/new-vertical — The Roster Playbook

The pattern behind ContractorRoster, HealthcareRoster, RetailRoster: public/licensed data → cleaned and packaged → sold to a buyer who values coverage. This skill runs it in order with the gates that past mistakes earned.

Phase 1 — Source identification

Find the authoritative sources (gov registries, license boards, tax portals). Assess: coverage, freshness, access method, legality/ToS. Known patterns: Akamai-blocked gov sites yield to python curl_cffi impersonate="chrome"; FAST/GenTax portals need the window.open hook flow. Check /mem and past DECISIONS.md before solving a solved problem.

Phase 2 — 🛑 THE SPEND GATE

No paid scrape, no paid data, no paid API beyond trivial cost until a paying customer (or signed commitment) exists for this vertical. This is Josh's $2k Outscraper lesson and it is not negotiable. Free samples and small test pulls are fine — they are how the pitch gets built. If tempted, stop and put the decision to Josh with the numbers.