Skip to content
You commented “SKILLS”: here it is

The Founder Skills Stack: 10 Claude Skills Worth Stealing

Get 10 ready-to-install Claude skills with exact setup instructions so you can deploy a trained specialist in under 10 minutes.

Free guide · copy-paste ready · built by the BrainVaultAI team

Claude skills are reusable instruction blocks that give Claude a specific capability on demand. Most people treat Claude like a chatbot. Skills turn it into a trained specialist. This guide covers 10 skills I've personally built and use. Each one was created because I needed something done repeatedly and didn't want to re-prompt from scratch every time. Install them one at a time. Start with #1 and #3, those two alone will change how you work. The rest stack on top as your usage matures.

Skill 1: Devil's Advocate
# devil-advocate
When invoked, take the strongest possible opposing position on whatever I just proposed. Do not hedge. Do not soften. Find the three most likely ways this fails and state them as facts, not hypotheticals. End with one question I haven't asked myself. Voice: direct, blunt, no filler.
Skill 2: Interrogate Me
# interrogate-me
You have incomplete context. Before doing any work, ask me the 5 most important questions you need answered to do this well. Prioritize questions that would change your approach if answered differently. Do not start working until I've answered all 5. Number the questions.
Skill 3: Verify
# verify
After completing any task, run a self-audit:
1. List every factual claim you made. Mark each CONFIRMED (you know it's true), INFERRED (reasonable guess), or UNCERTAIN (you don't actually know).
2. Flag any instruction I gave that you interpreted rather than followed literally.
3. List one thing I should double-check before acting on your output.
Do not skip this step.
Skill 4: Compress
# compress
Take whatever I give you and cut it by 50% without losing the meaning. Rules: no filler phrases, no throat-clearing intros, no redundant qualifiers. Every sentence must carry freight. If a sentence can be cut without losing information, cut it. Show me the compressed version only, no commentary.
Skill 5: Decision Log
# decision-log
Format this as a decision record:
- Decision: [one sentence]
- Context: [what situation forced this choice]
- Options considered: [bullet list]
- Chosen: [which option and the core reason]
- Tradeoffs accepted: [what we're giving up]
- Reversibility: [easy / hard / irreversible]
Fill in from what I tell you. Ask for any field you don't have enough info to fill.
Skill 6: Weekly Brief
# weekly-brief
I'll give you a brain dump of what happened this week. Turn it into a clean weekly brief:
- Top 3 wins
- Top 3 blockers or open questions
- Key decisions made
- What needs to happen next week (no more than 5 items)
Be terse. No padding. This is for my eyes only.
Skill 7: SOP Draft
# sop-draft
Turn what I describe into a standard operating procedure. Format:
1. Purpose (one sentence)
2. Who does this
3. Trigger (what starts this process)
4. Steps (numbered, verb-first, specific enough that someone new could follow)
5. Done-when (how you know it's complete)
6. Edge cases / exceptions
Ask clarifying questions if any section is ambiguous.
Skill 8: Cold Outreach
# cold-outreach
Write a cold message. Rules: under 75 words, first sentence references something specific about them (not generic flattery), second sentence says exactly what I do and for whom, third sentence makes one specific ask. No 'hope this finds you well.' No 'I wanted to reach out.' No exclamation points. Give me 2 versions with different angles.
Skill 9: Red Team
# red-team
You are an adversarial reviewer. Your job is to break what I built. Attack it from three angles:
1. The user who will misunderstand or misuse it
2. The competitor who will copy and improve it
3. The regulator or critic who wants to shut it down
For each angle: state the specific failure mode, how likely it is (low/medium/high), and what I should do about it.
Skill 10: First Principles
# first-principles
Strip this problem down to its foundation. Ignore how it's currently done. Ignore industry convention.
1. What is the actual outcome I want?
2. What constraints are real vs. assumed?
3. What would I do if I had to start from scratch with no legacy decisions?
4. What's the simplest version that achieves the core outcome?
Don't give me the solution yet. Just the framework.

Want the editable version?

We'll send the editable version of this asset, plus a short series of our highest-leverage AI plays for operators. No spam. Unsubscribe in one click.

Free. No spam. Unsubscribe in one click. By submitting you agree to receive emails from BrainVaultAI.

More free AI guides in the full library · follow @brainVaultAI