New: 98,000+ skills indexed from GitHub repos with 100+ stars · every skill safety-checkedBrowse top skillsTop skills
Esc to closeBrowse all skills
Submit a skillBrowse skills
Submit a skillBrowse skills

Agent skill

Defining Product Strategy

by RefoundAI in RefoundAI/lenny-skills

Help users move beyond ambitious goal-setting to create a rigorous diagnosis of challenges and a clear, actionable plan for winning in their specific market.

MITAuto-check passedProduct & Project Management

Install Defining Product Strategy

skills CLI
$ npx skills add RefoundAI/lenny-skills --skill defining-product-strategy -a claude-code

Project install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install RefoundAI/lenny-skills defining-product-strategy --agent claude-code

Project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

Manual copy
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/RefoundAI/lenny-skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/defining-product-strategy .claude/skills/defining-product-strategy && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.claude/skills/ instead of .claude/skills for a personal install. The folder must contain SKILL.md.

Claude Code skills documentation · loads skills from .claude/skills/

Facts

Skill name
defining-product-strategy
GitHub stars
1.4k
Token cost
~1.3k tokens
SKILL.md length
749 words
Files
3 (incl. references)
Skills in repo
76
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
MIT

At a glance

Help users move beyond ambitious goal-setting to create a rigorous diagnosis of challenges and a clear, actionable plan for winning in their specific market.

  • Works in 4 steps: Diagnose the crux - Help the user… → Guide the choice cascade - Walk the user… → Structure the narrative - Assist in… → …
  • Tasks that involve Product strategy
  • SKILL.md covers How to Help, Core Principles, Questions to Help Users and Common Mistakes to Flag, plus 2 more sections
  • Instructions only: no scripts, shell commands, URLs or credentials in SKILL.md

What it does

Defining Product Strategy is an agent skill from RefoundAI/lenny-skills. Help users move beyond ambitious goal-setting to create a rigorous diagnosis of challenges and a clear, actionable plan for winning in their specific market.

Its SKILL.md is about 1.3k tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. The skill folder holds 3 other files, including reference files (for example `references/artifacts.md` and `references/guest-insights.md`).

It sits in Product & Project Management, covering Product strategy. The repository describes itself as: 86 product management skills from Lenny's Podcast for Claude Code and AI agents. Hiring, user research, strategy, shipping, and more. The licence is MIT.

When your agent uses it

  • Tasks that involve Product strategy

Example prompts

  • “/defining-product-strategy”

Workflow steps

4 steps, taken from the first numbered list in SKILL.md.

  1. Diagnose the crux - Help the user identify the primary obstacle or high-stakes challenge that is currently holding the product back.
  2. Guide the choice cascade - Walk the user through defining where they will compete and how they will uniquely win in that space.
  3. Structure the narrative - Assist in distilling complex directions into a simple 'why' and a set of memorable strategic pillars.
  4. Stress-test the plan - Use AI or external critiques to identify blind spots, common consensus thinking, or lack of defensibility.

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 13598cc. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

  • Tool permissions

    Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.

    From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

  • Runs code

    No scripts in the folder and no shell commands in SKILL.md.

    From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

  • Network

    No URLs in SKILL.md.

    From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.

  • Credentials

    Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.

    From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

Context cost

Defining Product Strategy loads about 1.3k tokens when it runs, and up to ~47k if it reads all its reference files. Until then it costs about 46 tokens; SKILL.md has 749 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~46
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~1.3k
With references · SKILL.md plus every file in references/, read only if the agent opens them
~47k

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Auto-check passed

The automated check found no risky patterns in SKILL.md.

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from RefoundAI/lenny-skills at commit 13598cc, republished under its MIT licence (© RefoundAI). 749 words, ~1,258 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/defining-product-strategy/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder). This skill also uses 2 other files; get the full folder from GitHub.
name
defining-product-strategy
description
Help users move beyond ambitious goal-setting to create a rigorous diagnosis of challenges and a clear, actionable plan for winning in their specific market.

Defining Product Strategy

Transform vision into a concrete plan of action by making hard choices that drive customer behavior.

Help the user with defining product strategy using insights from 27 guests and posts across Lenny's Podcast and Newsletter.

How to Help

  1. Diagnose the crux - Help the user identify the primary obstacle or high-stakes challenge that is currently holding the product back.
  2. Guide the choice cascade - Walk the user through defining where they will compete and how they will uniquely win in that space.
  3. Structure the narrative - Assist in distilling complex directions into a simple 'why' and a set of memorable strategic pillars.
  4. Stress-test the plan - Use AI or external critiques to identify blind spots, common consensus thinking, or lack of defensibility.

Core Principles

Distill to a simple 'why'

Anneka Gupta: "When people say, 'I want someone that's strategic,' what they're really saying is, 'I want someone that can come up with and articulate a compelling and simple why behind the decisions and the direction of the company and product.' So that's number one. And the second piece is, 'I want someone that's going to champion and be a change agent to do things that may be hard but actually best for the long-term interest of the product or company, even though those things are not going to be easy to execute on.'"

True leadership requires the ability to take complex company directions and compress them into a single, compelling narrative that provides clear purpose for the team.

Strategy as an integrated set of choices

Annie Pearl: "Strategy is really just an integrated set of choices that outline how you're going to win in whatever marketplace you choose. And so, a good product strategy is going to answer questions like what's your winning aspiration? But maybe more importantly, where are you going to play?"

Avoid lists of goals by defining exactly where the company will compete and the specific mechanisms it will use to win in that marketplace.

Challenge conventional wisdom

Dharmesh Shah: "Some of the best startup advice I've heard is startups should focus on one thing and be really, really exceptionally world-class at that one thing. And one of our early zigs is we are going to do exactly the opposite of that."

Significant success often comes from making high-conviction bets that intentionally diverge from standard industry advice regarding product scope.

Prioritize clarity over perfection

Jag Duggal: "We may not be right, but at least we are clear. Even if your strategy isn't right, you have a very clear idea of what was supposed to be happening."

Being clear about the intended path is more valuable than being certain of the outcome because it allows for faster learning when expectations and reality diverge.

Show full SKILL.md (291 more words)Show less
Diagnosis, policy, and action

Richard Rumelt: "Well, a strategy is a design for overcoming a high-stakes challenge. It's a mixture of policy and action designed to deal with a challenge."

A legitimate strategy defines the high-stakes challenge through a diagnosis, sets a guiding policy for dealing with it, and outlines coherent actions to take.

Questions to Help Users

  • "What is the specific, high-stakes challenge or obstacle that is holding your product back from its next level of growth?"
  • "Which customer segments or market opportunities are you intentionally choosing to ignore to maintain focus?"
  • "How will your product be 10x better or uniquely defensible compared to the nearest competitor?"
  • "Can you summarize your strategy in a single, simple sentence that a new hire could use to make an independent trade-off?"
  • "What are the foundational megatrends or shifts in technology that make this specific strategy viable right now?"
  • "If you had to pick just one 'crux' problem to solve this quarter, what would it be?"

Common Mistakes to Flag

  • Mistaking goals for strategy - Listing ambitious performance targets without identifying the actual obstacles or explaining how to overcome them creates planning theater.
  • Relying on speed as power - Operational excellence and 'moving fast' are necessary for survival but do not provide the structural barriers required for a durable strategy.
  • Solving for everyone at once - Horizontal products often fail by trying to solve one problem for everyone rather than deeply capturing the workflow of a specific audience.
  • Lack of high-stakes diagnosis - Teams often skip the hard work of diagnosing the reality of their situation, leading to strategies that address symptoms rather than root causes.

Deep Dive

For all 50 sourced insights from 27 guests, see references/guest-insights.md

  • Product Vision
  • Positioning
  • Pricing Strategy
  • North Star Metrics

© RefoundAI, MIT. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file

Files

SKILL.md and 2 other files (references) in skills/defining-product-strategy of RefoundAI/lenny-skills.

  • SKILL.md
  • references/artifacts.md
  • references/guest-insights.md

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 13598cc

Compare with similar skills

Defining Product Strategy next to the 5 skills that share the most tags, products or categories with it. Stars are the repository's; “used in” counts other GitHub owners with a copy.

Defining Product Strategy compared with similar skills
SkillStarsUsed inTokensAuto-checkLicenceRepo updated
Defining Product Strategy this skillRefoundAI/lenny-skills1.4k—~1.3kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Game Changing FeaturesopenstatusHQ/data-table-filters2.3k3 repos~2.1kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Organic Growth Path Advisordeanpeters/Product-Manager-Skills7.2k2 repos~5.2kAutomated safety check: PassCustom licence
Product Strategistalirezarezvani/claude-skills28k2 repos~1.8kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
PlaidBuildGreatProducts/plaid218—~1.6kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Product Competitive AnalysisFokkyp/claude-skills226—~1.2kAutomated safety check: PassNone

Similar skills

  • Game Changing Features

    openstatusHQ/data-table-filters

    Find 10x product opportunities and high-leverage improvements.

    2.3k GitHub starsUsed in 3 repos~2.1k tokens
    Product & Project ManagementAuto-check passed

  • Organic Growth Path Advisor

    deanpeters/Product-Manager-Skills

    Diagnoses where a growth constraint lives and recommends one organic growth path from the McKinsey Growth Pyramid to test first.

    7.2k GitHub starsUsed in 2 repos~5.2k tokens
    Product & Project ManagementAuto-check passed

  • Product Strategist

    alirezarezvani/claude-skills

    OKR cascade toolkit for product leaders: generates aligned company-to-team OKRs from five strategy types and scores how well they line up.

    28k GitHub starsUsed in 2 repos~1.8k tokens
    Product & Project ManagementAuto-check passed

  • Plaid

    BuildGreatProducts/plaid

    Product Led AI Development — guides founders from idea to launched product.

    218 GitHub stars~1.6k tokensUpdated 5 mo ago
    Product & Project ManagementAuto-check passed

  • Product Competitive Analysis

    Fokkyp/claude-skills

    Produces product-manager competitive analysis reports in Chinese, with a confirm-first scoping gate, three-phase evidence collection and single or multi-product modes.

    226 GitHub stars~1.2k tokensUpdated 6 mo ago
    Product & Project ManagementAuto-check passed

  • Company Research Brief

    deanpeters/Product-Manager-Skills

    Builds a company research brief covering executive quotes, product strategy, transformation efforts and org context, tailored to interview prep, competitor or partnership work.

    7.2k GitHub starsUsed in 1 repo~3.8k tokens
    Product & Project ManagementAuto-check passed

More from RefoundAI/lenny-skills

All 76 skills in this repo

  • Customer Interviews

    RefoundAI/lenny-skills

    Help users conduct high-impact customer interviews that move beyond surface-level feature requests to identify root emotional frustrations and specific causal triggers.

    1.4k GitHub stars~1.7k tokensUpdated 2 mo ago
    Auto-check passed

  • Time Energy Management

    RefoundAI/lenny-skills

    Help users master their personal output by shifting from reactive scheduling to intentional energy management, internal trigger mastery, and proactive boundary setting.

    1.4k GitHub stars~1.6k tokensUpdated 2 mo ago
    Auto-check passed

  • User Onboarding Activation

    RefoundAI/lenny-skills

    Help users reach their first moment of core value by optimizing the first-run experience, removing friction, and aligning product design with psychological triggers.

    1.4k GitHub stars~2.1k tokensUpdated 2 mo ago
    Auto-check passed

  • Acquisition Channels

    RefoundAI/lenny-skills

    Help users identify unique distribution advantages and master the lifecycle of acquisition channels to build a sustainable engine for growth and retention.

    1.4k GitHub stars~2.2k tokensUpdated 2 mo ago
    Auto-check passed

  • AI Assisted Prototyping

    RefoundAI/lenny-skills

    Help users build functional product prototypes from natural language or visual mocks using AI coding tools.

    1.4k GitHub stars~1.2k tokensUpdated 2 mo ago
    Auto-check passed

  • AI Evals

    RefoundAI/lenny-skills

    Help users build robust infrastructure for measuring, monitoring, and iterating on AI product performance using human, code-based, and LLM-as-a-judge methodologies.

    1.4k GitHub stars~1.7k tokensUpdated 2 mo ago
    Auto-check passed

Categories

Questions about Defining Product Strategy

What does Defining Product Strategy do?

Help users move beyond ambitious goal-setting to create a rigorous diagnosis of challenges and a clear, actionable plan for winning in their specific market. Defining Product Strategy is an agent skill from RefoundAI/lenny-skills. Help users move beyond ambitious goal-setting to create a rigorous diagnosis of challenges and a clear, actionable plan for winning in their specific market.

When should I use Defining Product Strategy?

Defining Product Strategy fits situations like: tasks that involve Product strategy.

How do I install Defining Product Strategy in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add RefoundAI/lenny-skills --skill defining-product-strategy -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/defining-product-strategy in RefoundAI/lenny-skills) into .claude/skills/defining-product-strategy in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Defining Product Strategy in Codex?

Run `npx skills add RefoundAI/lenny-skills --skill defining-product-strategy -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/defining-product-strategy in RefoundAI/lenny-skills) into .agents/skills/defining-product-strategy in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Defining Product Strategy in Cursor, Gemini CLI or GitHub Copilot?

Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot and OpenCode also load SKILL.md folders. With the skills CLI, run `npx skills add RefoundAI/lenny-skills --skill defining-product-strategy -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/defining-product-strategy, .gemini/skills/defining-product-strategy, .github/skills/defining-product-strategy and .opencode/skills/defining-product-strategy in your project.

What does Defining Product Strategy need to run?

SKILL.md names no scripts, command-line tools or credentials: Defining Product Strategy is instructions for the agent only.

Does Defining Product Strategy access the network?

SKILL.md contains no URLs. Any network use would come from the scripts or tools the agent runs. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is Defining Product Strategy safe to install?

Our automated static check of SKILL.md found no risky patterns, such as piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files or hidden Unicode. It is not a guarantee. Review the folder before installing.

What licence does Defining Product Strategy use?

Defining Product Strategy is published under the MIT licence (the repository's licence). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.

How many tokens does Defining Product Strategy use?

About 1.3k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 5k characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full. Its references folder adds about 46k tokens, read only when the agent opens those files.

What are the alternatives to Defining Product Strategy?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Defining Product Strategy: Game Changing Features (openstatusHQ/data-table-filters, 2.3k stars), Organic Growth Path Advisor (deanpeters/Product-Manager-Skills, 7.2k stars), Product Strategist (alirezarezvani/claude-skills, 28k stars) and Plaid (BuildGreatProducts/plaid, 218 stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Defining Product Strategy?

RefoundAI (a GitHub organization) maintains it in RefoundAI/lenny-skills, which has 1,382 GitHub stars. The repository holds 76 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on July 16, 2026.

Source: RefoundAI/lenny-skills on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.