Community Demand Prospecting

---

name: community-demand-prospecting

description: Audit a repo or product, run market research and competitor research, choose positioning, find users, and draft safe Reddit or X outreach.

---

# Community Demand Prospecting

Overview

Turn vague growth ideas into a repeatable workflow: find relevant community conversations, estimate intent, avoid bad-fit threads, and draft replies that help first and promote only when appropriate.

Default to human-in-the-loop. This skill is for demand capture and community prospecting, not mass posting or deceptive automation.

It is especially useful for repo audit, launch readiness, market research, competitor research, positioning, finding users for a product, and planning Reddit or X outreach.

Quick Start

Collect a compact product brief before doing outreach research. Ask for only what is missing:

If the user has not provided a brief, use the template in `assets/product-brief-template.md`.

If the user only provides a repository, landing page, or README, start with a launch-readiness audit and market scan before doing community prospecting. Use:

Operating Sequence

Run the skill in this order unless the user explicitly asks for a narrower deliverable:

1. Extract or complete the product brief.

2. Audit launch readiness if the input is a repo, README, or rough landing page.

3. Research users, competitors, substitutes, and category shape.

4. Choose one primary positioning angle.

5. Translate the product into user pain-language.

6. Generate search queries and locate candidate threads.

7. Score each thread for intent and risk.

8. Choose the engagement ladder.

9. Draft outreach in platform-native style.

10. Return a decision-oriented report.

Concrete Example

Example request:

I built a small developer tool. Audit the repo, research similar products, figure out the best positioning, then find Reddit threads where people are asking for alternatives and draft replies I could use.

Example output shape:

## Launch blockers
- No screenshot in README
- Weak headline

## Market summary
- Crowded category with a few incumbents
- Users switch when setup is too slow

## Positioning
- Primary angle: simplicity
- One-line positioning: A lightweight alternative for developers who only need X

## Opportunities
1. Thread: <url>
   - Intent: 5
   - Risk: 2
   - Mode: Soft mention
   - Draft reply: ...

Workflow

Follow this sequence unless the user asks for only one narrow output.

1. Build the Product Brief

If the user gives a repo instead of a polished product brief, derive the brief from:

Call out launch blockers before recommending outreach. Common blockers:

If needed, read `references/repo-launch-readiness.md`.

2. Research the Market and User Landscape

Before drafting outreach, understand the category:

When researching similar products, capture:

When researching users, capture:

Do not reduce market research to a feature checklist. Prefer:

If needed, read `references/market-research.md` and use `assets/market-scan-template.md`.

3. Choose the Positioning Angle

After the market scan, decide what the product should lead with.

Choose the main angle from evidence, not preference:

Pick one primary angle and at most one secondary angle.

Avoid stacking too many angles into the same message. A weak “everything tool” message usually performs worse than a narrow but clear one.

If needed, read `references/positioning-heuristics.md` and use `assets/positioning-brief-template.md`.

4. Build the Demand Map

Translate the product brief into how real people describe the problem:

If needed, read `references/intent-signals.md`.

5. Generate Search Queries

Create search queries for each platform using:

Prefer queries that look like what a founder would actually search manually. Include both broad and narrow variants.

6. Find Candidate Threads

Search for conversations where the author is:

Do not treat every mention as an opportunity. Skip vanity mentions, generic news, and unrelated discussions.

7. Score Intent and Risk

Score each candidate thread across two dimensions:

Use this rubric:

Do not recommend engagement on threads with intent lower than `3` or risk higher than `3` unless the user explicitly asks for aggressive exploration.

If the platform or community norms matter, read `references/platform-guardrails.md`.

8. Choose the Engagement Ladder

Choose one of three modes for each thread:

Default to the least promotional option that still serves the user.

9. Draft Replies in Native Style

Write like a participant in that platform, not like an ad.

Avoid:

If needed, read `references/reply-patterns.md`.

10. Produce a Decision-Oriented Output

Return the results in a format the user can act on immediately:

Use the template in `assets/outreach-output-template.md` when the user wants a reusable report format.

Output Standards

When presenting opportunities, keep each item compact and decision-ready:

When the user asks for many replies, vary the structure and opening sentence. Do not generate near-duplicates.

Guardrails

Treat these as hard constraints:

When unsure, say the thread should be skipped.

Deliverables

This skill is strongest at producing:

Resources

Read only the resource that matches the task:

Example Triggers

Use this skill for requests such as: