Free guide · Reel 50
Before you rent the van, print the flyers or build the website, you can put your idea through a tough meeting inside Claude: a board that questions the offer, a finance director who works out the real margin, and a panel of simulated customers who tell you who buys, who doesn't, and why.
There are free skill packs that do this, like the Founder Skill pack from the Reel, with eleven skills for launch, pricing, marketing and more. Below you'll find how to install a pack like that, and our own four prompts so you can run the whole test today, in any Claude chat.
Anyone with a new business, product or service idea who wants the hard questions before the costs: first-time founders, owners adding a new line, side projects that might become a business.
Our example: an event minibus service in Bournemouth that would drive guests to and from weddings and parties.
Use them in order. Each one builds on the brief in prompt 1.
This project tests one business idea before I spend money on it. Be direct and challenge me. Never invent market numbers; if you need a number you don't have, say "unknown" and tell me how to find it. The idea: [e.g. a minibus service that drives guests to and from weddings and parties] Where: [e.g. Bournemouth and 30 miles around] Who pays: [e.g. couples, venues, event planners] What I'd charge: [e.g. £350 per evening, or "unknown"] My main costs: [e.g. van lease, fuel, insurance, driver, or "unknown"] What I already have: [e.g. a licence, contacts at three venues, £5,000 in savings] What I'm most unsure about: [e.g. whether venues would recommend us]
Act as my board of advisers: one expert on offers and pricing, one on building something hard to copy, and one on product and customer experience. Each one reviews the idea in the brief separately: 1. The single biggest weakness they see. 2. One question I must answer before I go further. 3. One change that would make the offer clearly better. Then ask me the questions, wait for my answers, and write a revised one-paragraph offer that all three would back.
Act as my finance director. Using the brief and the revised offer: 1. Work out the profit per job: price minus every cost of delivering one job. List each cost and mark which ones are my guesses. 2. Work out my fixed monthly costs and how many jobs a month I need to break even. 3. Show three cases for year 1: cautious, expected and strong, with the jobs per month each one assumes. 4. Tell me the one number that changes the result most, and how I can check it for real this week. Give me the result as a spreadsheet, plus a short summary in the chat.
Simulate a panel of 100 potential customers for the revised offer, based on who pays in the brief. Make them varied: different incomes, ages, needs, how they buy today, and what they already use instead of me. Keep the mix realistic for my area; if you're unsure about the area, tell me what you assumed. For each customer, decide: buys, maybe, or passes, and give one reason in their own words. Then show me: 1. How many buy, maybe or pass. 2. The top 5 reasons for passing, with how many customers gave each one. 3. The top 3 reasons for buying. 4. Which type of customer is most likely to buy first. 5. Three changes to the offer that would turn the most "maybes" into "buys". Remind me at the end that these are simulated customers, not market research.
A hundred simulated buyers are a rehearsal. They show you objections to fix, not demand you can bank. Real people decide.
If you write the price you wish for and the costs you hope for, the test agrees with you. Write "unknown" where you don't know.
A skill can include instructions and code. Read what a pack does before you install it, and only use sources you trust.
Fix the top reason people said no before you test with real customers.
Then use the top reason people said yes as the first line of your offer.