| name | name-the-aha |
| description | Interrogate a product for its core value — name the observable aha moment, measure time-to-aha, or honestly conclude there is none yet. Use when starting Growth Circle work on any repo, when someone asks "how do we grow this", when GROWTH.md is missing or its Aha section is empty, or before any activation/retention/distribution work is proposed. This is the gatekeeper skill — every other growth skill depends on its output. |
| metadata | {"pack":"2026-07-growth-circle","forged-by":"claude-fable-5","forged-from":"session-2026-07-02-growth-circle — the Growth Circle protocol (github.com/zakelfassi/growth-circle)","forged-reason":"Most products have no core value, and most could. Growth machinery pointed at a valueless product is spam with extra steps — so the circle's first skill exists to name the value or refuse the work.","usage-count":"0"} |
Name the Aha
Find the observable moment after which a user's behavior measurably changes —
or conclude, honestly, that no such moment exists yet. Write the verdict to
GROWTH.md; every downstream growth skill gates on it.
Gate
None — this is the circle's entry point. If the repo has no GROWTH.md,
create one from the bundled template (references/GROWTH-template.md,
spec v0.1) before proceeding. The template initializes every gate as
closed — that default is load-bearing; downstream skills treat missing
gates as closed too.
Inputs
- The repo, and whatever exists of: product copy, onboarding flow, usage
data, support tickets, reviews, user interviews.
- If the product can be run, run it — experience the first session yourself
before reading anyone's description of it.
Steps
-
Use the product cold. Fresh account, no shortcuts. Note the first
moment you felt the thing work — and how many seconds/steps it took.
If you can't reach value as a motivated evaluator, note where you stopped.
-
Hunt the behavior change. An aha is not a feeling; it's an event
after which usage measurably changes. From any available data, look for
the action that separates users who stayed from users who died. No data?
Interview transcripts and reviews often name it verbatim ("once I saw X…").
-
Draft the statement. One sentence: user + moment + value.
("A commenter hears their first voice reply" — not "users love seamless
audio collaboration.") If it can't fit one sentence, it isn't found yet.
-
Measure the clock. Time-to-aha from signup, measured if possible,
estimated-and-tagged if not. Days is unrealistic; hours unrealistic;
minutes necessary but insufficient. Set the reduction target one order
of magnitude down.
-
Deliver the verdict. Write to GROWTH.md ## Aha (statement,
evidence, time-to-aha, target) and set gate: aha = open. Every claim
carries an evidence link or the tag hypothesis — an untagged assertion
violates the spec.
-
Or refuse. If no behavior-changing moment exists, write
NONE FOUND — growth work blocked, keep the gate closed, and output the
shortest path to having value instead. This is a success of the method,
not a failure of the session.
Conventions
- The aha is the user's moment, not the team's ("first successful deploy",
not "first paid conversion").
- If the product's users are agents, the aha is time-to-first-successful-call
and the evaluation in step 1 is done through public docs only.
- Never soften the refusal into "the aha is probably X" to unlock downstream
skills. A
hypothesis-tagged aha is allowed; an invented one is not.
Edge Cases
- Pre-launch product, zero users. Steps 1 and 3 still run; the statement
ships tagged
hypothesis with a named validation plan. The gate may open
on a hypothesis — the tag travels with everything built on it.
- Multiple candidate ahas. Pick the earliest one that predicts retention;
log the runners-up in the lore ledger as untested beliefs.
- The team insists the aha is obvious. Write their version down, then do
step 2 anyway. Confirmed team intuition costs one query; wrong intuition
unexamined costs the whole circle.