Kai root note:
knowledge/,harness/, andscripts/paths in this skill live in the Kai install, not the user's project. Resolve them against the first ancestor directory of this SKILL.md that contains aknowledge/folder (the Kai plugin root,~/.claude/kai, or the kai-cmo-harness repo).MARKETING.md,memory/, and any output files live in the current project. If a referencedscripts/command is not available in this install, say so, skip it, and continue with the file-based guidance — never fabricate its output.
Objective
A marketing plan the founder can start executing on Monday, matched to the company's actual stage — so that effort goes to the constraint that is currently binding growth rather than to the tactic that is currently fashionable. The plan names what to do, what to deliberately not do, which growth loop to build, and what to measure.
The wrong strategy at the right stage wastes money. Stage diagnosis is the load-bearing judgment in this skill.
Done when
Work type strategy-plan — floor E3/C3/O1 (harness/eco-floors.yaml).
- E3 — a named human approved the exact plan document.
- C3 — the plan clears
banned_word_check, and someone other than its author read it end to end. - O1 — every P0 recommendation names the metric it targets, with a baseline, a threshold, and an owner. A plan whose first work item has no metric is not finished.
A plan nobody executes is not CLOSED. Its outcome is plan_adopted / first_action_shipped, read at 30 days.
Constraints
- Stage first. Do not produce recommendations before diagnosing stage from revenue, retention, team, and current channels. A plan built on an assumed stage is worse than no plan.
- Read
MARKETING.mdfrom the project root before asking the user anything. If it does not exist, build it from the codebase — README, manifests, landing pages, route files, analytics and email config — and confirm the draft. Do not open with discovery questions the repo can answer. - Provenance. Any quantitative or client-facing claim — benchmarks, CAC, conversion rates, competitor traffic, market size — runs through the collector first and cites a source. Missing data is a data gap, never a benchmark. See
harness/references/audit-data-provenance.md. - Anti-patterns are mandatory output, not a bonus. What not to do at this stage is the half of the plan that saves money.
- Phone Capture Fit Rule applies when the business appears phone-led. Compare alternatives, and do not lead with a phone answering service or AI receptionist when phone demand is low or the workflow is self-serve by design.
- No spend commitments. Budget allocation is a recommendation; it does not authorize spend.
Revenue lens
Load the Revenue Lens section of harness/references/audit-data-provenance.md with the provenance rule.
- Open with the funnel, not activity. Traffic source → intent → lead → follow-up → booked/paid, one row per stage, before any channel or technical finding. Sessions and lead counts are inputs, never the headline.
- Rank gaps by the dollars each stage leaks. High-intent traffic with no lead path, leads with no follow-up, and follow-up with no booking outrank traffic volume.
- Technical setup is one line. Schema,
llms.txt, AI crawler access and sitemap get a sourced pass/fail; they become findings only when a measured check fails. - Unverified means
check. Any claim or funnel stage not verified in this run is labeledcheckwith what would verify it, is not scored, and is mirrored in_data-gaps.md.
Context
| Need | Load |
|---|---|
| Stage definitions and stage-specific moves | knowledge/playbooks/marketing-by-stage.md |
| Which growth loop fits the product | knowledge/playbooks/growth-loops-applied.md |
| Demand generation mechanics | knowledge/playbooks/demand-generation.md |
| Metrics that matter per stage | knowledge/playbooks/saas-metrics-guide.md |
| Distribution, first growth hire, channel coverage | knowledge/playbooks/growth-hacker-first-hire-os.md |
| Budget frameworks | knowledge/playbooks/marketing-budget-forecasting.md |
| Which framework governs a conflict | knowledge/_arbitration.md + knowledge/frameworks/marketing-science/diagnosis-first-operating-order.md |
| Product, ICP, voice, current channels | MARKETING.md (project root) |
Stage map — the one table worth carrying inline, because it anchors every downstream call:
| Stage | Revenue | Goal | Marketing mode |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pre-Launch | $0 | Validate demand | Talk to humans, build waitlist |
| Early | $0–$10K MRR | Find PMF + first channel | Manual, unscalable, learn what works |
| Growth | $10K–$100K MRR | Optimize + expand channels | Systematize what works, test new channels |
| Scale | $100K+ MRR | Systematize + build team | Hire, automate, diversify |
Output goes to workspace/growth-plan/: stage assessment, 90-day plan, budget allocation, metrics dashboard, skill routing, anti-patterns. Same paths as v1 — downstream tooling does not branch on version.
Routing. The plan should end by naming which /kai skills execute it and when. This skill identifies which growth loop to build; it does not design the loop.
Escalate when
- Revenue, retention, or channel data is unavailable and the stage cannot be diagnosed — say so rather than guessing a stage.
- The user's stated stage conflicts with their numbers.
- The plan would require spend the user has not authorized.
- The business is in a regulated category where the obvious channel recommendation carries compliance risk.
- Two loaded frameworks give conflicting guidance and
knowledge/_arbitration.mddoes not resolve it.
