renatocaliari/short-cycle-product

Product with Short Learning Cycles

This guide is a method to replace speculation with evidence, step by step. Core principle: experiment before building. Reduce uncertainty with small, fast, and cheap experiments.

"Life is too short to build something that nobody wants." — Ash Maurya

Method Structure

The process has 8 stages (not necessarily linear):

1. Find and understand the audience
2. Define the market
3. Define and prioritize solutions
4. Develop and evaluate the offer
5. Assess commitment
6. Discover the process
7. Evolve to a viable business
8. The pulse of the system: signals in tension

→ Read reference files as needed:

• references/01-experimentation-principles.md — criteria for reliable data + 6 principles
• references/02-stages-1-to-3.md — audience, market, solutions
• references/03-stages-4-to-6.md — offer, commitment, manual process
• references/04-stage-7.md — viable business, product-market fit, channels
• references/05-stage-8-signals.md — pulse of the system, signals in tension
• references/06-appendix-business-models.md — business models, open source, pricing
• references/07-appendix-strategies.md — marketplace, solutions, trust, bonuses, promotions, ads, lifecycle

When to Read Each Reference

| User asks about... | Read... | |---|---| | How to validate an idea / experiment | 01, 02 | | Target audience, market, jobs to be done | 02 | | Solution, product, features | 02, 03 | | Offer, advertisement, early adopters | 03 | | Pre-sale, commitment, waitlist | 03 | | MVP, manual process, concierge, wizard of oz | 03 | | Product-market fit, channels, viable business | 04 | | Metrics, retention, growth | 04, 05 | | Pricing, pricing models | 06 | | Business models, revenue, costs | 06 | | Open source as strategy | 06 | | Marketplace, supply and demand | 07 | | Trust, guarantees, social proof | 07 | | Bonuses, launch promotions | 07 | | Online ads, stages of awareness | 07 | | Product lifecycle, innovation | 07 |

Interaction Tool Guidelines

IMPORTANT: When the user needs to choose between predefined options, ALWAYS use the question tool (if available) with enumerated format:

• Options with short label and description
• Examples: topic selection, next steps, etc.

When question tool is not available, use enumerated text in chat (A/B/C/D or 1/2/3).

Note for this skill: This is primarily a reference/exploratory skill. If the user wants to explore a specific concept, you may ask clarifying questions to understand context before recommending which references to read or which stage to focus on.

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Rules for Using This Skill

1. Never omit details — the e-book is already concise; every detail matters.
2. Use concrete examples from the method when explaining concepts.
3. Reference specific tools and tactics mentioned in the method.
4. Preserve the order and logic of stages when guiding the user.
5. Combine stages when context demands (e.g., stages 4 and 5 often go together).

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Attribution

This skill is based on the e-book "Guia para criar produtos com aprendizado em ciclos curtos" (Guide to Creating Products with Short Learning Cycles) by Renato Caliari.

Author: Renato Caliari
Substack: Roteiro Prático para Validar Ideias
GitHub: @renatocaliari

This skill was translated and adapted by permission and attribution to the original author.

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Original Repository: github.com/renatocaliari/my-opencode-config