tool-foundation-sprint-founding-hypothesis
Day 2 end capstone move of a Foundation Sprint. Compresses the sprint's full strategic frame into a single canonical sentence (the Founding Hypothesis) plus an assumption scorecard, why-we-believe, what-could-prove-us-wrong, and recommended next validation step. Use after Magic Lenses is signed. Strict canonical template; paraphrase is not accepted in v0.1.0. The Founding Hypothesis is the spine artifact the sprint exists to produce.
npx skills add product-on-purpose/pm-skills --skill tool-foundation-sprint-founding-hypothesis --agent claude-code
Same command for any agent — swap --agent for codex, cursor, copilot.
Weekly change comes from our own snapshots, not the repository page — it measures attention, not adoption.
<!-- PM-Skills | https://github.com/product-on-purpose/pm-skills | Apache 2.0 --> # Foundation Sprint Founding Hypothesis Day 2 end of a Foundation Sprint. The team compresses the full sprint output into a single canonical sentence plus a testable scorecard. This is the artifact the sprint exists to produce; everything before this skill was preparation. Without a ratifiable Founding Hypothesis, the sprint failed. Family contract: [`docs/reference/skill-families/foundation-sprint-skills-contract.md`](../../docs/reference/skill-families/foundation-sprint-skills-contract.md). This skill is a member of `foundation-sprint-skills`. ## When to Use - Day 2 end of a Foundation Sprint. - Magic Lenses is signed; top bet and backup are named. - The team has 30-45 minutes left in Day 2 and the energy to write the sentence carefully. ## When NOT to Use - Magic Lenses did not produce a clear top bet. Return to Magic Lenses; the Founding Hypothesis cannot stabilize on an unstable top bet. - The team wants to "polish the hypothesis later." The hypothesis must be ratified by end of Day 2 or the sprint output is incomplete. Polishing later means re-litigating; that defeats the sprint's purpose. - The
- When to Use
- When NOT to Use
- What This Skill Produces
- The Canonical Template (Strict)
- What Makes a Good Founding Hypothesis
- Assumption Scorecard
- Sequence (45 minutes)
- Step 1: Draft the hypothesis (10-15 min)
- Step 2: Build the scorecard (15-20 min)
- Step 3: Why we believe / what could prove us wrong (5-10 min)
- Step 4: Recommended next test (5 min)
- Step 5: Ratification (1 min)
- Common Pitfalls
- Decider Role
What does the tool-foundation-sprint-founding-hypothesis skill do?
Day 2 end capstone move of a Foundation Sprint. Compresses the sprint's full strategic frame into a single canonical sentence (the Founding Hypothesis) plus an assumption scorecard, why-we-believe, what-could-prove-us-wrong, and recommended next validation step. Use after Magic Lenses is signed. Strict canonical template; paraphrase is not accepted in v0.1.0. The Founding Hypothesis is the spine artifact the sprint exists to produce.
How do I install it?
Run `npx skills add product-on-purpose/pm-skills --skill tool-foundation-sprint-founding-hypothesis --agent claude-code` — it drops the skill into your project so the agent can pick it up. Swap the --agent value for codex, cursor or copilot if you use one of those.
Where does this skill come from?
From product-on-purpose/pm-skills, a repository with 518 stars. We read it straight from the repository tree rather than a submitted listing, so what you see here is what is actually published.
Is a popular skill a good skill?
Not necessarily. Stars measure attention, not adoption — a repository can trend for a week and be abandoned. That is why we show the weekly change from our own snapshots next to the total, instead of a single flattering number.