# founder-led-content

Build a developer-focused publishing plan around real technical problems instead of product announcements. The skill also guides README structure and GitHub repository discoverability.

- skill · `type=skill` · Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, OpenCode · ★ 327
- Author: AIDevGTM
- License: MIT · policy=mirror · the beginning of the file is at the end of this page
- Source: https://github.com/AIDevGTM/gtm-cofounder/tree/HEAD/skills/14-founder-led-content/SKILL.md
- Updated: 2026-10-19
- HTML: https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/skills/founder-led-content

## What it does

This skill helps shape a content strategy around technical knowledge and a clear point of view. It steers authors toward tutorials, detailed problem breakdowns, and opinion pieces rather than routine release updates. One planning method treats the content roadmap like a technical book: outline chapters, split them into sections, and turn those sections into useful articles. Each piece should stand on its own, even for readers who never become customers.

The GitHub guidance focuses on the README as a key evaluation point for a developer tool. It recommends explaining the project's purpose and motivation, adding a short getting-started path, including a copy-ready example, and showing evidence of adoption. Search terms should also appear in the repository name, description, and topics. These changes help align the project page with the problems developers look for.

To choose the next topic, the skill offers a simple decision: publish a well-supported opinion about where the field is heading, or write the tutorial you wish you had when you first faced the problem. It also calls out release-note-only blogs, overly polished promotional copy, and publishing bursts followed by silence. Installation commands are available for Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, and OpenCode.

## Requirements
- Works with: GitHub

## Install

### Claude Code (native platform)

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add AIDevGTM/gtm-cofounder --skill 14-founder-led-content -a claude-code
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `~/.claude/skills/14-founder-led-content/SKILL.md` — Copy the whole skill folder; for one project use .claude/skills/14-founder-led-content/

### Codex

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add AIDevGTM/gtm-cofounder --skill 14-founder-led-content -a codex
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.agents/skills/14-founder-led-content/SKILL.md` — For all projects use ~/.agents/skills/

### Cursor

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add AIDevGTM/gtm-cofounder --skill 14-founder-led-content -a cursor
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.cursor/skills/14-founder-led-content/SKILL.md` — Cursor also reads .agents/skills/ and .claude/skills/

### GitHub Copilot

1. **GitHub CLI**
```bash
gh skill install AIDevGTM/gtm-cofounder 14-founder-led-content
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.github/skills/14-founder-led-content/SKILL.md`

### Gemini CLI

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add AIDevGTM/gtm-cofounder --skill 14-founder-led-content -a gemini-cli
```

2. **Platform CLI**
```bash
gemini skills install https://github.com/AIDevGTM/gtm-cofounder --path skills/14-founder-led-content
```

### Windsurf (Devin Desktop)

**Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.devin/skills/14-founder-led-content/SKILL.md` — The legacy .windsurf/skills/ path still works

### OpenCode

**Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add AIDevGTM/gtm-cofounder --skill 14-founder-led-content -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/AIDevGTM/gtm-cofounder/tree/HEAD/skills/14-founder-led-content/SKILL.md

## When to use it
- Map a technical book outline into a publishing roadmap
- Turn routine release updates into educational articles
- Develop a defensible point of view on an emerging technical field
- Restructure a GitHub README around setup steps and a usable example
- Choose repository keywords for its name, description, and topics

## Example prompts
- Create a book-style content roadmap for the technical problem our product solves, with chapters and article sections.
- Suggest my next article topic: develop a defensible opinion about where our field is heading, or propose a tutorial a newcomer would need.
- Audit my GitHub README and suggest changes to its project explanation, quickstart, copy-ready example, and repository search terms.

## 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: c9630f39703bfc60.

BEGIN THIRD-PARTY FILE c9630f39703bfc60
```text
---
name: founder-led-content
description: "Build authority by teaching the problem space, not announcing features. Use when the user finds \"marketing\" distasteful and does none, publishes only product updates, or wants a sustainable content and GitHub-README strategy that developers actually respect."
---

# Founder-led content

> You don't have to "do marketing." You have to become the person developers trust on *the problem*. Sell the category, not the product, and let the authority pull people in.

**Use this when:** content feels slimy so you avoid it, your "blog" is a changelog, or a competitor is quietly becoming the go-to voice while you ship in silence.

## The core idea

Developers reward **technical depth, honesty, and a real point of view**, and punish polished fluff. The move isn't promotion; it's education. Be the trusted expert on the problem, take a stance on where the space is heading, and the product sells itself as the obvious answer.

Before product-market fit, **only the founder can do this**. It's the #2 hire (DevRel) later, not now.

## Framework: authority positioning (Frankl)

- Own the **problem**, not just the product page. Talks, posts, teardowns, a distinctive thesis.
- **Sell the category:** teach the problem, describe the need for "a tool like this," share results, without proactively pitching (that trips developer defenses).
- Have an actual **point of view** on where the industry is going. A trusted expert has opinions; a vendor has features.

**The "O'Reilly book" content plan (Frankl):** imagine the definitive book on your problem, ~10 chapters, ~10 sections each. That's ~100 genuinely useful pieces mapped out. Publish against the outline consistently. You're writing the book that makes you the authority.

## Framework: content & GitHub as distribution (Czakon)

- **Teach the problem space** (DigitalOcean model): tutorials and deep dives that are useful even if the reader never buys. Curiosity-feeding > promotional.
```
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First 1986 of 4013 bytes. © AIDevGTM · MIT · https://github.com/AIDevGTM/gtm-cofounder/tree/HEAD/skills/14-founder-led-content/SKILL.md

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