Codex Startup Pressure Test Skill

A Codex skill to brutally pressure-test startup ideas before you waste time building the wrong thing.

Give Codex a startup idea and it returns a compact founder-style diagnosis: verdict, scorecard, core assumption, fatal flaws, problem reality, competition, first customer moves, and a 2-week MVP direction.

What It Does

• Finds the core assumption
• Exposes fatal flaws
• Checks if the problem is real
• Maps current behavior and real competitors
• Plans first 10 customer moves
• Defines a 2-week MVP test
• Gives a direct strong / weak / pivot verdict

Installation

npx --yes codex-startup-pressure-test-skill@latest

This installs the skill into:

~/.codex/skills/startup-pressure-test

Then restart Codex so it can discover the skill.

Usage

After installation, restart Codex and use the skill inside Codex prompts.

Basic pressure test:

Use $startup-pressure-test to pressure-test this startup idea:

A tool that turns local videos into short clips with local captions for indie hackers and creators posting product demos.

Brutal version:

Use $startup-pressure-test to brutally test this startup idea:

...

Problem validation:

Use $startup-pressure-test to validate whether this idea solves a real problem people pay for:

...

Competition mapping:

Use $startup-pressure-test to map the real competition for this idea:

...

First 10 customers:

Use $startup-pressure-test to find the first 10 customers for this idea:

...

MVP plan:

Use $startup-pressure-test to build a 2-week MVP plan for this idea:

...

Deep report:

Use $startup-pressure-test to do a deep full report on this startup idea:

...

If you only invoke the skill without an idea, it will ask for the startup idea, target customer, and what the customer should do or pay for.

Modes

• pressure-test: core assumption, fatal flaws, direct verdict
• problem-validation: real pain, early adopter, validation criteria
• competition-map: current behavior, direct/indirect competitors, switching cost
• first-10-customers: manual traction plan
• mvp-plan: smallest 2-week MVP test
• full: compact all-in-one diagnosis

Output

Default output is compact:

Verdict
Scorecard
Core Assumption
Fatal Flaws
Problem Reality
Competition
First 10 Customers
MVP

Manual Installation

Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/Kappaemme-git/codex-startup-pressure-test-skill.git

Copy the skill into your Codex skills directory:

mkdir -p ~/.codex/skills
cp -R codex-startup-pressure-test-skill/startup-pressure-test ~/.codex/skills/startup-pressure-test

Restart Codex.

Troubleshooting

If Codex does not recognize $startup-pressure-test, restart Codex after installing.

Check that the skill exists:

ls ~/.codex/skills/startup-pressure-test

You should see:

SKILL.md
agents/
references/

License

MIT