diagnostics-intake

name	diagnostics-intake
description	Fast founder-input capture for the Diffmode growth-tactics pipeline (the diagnostics stage). Produces WS/01-diagnostics/founder-input.md in the exact schema the enrichment + synthesis stages read. Two modes — (A) URL mode researches a product's website (homepage/pricing/about) plus a web-research pass to prefill the researchable fields, then marks founder-only gaps for confirmation; (B) Q&A mode formats a minimal (~2-minute) answer set into the schema. Use as the entry point of start, or whenever a workspace needs a founder-input.md before enrichment.
metadata	{"version":"1.0.0"}

Diagnostics — Intake (fast founder-input)

You produce a single file: WS/01-diagnostics/founder-input.md, in the exact schema the rest of the pipeline reads (enrichment, the constraints generator's field parser, and synthesis all key off these sections and labels). This replaces the slow 20-minute diagnostic interview with a ~2-minute path: research what's public, ask only what isn't.

This is capture, not analysis — no strategy, no recommendations, no channel picks. That separation is load-bearing: later stages depend on raw, un-editorialized founder context.

Inputs & Output

The invoker provides (do not hardcode absolute paths):

• MODE A — url (a website, e.g. https://theona.ai): research the site + company.
• MODE B — answers: a block of founder answers to the minimal question set below (the orchestrator collects these in the main thread; you format them).
• MODE A+B: both — research the URL AND fold in any founder answers the brief passed (answers always win over researched guesses).
• OUTPUT: write to WS/01-diagnostics/founder-input.md (path supplied by invoker).

If neither url nor answers is present, write the schema with every must-ask field as a [NEEDS FOUNDER INPUT: …] placeholder and report it — do not invent a business.

Field provenance (what to research vs what to ask)

Field	Provenance
Product description, what it does, who it's for	RESEARCHABLE (homepage/about)
Business model + pricing (tiers, free trial)	RESEARCHABLE (pricing page)
Target-audience hypothesis (segments, ICP)	RESEARCHABLE (site copy) + confirm
Competitive alternatives (direct + indirect)	RESEARCHABLE (web research)
Product complexity ("explains itself" vs "needs a demo")	RESEARCHABLE + confirm
Stage + current metrics (visitors, signups, MRR, paying customers)	MUST ASK
Current acquisition sources / what's working (Q8 demand-gen signal)	MUST ASK
Demand-gen vs CRO split (traffic problem vs conversion problem)	MUST ASK
Budget (monthly marketing $, paid-ads yes/no)	MUST ASK
Unfair advantage / rare assets (technical skill, industry access, network, domain expertise, existing audience)	MUST ASK
Hours per week for growth (time they can commit)	MUST ASK
Goal + timeline (target metric, deadline)	MUST ASK
Tactics ruled out + competitor-dignity constraints	MUST ASK (optional)

Founder-only fields cannot be guessed from a website. In URL mode, write a researched best-guess for confirmable fields and a [CONFIRM: …] / [NEEDS FOUNDER INPUT: …] marker for every MUST-ASK field not supplied in answers, and list them all under a final "Confirmation Gaps" block so the orchestrator can ask.

Minimal question set (Q&A mode — target ≤ 2 minutes)

These are the ONLY fields a founder must answer (the orchestrator asks them; skip interview-observation and CRO-deep-dive fields):

1. Product in one line — what it does + who it's for (skip if URL covers it).
2. Business model & pricing — e.g. "B2B SaaS, $49/mo, free trial" (skip if URL covers).
3. Target-audience hypothesis — the 1-3 roles/segments you think you're for.
4. Stage + rough metrics — pre-launch / early / traction / growth, plus any of: visitors/mo, signups/mo, paying customers, MRR.
5. Q8 — current acquisition sources — where today's users/traffic come from, and what's working best. (This is the demand-gen-vs-CRO signal. If traffic is the bottleneck → demand gen; if traffic converts poorly → CRO.)
6. Biggest growth problem — "not enough traffic" (demand gen) or "traffic doesn't convert" (CRO), in the founder's words.
7. Budget + unfair advantage + hours — monthly marketing $ (and paid-ads yes/no); what they have that's rare (technical skill / industry access or network / existing audience / domain expertise / none yet); hours per week they can put into growth.
8. Goal + deadline — target (e.g. "20 paying teams" / "10k visitors/mo") + timeframe. (Optional 9th: tactics/channels already ruled out + why.)

Keep each question answerable in a phrase. Never block on the optional one.

Procedure

Mode A — URL research → prefill

1. Fetch the site. Use your page-fetch tool (a web-fetch capability, or a scrape skill if available) on the homepage, the pricing page, and the about/product page. Extract: what the product does, who it's for, business model, pricing tiers, free trial, positioning language.
2. Research the company + market with your web-research backend (whatever search + page-retrieval tools your runtime gave you): confirm the category, find direct + indirect competitors/alternatives, note stage signals if public (funding, team size, launch date). Cite URLs + access dates in a Research Notes footer.
3. Fill researchable fields from steps 1-2. For confirmable judgment calls (audience hypothesis, product complexity), write your best read AND a [CONFIRM: …] marker.
4. Fold in answers if the brief passed any (founder answers override guesses).
5. Mark must-ask gaps. Every MUST-ASK field not covered by answers gets a [NEEDS FOUNDER INPUT: …] marker inline and an entry in the Confirmation Gaps block.

Mode B — Q&A → format

1. Map the founder's answers to the schema sections below. Light web research is allowed to enrich the product description and find competitive alternatives, but do NOT invent metrics, budget, or goals — those are founder-only.
2. Any minimal-set field the founder skipped → [NEEDS FOUNDER INPUT: …] + Confirmation Gaps.

Both modes — derive Module Routing (Section 7) mechanically

From Q8 / the stated biggest problem:

• Traffic is the bottleneck (low visitors, channels not working) → Demand Generation (first).
• Traffic converts poorly (decent visitors, low signup→paid) → CRO (first).
• Both unclear / pre-launch → Demand Generation (first) (default; you can't optimize conversion without traffic). State the rationale in one or two sentences, quoting the founder's metrics.

This plugin's pipeline is demand-gen-focused (it ends at demand-gen tactic synthesis). Always capture the routing honestly; if CRO is clearly primary, say so in Section 7 so the founder knows the free plugin addresses the demand-gen half.

Output template (write EXACTLY this structure)

# Diagnostic Interview Results
**Interview Date:** <YYYY-MM-DD>
**Source:** Diffmode Diagnostics Intake (<URL mode | Q&A mode | URL+Q&A>)
---
## 1. Product & Market Fundamentals
### Product Description
<2-4 sentences: what it is, core function, the after-state for the user>
### Business Model
**Type:** <e.g. B2B SaaS (usage-based)>
**Target segment:** <e.g. Mid-market teams (HR, Sales, Ops)>
### Pricing
**Primary tier:** <tier + price>
**Free tier/trial:** <Yes/No + detail>
### Target Audience (Founder's Hypothesis)
<roles / segments / industries>
**Ideal customer profile:** <one ICP sentence>
### Competitive Alternatives
**Direct competitors:** 



 
 <1-2 sentences>

 <1-10 or [NEEDS FOUNDER INPUT]>



 

 Visitors: 
 Signups: 
 Paying customers / MRR: 

 



 
 
 

| Channel | Result | Status |
|---------|--------|--------|
|  |  |  |

 <% or [NEEDS FOUNDER INPUT]>
 <% or [NEEDS FOUNDER INPUT]>



 
 

 <$ / "no paid ads for now" / [NEEDS FOUNDER INPUT]>
 

 
 

 
 



| Tactic/Channel | Reason Dismissed |
|----------------|------------------|
|  |  |




 
 <1-2 sentences quoting the metrics that drove the call>




---

Validation checklist (self-check before returning)

• All 7 sections present, in order, with the exact ## N. headers above.
• Section 1 product description is specific to THIS product (not generic).
• Section 4 separates demand-gen (traffic) from CRO (conversion) — the Q8 signal.
• Section 5 budget + unfair advantage + hours are present (the constraints parser reads "Monthly marketing budget", "Hours per week for growth", "Rare assets", MRR, and "solo"/team — keep those exact labels so the parser finds them).
• Section 7 routing is derived from the stated problem, with a one-line rationale.
• Every founder-only field is either filled from answers or marked [NEEDS FOUNDER INPUT] AND listed in Confirmation Gaps — never silently invented.
• No strategy/recommendations leaked in (capture only).
• URL mode: Research Notes footer cites real URLs + access dates.