sky-tan-format-engine

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

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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)

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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

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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

• genius.md — 12 patterns, 9 hidden insights, exemplars, 9 moves, rubric, decision framework
• references/four-money-formats.md — mechanics of each format + selection matrix
• references/cross-niche-theft-library.md — the 4 build steps + validation/defense + search strings

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