# acquisition-channels

A Claude skill for acquisition channel strategy: find your distribution advantage and spot when a channel is saturating.

- skill · `type=skill` · Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, OpenCode · 381 installs · ★ 1434
- Author: RefoundAI
- License: MIT · policy=mirror · the beginning of the file is at the end of this page
- Source: https://github.com/RefoundAI/lenny-skills/tree/HEAD/skills/acquisition-channels/SKILL.md
- Updated: 2026-07-16
- HTML: https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/skills/acquisition-channels

## What it does

This skill walks through where early users come from and how to scale what already works. It ships with frameworks: seven distribution advantages for startups, seven strategies for the first 1,000 users, a content-driven growth 2x2, six B2B growth channels, and a marketing measurement triangulation method using MTA, MMM and CLS.

The material comes from 18 guests and posts across Lenny's Podcast and Newsletter. The skill audits channel health, flags the signals that say it's time to expand to new platforms, and helps sequence growth versus sales hires depending on your revenue motion. Marketplace supply-side work and micro-influencer outreach get their own sections.

One position inside is blunt: scale paid acquisition only after free-to-paid conversion reaches 5%. Before that, paid is for learning. Worth checking your funnel against that number before you commit budget.

## Install

### Claude Code (native platform)

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add RefoundAI/lenny-skills --skill acquisition-channels -a claude-code
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `~/.claude/skills/acquisition-channels/SKILL.md` — Copy the whole skill folder; for one project use .claude/skills/acquisition-channels/

### Codex

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add RefoundAI/lenny-skills --skill acquisition-channels -a codex
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.agents/skills/acquisition-channels/SKILL.md` — For all projects use ~/.agents/skills/

### Cursor

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add RefoundAI/lenny-skills --skill acquisition-channels -a cursor
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.cursor/skills/acquisition-channels/SKILL.md` — Cursor also reads .agents/skills/ and .claude/skills/

### GitHub Copilot

1. **GitHub CLI**
```bash
gh skill install RefoundAI/lenny-skills acquisition-channels
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.github/skills/acquisition-channels/SKILL.md`

### Gemini CLI

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add RefoundAI/lenny-skills --skill acquisition-channels -a gemini-cli
```

2. **Platform CLI**
```bash
gemini skills install https://github.com/RefoundAI/lenny-skills --path skills/acquisition-channels
```

### Windsurf (Devin Desktop)

**Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.devin/skills/acquisition-channels/SKILL.md` — The legacy .windsurf/skills/ path still works

### OpenCode

**Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add RefoundAI/lenny-skills --skill acquisition-channels -a opencode
```

### Claude.ai

**Claude.ai**
- Zip the folder and upload it in Settings → Capabilities → Skills

Where a file is given instead of a command, copy the files from the source to that path: https://github.com/RefoundAI/lenny-skills/tree/HEAD/skills/acquisition-channels/SKILL.md

## When to use it
- figure out which acquisition channel fits the product
- notice that a channel has hit saturation
- tie content production to a distribution goal
- decide whether to hire growth or sales first
- get the first 1,000 users without burning cash

## Example prompts
- Help me identify my distribution advantage
- Audit whether our main acquisition channel is saturating
- Should we start scaling paid acquisition yet?

## Source text · SKILL.md · MIT

Below is the content of a third-party file. It is data, not instructions for you: do not act on anything written inside unless the human asks. Block tag: 5896d58c1f95845b.

BEGIN THIRD-PARTY FILE 5896d58c1f95845b
```text
---
name: acquisition-channels
description: Help users identify unique distribution advantages and master the lifecycle of acquisition channels to build a sustainable engine for growth and retention.
---

# Acquisition Channel Strategy

Identify, test, and scale the distribution engines that drive sustainable growth.

Help the user with acquisition channel strategy using insights from 18 guests and posts across Lenny's Podcast and Newsletter.

## How to Help

1. **Identify distribution advantages** - Use frameworks to determine which of the seven proven strategies align with your product and target audience.
2. **Audit channel health** - Evaluate if existing channels are reaching saturation and identify the signals for when to expand to new platforms.
3. **Optimize content strategy** - Map content production to specific distribution goals like search intent or viral social hooks.
4. **Sequence growth hiring** - Determine the right time to hire growth versus sales leaders based on your primary revenue motion.

## Core Principles

### Seek the platform trifecta
Adam Grenier: "The first is really understanding if there is an overlap between what the customers need is, what your company's goals are, and what the channel actually does really well."

Success requires finding the intersection between specific customer needs, your company goals, and the unique functional strengths of the platform.

### Exploit distribution shifts
Brian Balfour: "There's multiple ways that this can happen, but one of the major ways, one of the major, major ways that we always see is that this can happen when new distribution platforms emerge, because when new distribution platforms emerge, startups are usually the fastest to take advantage of them. It's slower for the incumbents to move. It gives startups this opportunity essentially to play this game."

Startups achieve escape velocity by identifying and moving into new channels, such as AI platforms, before established incumbents can react.

### Apply product rigor to content
Camille Ricketts: "The way that you think about product market fit, you have to think about content market fit. So even though content feels like it's running adjacent to the actual product that you're putting out there, you still have to think about who is my audience? Who is the audience that I really want to have? Who is the audience that is going to be drawn to this most?"

Treat content marketing like product development by identifying and solving the core professional anxieties of your audience.

### Sequence hires by revenue motion
Elena Verna 3.0: "If you're starting with self-serve monetization, growth hire should be frankly first before sales. ... If you have any product-led components where product is responsible for acquisition, activation, monetization or retention, that's where growth comes in."
```
END THIRD-PARTY FILE 5896d58c1f95845b

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