Customer Archetype

Force precise customer definition upstream of all modeling skills. Generic customer descriptions ("SMBs", "enterprises", "millennials") produce generic models. This skill demands specificity: a named person with a title, a boss, a metric, and a workaround.

Input Dependencies

Read from ./founder-outputs/ if available:

• pressure-test-output.md — demand evidence, named customer hints, workaround details

If pressure-test output exists, use its evidence as the starting point. If not, gather the same information from scratch.

Frameworks

• The Mom Test (Fitzpatrick) — specificity discipline. No hypothetical customers. Every attribute must be grounded in observed or stated behavior, not imagined preferences. If the founder says "I think they would..." — push back. What have they seen?
• Competing Against Luck (Christensen) — define the customer by the job they are hiring the product to do, not by demographics. Two people with identical demographics may have completely different jobs-to-be-done.

Methodology

1. Start with a real person. Ask: "Name a specific person — real or someone you've talked to — who has this problem." If the founder cannot name anyone, that is a signal. Push for at least a realistic composite: "Sarah, ops manager, 50-person logistics company."