) → Market (gap) → Format (Conversion Gate) → Hook (3-stack) → 2x test → Blitz → Evolve
References
Source
3 ClipCut YouTube videos (12,711 words): Q984AzK0nlo ($1M strategy in 20 min), GNAZIHf6YiQ (4 money formats), siCsb23nuZM (90K followers in 17 days). Extraction: extractions/Sky Tan/mastery-extraction.md.
Factual note: All case-study metrics are creator-claimed (LIKELY pending verification). The Huberman build is hypothetical — Sky states in-source he has never worked with Huberman. Do not embellish the exemplar roster.
Execution Prompts (structure-pure v2)
12 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.
- Sky Tan — Format-First Repurposing Slate —
skills/sky-tan-format-engine/references/prompts-v2/atomize-format.md
- Sky Tan — Authority Hijack Spec —
skills/sky-tan-format-engine/references/prompts-v2/authority-hijack.md
- Sky Tan — Conversion Gate Audit —
skills/sky-tan-format-engine/references/prompts-v2/conversion-gate.md
- Sky Tan — Counter-Positioning Outlier Map —
skills/sky-tan-format-engine/references/prompts-v2/counter-position.md
- Sky Tan — Winning Format Discovery —
skills/sky-tan-format-engine/references/prompts-v2/find-format.md
- Sky Tan — Format Validation & Saturation Plan —
skills/sky-tan-format-engine/references/prompts-v2/format-test.md
- Sky Tan — Three-Hook Stack Engineer —
skills/sky-tan-format-engine/references/prompts-v2/hook-stack.md
- Sky Tan — Live Strategy Session Spec —
skills/sky-tan-format-engine/references/prompts-v2/live-session.md
- Sky Tan — Process Breakdown Spec —
skills/sky-tan-format-engine/references/prompts-v2/process-breakdown.md
- Sky Tan — Reaction Video Spec —
skills/sky-tan-format-engine/references/prompts-v2/reaction.md
- Sky Tan — 20-Minute Strategy Spine —
skills/sky-tan-format-engine/references/prompts-v2/strategy-spine.md
- Sky Tan — Format + Growth-Funnel Composite —
skills/sky-tan-format-engine/references/prompts-v2/x-funnel.md
