Business Validator

AI-powered business idea validation pipeline for Claude Code.

One slash command. Seven autonomous skills. A full Go/No-Go report with market sizing, competitor analysis, financial modeling, and risk assessment — delivered in minutes, not weeks.

What It Does

Business Validator is a Claude Code plugin that takes your raw business idea and runs it through a structured validation pipeline:

/validate-idea
    |
    v
 Brainstorming (interactive dialogue)
    |
    v
 Idea Intake (structured questions)
    |
    +---> Market Research ----+
    |     (TAM/SAM/SOM,       |
    |      trends, growth)    |
    |                         |
    +---> Competitor Analysis -+---> Financial Modeling ---> Risk Assessment
          (5-10 competitors,   |    (unit economics,       (SWOT matrix,
           positioning map)    |     3 scenarios,           risk scoring,
                               |     break-even)            mitigation)
                               |
                               +---> Report Generation
                                     (executive summary,
                                      Go/No-Go score,
                                      PDF export)

Output: A comprehensive Markdown + PDF report with a weighted Go/No-Go recommendation.

Quick Start

Prerequisites

• Claude Code CLI installed
• For PDF export (optional), one of:
  • macOS: brew install pandoc + brew install --cask basictex (LaTeX engine, most reliable)
  • macOS (alternative): brew install pandoc + pip install weasyprint (lighter, no LaTeX)
  • Linux: apt install pandoc texlive-latex-base or apt install pandoc + pip install weasyprint
  • The Markdown report is always generated regardless of PDF engine availability

Install

claude plugins add /path/to/business-validator

Use

/validate-idea

Claude starts with a brainstorming dialogue to refine your idea, then collects structured details and handles the rest autonomously — researching markets, analyzing competitors, building financial models, assessing risks, and assembling your report.

For a quick market overview without the full pipeline:

/market-report

What's in the Report

Section	What You Get
Executive Summary	One-page overview with key findings and verdict
Market Research	TAM/SAM/SOM with sources, growth trends, regulatory landscape
Competitive Landscape	5-10 competitors analyzed, comparison tables, positioning map, market gaps
Financial Model	Unit economics (CAC, LTV, margins), 3-scenario revenue forecast, break-even analysis
SWOT Analysis	Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats matrix
Risk Assessment	Scored risk matrix with probability, impact, and mitigation strategies
Go/No-Go Recommendation	Weighted score across 5 dimensions with clear verdict and justification

Go/No-Go Scoring Framework

Dimension	Weight
Market Size & Growth	25%
Competitive Position	20%
Financial Viability	25%
Risk Profile	15%
Founder Readiness	15%

• 4.0+ — GO: Strong opportunity
• 3.0–3.9 — CONDITIONAL GO: Proceed with caution
• 2.0–2.9 — NO-GO: Significant issues to resolve
• < 2.0 — NO-GO: Fundamental viability concerns

Architecture

Built as a modular skill pipeline following the Superpowers plugin architecture:

business-validator/
  .claude-plugin/plugin.json        # Plugin manifest
  hooks/
    hooks.json                      # SessionStart hook registration
    session-start.sh                # Injects meta-skill at startup
  skills/
    using-business-validator/       # Meta-skill (loaded automatically)
    brainstorming/                  # Refine raw idea through dialogue
    idea-intake/                    # Structured business idea collection
    market-research/                # Autonomous market research via web
    competitor-analysis/            # Autonomous competitor discovery
    financial-modeling/             # Financial model with scenarios
    risk-assessment/                # SWOT + risk scoring
    report-generation/              # Final report assembly + PDF
  commands/
    validate-idea.md                # /validate-idea slash command
    market-report.md                # /market-report slash command
  scripts/
    verify.sh                       # Plugin integrity verification

Key Design Decisions

• File-based data flow — Each skill writes its section to disk. Results are persistent, inspectable, and survive context compaction.
• Parallel research — Market research and competitor analysis run simultaneously via subagents.
• Run ID isolation — Each validation session gets a unique YYYY-MM-DD-<slug>-<hhmm> identifier. No ambiguity, no file conflicts.
• Hybrid interaction — Interactive intake captures context that web search alone can't provide. Autonomous research then leverages Claude's tools efficiently.

Platform

This plugin is built for Claude Code (Anthropic's CLI). It uses Claude Code's plugin system: skills, hooks, slash commands, and the Task/Skill tools. It is not compatible with other AI coding assistants.

Works With

• Any business type: SaaS, e-commerce, marketplaces, services, hardware, consumer apps
• Any geography
• Any stage: napkin sketch to pivot decision

Verification

Run the integrity check to verify all plugin files are present and valid:

bash scripts/verify.sh

License

MIT