Analyze a startup from three perspectives: VC investor, job applicant, and CEO/founder. Use this skill whenever the user wants to evaluate a startup, assess whether to invest in or join a startup, do due diligence, evaluate a job offer from a startup, understand a startup's competitive position, or assess company health and trajectory. Triggers: "analyze this startup", "should I join [company]", "is [company] a good investment", "evaluate [company]", "due diligence on [company]", "what do you think of [startup]", "should I take this startup job offer", "how healthy is [company]", "startup assessment", "company analysis", "is [company] worth joining", "what's the outlook for [company]", "research [company] for me", any mention of evaluating or assessing a startup or tech company from investment, career, or strategic perspectives — provide all three perspectives by default.
Analyze a startup from three perspectives: VC investor, job applicant, and CEO/founder. Use this skill whenever the user wants to evaluate a startup, assess whether to invest in or join a startup, do due diligence, evaluate a job offer from a startup, understand a startup's competitive position, or assess company health and trajectory. Triggers: "analyze this startup", "should I join [company]", "is [company] a good investment", "evaluate [company]", "due diligence on [company]", "what do you think of [startup]", "should I take this startup job offer", "how healthy is [company]", "startup assessment", "company analysis", "is [company] worth joining", "what's the outlook for [company]", "research [company] for me", any mention of evaluating or assessing a startup or tech company from investment, career, or strategic perspectives — provide all three perspectives by default.
Startup Analysis
Produces a multi-perspective analysis of a startup, examining it through three lenses that each reveal different aspects of company health and potential:
VC Investor Lens — Is this a good investment? Market size, unit economics, growth trajectory, team quality, defensibility
Job Applicant Lens — Should I work here? Equity value, runway risk, culture signals, career growth, compensation fairness
CEO/Founder Lens — How healthy is this company? Product-market fit, burn efficiency, competitive moat, organizational health
Each perspective surfaces insights the others miss. A company can be a great investment but a terrible place to work (or vice versa). The goal is to give the user a 360-degree view so they can make informed decisions.
Step 1: Gather Information
Before analyzing, collect as much public information as possible about the startup. Use web search, the company's website, Crunchbase data, press coverage, and any other available sources.
Key data to gather:
Category
What to find
Basics
Founded year, HQ location, employee count, what the product does
Funding
Total raised, last round (size, date, valuation if known), key investors
Product
What they sell, who buys it, pricing model, key competitors
If certain data isn't publicly available (e.g., revenue for private companies), note the gap and infer what you can from indirect signals (hiring pace, customer logos, web traffic proxies, job postings).
When information is insufficient
Many startups — especially early-stage or niche ones — have limited public presence. If web search does not return enough information to produce a meaningful analysis (e.g., you can't determine what the company does, who founded it, or how it's funded), ask the user to provide the company's website URL before proceeding. The company website is often the single most information-dense source, and reading it directly (about page, pricing page, team page, blog) can fill most gaps.
You can also ask the user for:
The company's website or landing page URL
A Crunchbase, LinkedIn, or PitchBook link
Any pitch deck, job listing, or press article they have
Specific context they already know (e.g., "they just raised a Series A from Sequoia")
It is better to ask for a URL and produce an accurate analysis than to guess and produce a misleading one.
Step 2: Determine Which Perspectives to Cover
By default, produce all three perspectives. If the user specifies a particular angle (e.g., "I'm considering joining them" or "should I invest"), emphasize that perspective but still include the others as context — they often reveal relevant information.
User's situation
Primary perspective
Still include
Considering investing
VC Investor
Job Applicant (talent signal), CEO (operational health)
Considering a job offer
Job Applicant
VC Investor (funding runway), CEO (strategic direction)
Running the company / advisory
CEO/Founder
VC Investor (how investors see you), Job Applicant (talent attractiveness)
General curiosity / research
All equally
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Step 3: Analyze from Each Perspective
Read the relevant reference files for the detailed framework for each perspective. These contain the specific criteria, metrics, and red/green flags to evaluate.
VC Investor Analysis
Read references/vc-framework.md for the full evaluation framework.
Produce a clear Investment Thesis (bull case) and Key Risks (bear case). End with a verdict: Strong Pass / Lean Pass / Lean Invest / Strong Invest, with reasoning.
Job Applicant Analysis
Read references/job-applicant-framework.md for the full evaluation framework.
Core areas to assess:
Financial stability — Runway, burn rate, funding trajectory, revenue health
Produce a clear Strengths to Double Down On and Urgent Areas to Address. End with a health grade: Critical / Struggling / Stable / Strong / Exceptional, with reasoning.
Step 4: Synthesize Cross-Perspective Insights
After the three analyses, add a synthesis section that highlights:
Where perspectives agree — If all three lenses flag the same strength or weakness, it's probably real
Where perspectives diverge — A company can be VC-attractive (huge market) but employee-risky (high burn, low runway). Call these out.
The bottom line — One paragraph summary: what kind of company is this, what's its most likely trajectory, and what should the user do based on their stated (or implied) situation
Step 5: Present the Report
Structure the output as a clean, scannable report:
Adapt section depth to available data — if financials are completely opaque, say so and focus on what's observable. Don't fabricate metrics, but do make informed inferences and state your confidence level.
Reference Files
references/vc-framework.md — VC due diligence checklist with metrics, benchmarks, and red/green flags
references/job-applicant-framework.md — Job seeker evaluation framework with equity analysis and culture assessment
references/ceo-framework.md — CEO self-assessment framework with operational metrics and strategic analysis
Read these when you need the detailed criteria and benchmarks for each perspective.
