# Solopreneur

> Startup advisor skill powered by Stanford CS183B / Y Combinator's "How to Start a Startup" course. 20 lectures from Sam Altman, Paul Graham, Peter Thiel, Marc Andreessen, Reid Hoffman, and more. Use when user asks about starting a startup, fundraising, growth, hiring, company culture, product-market fit, sales, management, or any early-stage startup topic.

- **Type:** Skill
- **Install:** `agentstack add skill-solo-entrepreneur-solopreneur-solopreneur`
- **Verified:** Yes — security-reviewed for prompt injection and unsafe behavior
- **Seller:** [Solo-Entrepreneur](https://agentstack.voostack.com/s/solo-entrepreneur)
- **Installs:** 0
- **Category:** [Agent Skills](https://agentstack.voostack.com/c/agent-skills)
- **Latest version:** 0.1.0
- **License:** MIT
- **Upstream author:** [Solo-Entrepreneur](https://github.com/Solo-Entrepreneur)
- **Source:** https://github.com/Solo-Entrepreneur/solopreneur/tree/main/skills/solopreneur

## Install

```sh
agentstack add skill-solo-entrepreneur-solopreneur-solopreneur
```

Requires the [AgentStack CLI](https://agentstack.voostack.com/docs/cli). Works with Claude Code, Cursor, and any MCP-compatible agent.

## About

# How to Start a Startup

AI startup advisor powered by the complete Stanford CS183B course — 20 lectures, 1,000+ minutes of wisdom from Y Combinator partners and world-class founders.

## Course Overview

This skill contains the full transcript library from **"How to Start a Startup"** (CS183B), a free course taught at Stanford by Sam Altman and Y Combinator. The course covers everything from finding ideas to scaling a company, taught by people who have built billion-dollar companies.

- **Source**: [startupclass.co](https://startupclass.co)
- **Video lectures**: [YouTube](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5q_lef6zVkaTY_cT1k7qFNF2TidHCe-1&si=8g_RNOKLpKGS8ei7)

## Lecture Index

| # | Topic | Speaker(s) | Reference |
|---|-------|-----------|-----------|
| 1 | How to Start a Startup (Ideas, Products, Teams, Execution I) | Sam Altman, Dustin Moskovitz | [Lecture01.md](./references/Lecture01.md) |
| 2 | Ideas, Products, Teams and Execution Part II | Sam Altman | [Lecture02.md](./references/Lecture02.md) |
| 3 | Counterintuitive Parts of Startups, and How to Have Ideas | Paul Graham | [Lecture03.md](./references/Lecture03.md) |
| 4 | Building Product, Talking to Users, and Growing | Adora Cheung | [Lecture04.md](./references/Lecture04.md) |
| 5 | Business Strategy and Monopoly Theory | Peter Thiel | [Lecture05.md](./references/Lecture05.md) |
| 6 | Growth | Alex Schultz | [Lecture06.md](./references/Lecture06.md) |
| 7 | How to Build Products Users Love, Part I | Kevin Hale | [Lecture07.md](./references/Lecture07.md) |
| 8 | Doing Things That Don't Scale, PR, and How to Get Started | Walker Williams, Justin Kan | [Lecture08.md](./references/Lecture08.md) |
| 9 | How to Raise Money | Marc Andreessen, Ron Conway, Parker Conrad | [Lecture09.md](./references/Lecture09.md) |
| 10 | Company Culture and Building a Team, Part I | Alfred Lin, Brian Chesky | [Lecture10.md](./references/Lecture10.md) |
| 11 | Company Culture and Building a Team, Part II | Patrick Collison, John Collison, Ben Silbermann | [Lecture11.md](./references/Lecture11.md) |
| 12 | Building for the Enterprise | Aaron Levie | [Lecture12.md](./references/Lecture12.md) |
| 13 | How To Be A Great Founder | Reid Hoffman | [Lecture13.md](./references/Lecture13.md) |
| 14 | How to Operate | Keith Rabois | [Lecture14.md](./references/Lecture14.md) |
| 15 | How to Manage | Ben Horowitz | [Lecture15.md](./references/Lecture15.md) |
| 16 | How to Run a User Interview | Emmett Shear | [Lecture16.md](./references/Lecture16.md) |
| 17 | How to Build Products Users Love, Part II | Hosain Rahman | [Lecture17.md](./references/Lecture17.md) |
| 18 | Mechanics — Legal, Finance, HR, etc. | Kirsty Nathoo, Carolynn Levy | [Lecture18.md](./references/Lecture18.md) |
| 19 | Sales and Marketing, How to Pitch, and Investor Meeting Roleplaying | Tyler Bosmeny, YC Partners | [Lecture19.md](./references/Lecture19.md) |
| 20 | Closing Thoughts and Later-Stage Advice | Sam Altman | [Lecture20.md](./references/Lecture20.md) |

## Topic Quick-Reference

| Topic | Lectures |
|-------|----------|
| Ideas & Vision | 1, 3, 5 |
| Product & Users | 1, 2, 4, 7, 16, 17 |
| Growth | 6, 8 |
| Team & Hiring | 1, 2, 10, 11 |
| Company Culture | 10, 11 |
| Fundraising & Investors | 9, 19 |
| Sales & Marketing | 12, 19 |
| Management & Operations | 14, 15 |
| Founder Mindset | 3, 13 |
| Legal, Finance & Mechanics | 18 |
| Execution & Strategy | 1, 2, 5, 20 |
| Enterprise | 12 |
| Later-Stage | 20 |

## Workflow

When a user asks a startup-related question:

### Step 1: Identify Relevant Lectures

Match the user's question to the Topic Quick-Reference above. Most questions map to 1-3 lectures.

### Step 2: Read the Source Material

Read the relevant lecture transcript(s) from `./references/LectureNN.md`. These are verbatim transcripts — extract the specific advice, frameworks, and examples that address the user's question.

### Step 3: Synthesize and Respond

Provide a clear, actionable answer that:
- **Cites the speaker and lecture** (e.g., "As Peter Thiel explains in Lecture 5...")
- **Uses specific examples** from the lectures (Airbnb, Facebook, Stripe, etc.)
- **Extracts frameworks** (e.g., Sam Altman's "idea x product x execution x team x luck")
- **Gives practical advice**, not just theory

## Usage Patterns

### Startup Q&A
> "How do I know if my startup idea is good?"
> Read Lectures 1 and 3. Sam Altman's framework: look for ideas that seem bad but are actually good. Paul Graham's advice: work on problems you personally have.

### Playbook Generation
> "Give me a fundraising playbook"
> Read Lecture 9. Extract Marc Andreessen and Ron Conway's advice on when to raise, how much, and how to pitch investors.

### Founder Coaching
> "I'm struggling with hiring my first employees"
> Read Lectures 2, 10, and 11. Sam Altman on early hiring, Alfred Lin and Brian Chesky on culture, Patrick Collison on building the founding team.

### Topic Deep-Dive
> "Explain Peter Thiel's monopoly theory"
> Read Lecture 5. Provide a thorough summary of Thiel's framework on competition vs. monopoly, with his specific examples.

## Constraints

- **Always cite sources**: Never present advice without attributing it to the specific speaker and lecture.
- **Stay faithful to the material**: Do not invent startup advice. If the lectures don't cover a topic, say so and suggest external resources.
- **Read before answering**: Always read the relevant lecture file(s) before responding. Do not rely on general knowledge when specific course content is available.
- **Respect context**: The course is from 2014 at Stanford. Some specific examples (company valuations, market conditions) may be dated, but the principles remain highly relevant.

## References

All 20 lecture transcripts are in the `./references/` directory:
- [Lecture01.md](./references/Lecture01.md) through [Lecture20.md](./references/Lecture20.md)
- Original course: [startupclass.co](https://startupclass.co)
- Video lectures: [YouTube](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5q_lef6zVkaTY_cT1k7qFNF2TidHCe-1&si=8g_RNOKLpKGS8ei7)

## Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

- **Author:** [Solo-Entrepreneur](https://github.com/Solo-Entrepreneur)
- **Source:** [Solo-Entrepreneur/solopreneur](https://github.com/Solo-Entrepreneur/solopreneur)
- **License:** MIT

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.

## Pricing

- **Free** — Free

## Security capabilities

Automated source analysis of v0.1.0 — what this tool can access:

- **Network access:** no
- **Filesystem access:** no
- **Shell / process execution:** no
- **Environment & secrets:** no
- **Dynamic code execution:** no

*"Yes" means the capability is present in the source — more access means more to trust, not that it is unsafe.*


## Versions

- **0.1.0** — security scan: passed — Imported from the upstream source.

## Links

- Listing page: https://agentstack.voostack.com/l/skill-solo-entrepreneur-solopreneur-solopreneur
- Seller: https://agentstack.voostack.com/s/solo-entrepreneur
- Browse the marketplace: https://agentstack.voostack.com/browse

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Listed on AgentStack — the marketplace for AI agent skills and MCP servers. Every listing is security-reviewed. Creators keep 70%.