---
name: anti-generic-strategy
description: Rewrites strategy docs, decks and plans so they are specific to this business, not interchangeable. Use when asked to write, review or fix a strategy, pitch deck, plan or positioning.
---

# Anti-Generic Strategy

Most AI strategy output fails one test: you could swap the company name and nothing would change. Your job is to make every claim in a strategy doc, deck or plan **specific, falsifiable and owned by this business**.

Use this skill both to **write** a new doc and to **fix** an existing one.

## Step 1: Collect the raw material (do not skip)

Generic output comes from generic input. Before writing anything, make sure you have these facts. Check the conversation, attached files and project knowledge first. Ask only for what's missing, in one message, max 6 questions:

1. **Who exactly is the customer?** (Not "SMBs". E.g., "Shopify stores doing $20k-200k/month, 1-5 staff.")
2. **What do they do today instead of you?** (The real alternative, including "a spreadsheet" or "nothing".)
3. **Why do people pick you?** Real quotes, reasons from sales calls, reviews, churn reasons.
4. **Numbers you actually have**: revenue, users, conversion, price, CAC, retention, time saved. Ranges are fine.
5. **What you will NOT do** (segments, features, channels you're deliberately ignoring).
6. **The constraint**: budget, team size, deadline, the thing that limits you.

If the user has no answers for some of these, mark them in the doc as `[UNKNOWN: how to find out]`. A visible gap is better than a confident filler line.

## Step 2: Write (or rewrite) using these rules

**Rule 1: The swap test.** For every sentence, ask: "Could a competitor put this in their deck unchanged?" If yes, rewrite it with a fact only this business has (a number, a named customer type, a real quote, a specific mechanism) or delete it.
- Bad: "We deliver a seamless, customer-centric experience."
- Good: "Checkout loads in 0.8s on mobile; the merchants who switched to us cited this first in 7 of 10 calls."

**Rule 2: Every goal has a number and a date.** "Grow the brand" becomes "Reach 1,000 email subscribers by Dec 31 from 140 today."

**Rule 3: Every strategy is a choice.** For each strategic pillar, write what you are giving up. If nothing is given up, it's not a strategy, it's a wish. Format: `We will [X]. This means we won't [Y], even though [Y is tempting because Z].`

**Rule 4: Mechanism over adjectives.** Replace "innovative", "best-in-class", "powerful", "leading", "robust", "seamless", "cutting-edge" with *how* it works. Banned words list in Step 4.

**Rule 5: Name the enemy and the alternative.** Say what the customer does today and exactly why it fails for them.

**Rule 6: One page of risks.** List the 3 most likely reasons this plan fails and the early signal for each ("If fewer than 20 of 200 trial users activate by week 2, the onboarding bet is wrong").

**Rule 7: Evidence tags.** After any claim that matters, add the source in brackets: `[data: Stripe, Aug]`, `[3 customer calls]`, `[assumption]`. Assumptions are allowed but must be labeled.

## Step 3: Structure

For a **strategy doc or plan**, use this skeleton (skip sections that truly don't apply):

1. **The one-sentence bet**: "We win by [specific move] for [specific customer] because [specific reason]."
2. **Where we are** (numbers).
3. **Who it's for / not for.**
4. **The alternative we beat and why.**
5. **3 choices** (Rule 3 format), max 3.
6. **Goals** (number + date), max 3.
7. **Next 30 days**: owner, task, date.
8. **Risks and kill signals** (Rule 6).
9. **Open questions** (`[UNKNOWN]` items).

For a **deck**, one claim per slide. Slide title = the claim as a full sentence ("Merchants lose 1 in 5 carts to slow checkout"), not a topic label ("Problem"). Body = the proof for that claim. Max ~30 words of body text per slide; put the rest in speaker notes.

## Step 4: Generic-language sweep

Before delivering, search your draft for these and remove or replace every hit:

`innovative, cutting-edge, best-in-class, world-class, leading, seamless, robust, holistic, synergy, leverage (as a verb), empower, unlock, revolutionize, game-changer, next-level, customer-centric, data-driven (without data), scalable (without a number), end-to-end, one-stop shop, solution (as a noun for your product), drive growth, move the needle, in today's fast-paced world`

## Step 5: Deliver

1. The doc or deck outline.
2. A **Specificity report** (short):
   - Swap-test failures fixed: [N]
   - Generic words removed: [N]
   - Claims still labeled `[assumption]`: list them.
   - `[UNKNOWN]` items and how to resolve each one (who to ask, what to measure).
3. If you were fixing an existing doc, show the 5 biggest before → after rewrites so the user learns the pattern.

## Rules
- Never invent customer quotes, metrics or market sizes. Use `[UNKNOWN]` or `[assumption]`.
- Shorter is better. A 2-page specific strategy beats a 20-page generic one.
- If the user's business really has no differentiator yet, say so plainly and suggest the 2-3 cheapest ways to find one (customer calls, a narrow segment, a pricing test). That honesty is the most useful thing you can give.