opencode-skills-collection 3.1.11 → 3.1.13

package/bundled-skills/marketing-plan/references/funding-stage-unlocks.md

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+# Funding-Stage Capability Unlocks
+
+Every marketing plan must include explicit "what changes when funding closes / when budget unlocks" reasoning. This makes the plan investor-friendly and operationally honest.
+
+This doc defines the standard tiers. Use them as anchors, adjust for client category and unit economics.
+
+**Related docs:**
+- `budget-planning.md` — two scientific methods for setting the actual budget number (Revenue-Based 5–40%, or Goal-Based reverse-engineered from the revenue target), CAC calculation, experimental buffer
+- `growth-patterns.md` — the real shape of SaaS growth by phase ($0–10K / $10K–100K / $100K–1M+), linear vs step-function, S-curve layering
+- `team-and-agency-model.md` — what each tier means for team composition, the first marketing hire, and the in-house vs outsource ratio
+
+## Why funding stage matters in a marketing plan
+
+Most marketing plans are written as if budget is unconstrained. That's a failure mode for early-stage clients — it produces aspirational lists rather than executable roadmaps.
+
+The fix: tie every recommendation to a budget tier. The plan stays honest about what's executable today, and the team / investors see explicitly what each round of capital unlocks.
+
+This also helps the founder mid-raise: showing what the round buys is investor-narrative material.
+
+## Standard tiers
+
+### Tier 1 — Pre-seed / bootstrapped
+
+**Budget profile:**
+- Paid acquisition: $0
+- Tooling stack: ~$500–2,000/mo (Customer.io / similar, GA4 free, Stripe fees, Notion, GitHub, basic SaaS)
+- Retainers / fCMO: variable (fractional only)
+- Headcount: founders + maybe 1–2 multipurpose hires
+
+**Marketing capability:**
+- Organic only — SEO, content, App Store organic, founder-led social, events, WOM, ambassador (if inbound exists)
+- Limited PR (founder-led pitches, HARO responses)
+- No paid layer
+
+**Channels live:** Organic SEO, content, App Store, LinkedIn / X / founder-led social, events, WOM, ambassador
+
+**What a fCMO does:** Strategy + lifecycle + content + SEO + onboarding + community + ambassador. Hands-on with skill library + MCPs doing the operational lift.
+
+**Hires unlocked:** None. The plan must execute with current team + agentic stack.
+
+### Tier 2 — Seed close
+
+**Budget profile:**
+- Paid acquisition: $5–15K/mo test budget
+- Tooling stack: $1,000–3,000/mo (paid ad accounts, Mixpanel / Amplitude if needed, additional SaaS)
+- Retainers / fCMO: continued
+- Headcount: + first dedicated marketing hire
+
+**Marketing capability:**
+- Above + paid acquisition pilot (Apple Search Ads, Meta, LinkedIn)
+- Begin PR push with the funding announcement
+- First Product Hunt / GA-style launch
+
+**Channels live:** All Tier 1 + paid acquisition (small) + active PR
+
+**Hires unlocked:**
+- Lifecycle + content marketing manager (one person doing both, or split)
+- OR dedicated growth / performance marketing manager (if heavy paid focus)
+
+**fCMO shifts:** From hands-on to strategy + ops oversight. Hires the dedicated marketer. Sets up the channel playbooks before paid scales.
+
+### Tier 3 — Seed deployment
+
+**Budget profile:**
+- Paid acquisition: $20–50K/mo
+- Tooling stack: $2,000–5,000/mo
+- Retainers / fCMO: continued
+- Headcount: + designer (potentially fractional)
+
+**Marketing capability:**
+- Paid scaling across 2–3 channels
+- Brand-aligned creative production (designer enables velocity)
+- Lifecycle programs fully live across all flows
+- First true content production cadence (weekly cadence sustainable)
+
+**Channels live:** All previous + paid scaling + structured launch motion
+
+**Hires unlocked:**
+- Designer (brand, creative, web)
+- Second marketing manager (if first was lifecycle, second is content; or vice versa)
+- Potentially fractional PR if budget allows
+
+**fCMO shifts:** Hands off lifecycle to dedicated owner. Moves to GTM strategy + channel mix optimization + growth analytics.
+
+### Tier 4 — Series A
+
+**Budget profile:**
+- Paid acquisition: $50–150K/mo
+- Tooling stack: $5,000–10,000/mo
+- Retainers / fCMO: may transition to permanent CMO
+- Headcount: full marketing team forming
+
+**Marketing capability:**
+- Paid scales aggressively across all proven channels
+- Brand campaigns become possible
+- International consideration begins
+- B2B vertical expansion (if applicable)
+- Sophisticated CAC/LTV math + attribution
+
+**Channels live:** Full marketing surface area
+
+**Hires unlocked:**
+- Performance marketing lead
+- Content lead
+- Designer (permanent)
+- Potentially: PR firm, paid agency, international growth manager
+- Series A often the moment the fCMO transitions out or transitions to advisor
+
+**fCMO shifts:** Often the moment of transition — to permanent CMO hire, fCMO becomes advisor.
+
+### Tier 5 — Series B+
+
+**Budget profile:**
+- Paid acquisition: $150K+/mo
+- Tooling stack: $10,000–25,000/mo
+- Headcount: 10+ marketing org
+
+**Marketing capability:**
+- Brand campaigns at industry scale
+- PR firm partnerships
+- Acquisitions as marketing (acquiring newsletters / podcasts in space)
+- Conference sponsorship at category level
+- Sponsorships at brand level
+
+**Channels live:** Everything available
+
+**Hires unlocked:**
+- VP Marketing or CMO
+- Brand director
+- Growth / performance team (3–5 people)
+- Content team (3–5 people)
+- Designers (2–3)
+- PR director or agency partnership
+- International marketing leads (region-specific)
+
+**fCMO involvement:** Typically out of the company by this point — the original fCMO might still be an advisor.
+
+## How to apply tier logic in a plan
+
+### Section 3 (Current state)
+- State the client's current tier explicitly: "Current tier: pre-seed / bootstrapped per Tier 1."
+
+### Section 4–8 (AARRR sections)
+- Note tier-dependent moves: "Paid layer (Tier 2 unlock — held until seed close)"
+- For Tier 1 plans: every move must be executable at current budget tier OR explicitly flagged as future
+- For Tier 2+ plans: moves can assume the tier's capability
+
+### Section 10 (12-month outlook)
+- Each quarter names the tier that's active: "Q2 — Months 4–6 (post seed close). Funding state: Tier 2."
+- Tier transitions trigger plan recalibration moments
+
+### Section 11 (Marketing operations stack)
+- Use the table in `references/ops-stack-mapping.md` capability-unlocks section
+- Make it client-specific: "Today (Tier 1): {client's current capability}. After seed close (Tier 2): + {what changes}."
+
+## Adjustments by client category
+
+The standard tiers assume a typical software / SaaS / consumer app. Adjust for category:
+
+### Consumer apps (D2C)
+- Higher paid acquisition floor — apps need to test CAC against download cost benchmarks (~$2-10 install + 5-15% trial conversion benchmark)
+- Tier 2 starts effectively at $10–20K/mo paid (otherwise can't get statistically meaningful reads at app-install CPMs)
+
+### B2B SaaS
+- Lower paid acquisition floor — LinkedIn / Google Ads can produce signal at $3–5K/mo
+- More weight on content + sales enablement budget
+- Often add a sales hire before a content hire
+
+### Hybrid hardware + software
+- Hardware revenue can self-fund some marketing (the eye-mask wedge pattern)
+- Paid budget should track blended CAC across hardware sales + app subs
+- Shopify-side optimization is a Tier 1 priority (cheap leverage)
+
+### Deep-tech / scientific / clinical
+- PR + investor marketing carries more weight than paid
+- Conference speaking + academic publishing > Meta ads
+- Tier 1 can produce significant traction without paid
+
+### Marketplace / two-sided
+- Each side has its own AARRR funnel — budget splits accordingly
+- Supply-side acquisition often dominates early; demand-side dominates after liquidity
+
+### Open source / developer tools
+- DevRel + community + content > paid
+- GitHub stars / npm installs are the activation event
+- Paid layer often delayed until Series A
+
+## Tier 1 budget detail (most common starting point)
+
+For Tier 1 clients, the marketing budget breakdown typically looks like:
+
+| Line | Typical monthly |
+|---|---|
+| Customer.io / lifecycle ESP | $100–500 |
+| App Store Connect / Google Play | $25 + 30% rev share (Apple/Google take) |
+| Stripe | 2.9% + 30¢ per transaction |
+| GA4 | Free |
+| Notion | $0–100 |
+| GitHub | $0–50 |
+| Shopify (if hardware) | $39–100 |
+| Ahrefs (or similar SEO tool) | $129–399 |
+| Typefully (if social cadence) | $13–39 |
+| Dub.co (if ambassador tracking) | $0–39 |
+| Misc SaaS | $200–500 |
+| **Tooling total** | **~$500–1,700/mo** |
+| Paid acquisition | $0 |
+| fCMO retainer | Variable |
+
+For the plan, this becomes: "Current monthly marketing budget: $X (tooling only, no paid)."
+
+## When to surface tier limits to the founder
+
+If a founder asks for moves that require a future tier:
+- Name the requirement: "This is a Tier 2 move (requires $10K+/mo paid budget). Will unlock after seed close per the 12-month outlook in §10."
+- Don't refuse — frame the timing
+
+If a founder underestimates what's needed:
+- Be honest: "To scale paid acquisition meaningfully, expect Tier 2 budget. Tier 1 can validate organic; Tier 2 validates paid."
+
+If a founder is over-funded for their stage:
+- Don't pad budget to match. Recommend the right work for the funnel state, return excess capacity, suggest investment in compounding rather than scaling.
+
+## Tier-skip cases (worth flagging)
+
+Some companies skip tiers:
+- **Notable founder** raising larger-than-typical rounds — can jump from Tier 1 to Tier 3 directly
+- **Hardware company** with PR moment — can deploy at Tier 3 levels with the right product moment (e.g., a high-profile longevity-influencer endorsement)
+- **B2B SaaS post-LOI** with named enterprise contracts — can fund pilot deployment from contract value
+
+If the client is in a tier-skip situation, name it explicitly in the plan rather than forcing them into the standard ladder.

package/bundled-skills/marketing-plan/references/growth-patterns.md

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+# Growth Patterns — The Real Shape of SaaS Growth
+
+The 12-month outlook in every plan (Section 10) describes a trajectory. This doc names the shape of that trajectory honestly — what real SaaS growth looks like, when to expect plateaus, and how to plan for the next leg of growth before the current one stalls.
+
+Excerpted and adapted from *Founding Marketing* by Corey Haines.
+
+## The long, slow SaaS ramp of death
+
+Pitch decks show hockey sticks. Real growth shows a series of S-curves — each representing a distinct phase followed by a plateau that tests resolve and creativity.
+
+### Phase 1 — $0 → $10K ARR (the grueling phase)
+
+The hardest milestone. Every customer is a hard-won victory. Typical time: **6–12 months.** Most companies pivot the product multiple times during this phase.
+
+What it requires:
+- Runway long enough to keep experimenting until something clicks
+- A financial cushion or additional income sources (often the difference between success and shutdown)
+- Tolerance for ambiguity — the product positioning, the pricing, and the channel can all still be wrong at this stage
+
+### Phase 2 — $10K → $100K ARR (the treacherous middle)
+
+The middle ground that kills most promising startups. The average company reaches ~$40K ARR in year one. The danger: enough revenue to prove the concept, not enough to support a team.
+
+The threshold to watch for: **$8–10K MRR.** That's when founders can typically go full-time on the business without other income sources. Until then, careful cash management or side income carries the company through.
+
+Companies that flame out in Phase 2 usually run out of runway just as things start working.
+
+### Phase 3 — $100K → $1M ARR (the acceleration phase)
+
+Where things get interesting. Typical time: nearly 2 years total to reach $1M. But there's an acceleration pattern: **once across $100K, companies often double from $100K → $200K in one-third the time it took to reach the first $100K.**
+
+Why: critical mass kicks in. Word-of-mouth starts working. Early customers become your best salespeople. The product has proven itself, and growth becomes more about execution than experimentation.
+
+This is the phase where the marketing plan's 90-day roadmap (Section 9) starts compounding instead of just covering ground.
+
+## Two real growth patterns (and the exponential myth)
+
+The myth: successful SaaS companies grow exponentially, doubling revenue month over month like clockwork.
+
+The reality: two distinct patterns, often combining at scale to *look* exponential when zoomed out.
+
+### Pattern 1 — Linear growth
+
+Build a predictable revenue machine. Find a channel that works (content, partnerships, paid, outbound) and steadily scale it. Some companies reliably add **$10K MRR per month** through a well-oiled marketing engine.
+
+Less sexy than exponential. Far more sustainable. Crucially, **plannable**: when you know what you can count on adding each month, hiring decisions, product roadmap, and expansion planning all become tractable.
+
+### Pattern 2 — Step-function growth
+
+Periods of plateau followed by sudden jumps. Jumps aren't random — they're triggered by specific events:
+- Breaking into a new market segment (e.g., enterprise after starting SMB)
+- Launching a major product expansion (new feature line, new tier)
+- Cracking a new marketing channel that compounds
+
+Example: one founder saw revenue triple in two months after launching enterprise features — following six months of flat growth.
+
+Key insight for the plan: **each step requires deliberate action and investment.** Steps don't happen by waiting. While standing on the current step, you have to be actively building the next one.
+
+### How they combine
+
+Zoom out far enough and a series of linear phases + step functions can look exponential. That's where the myth comes from. Understanding it's actually a series of plannable shapes changes how you build the plan:
+
+- Don't chase the myth of doubling every month
+- Build sustainable linear systems (Sections 4–8 AARRR moves)
+- Plan deliberate step functions (Section 10 12-month milestones)
+
+## Layering growth curves — Channel × Product × Market
+
+The secret to sustained growth isn't one perfect channel. It's orchestrating multiple S-curves that work together. Three S-curves to track:
+
+### Channel S-curves
+
+Every marketing channel has its own lifecycle:
+- **SEO** — 6–12 months to mature; once it does, steady leads for years. Marathon runner.
+- **Paid ads** — quick wins; diminishing returns as you scale.
+- **Content marketing** — slow to start, compounds beautifully over time.
+- **Partnerships / co-marketing** — episodic; high yield when the right partner aligns.
+- **Outbound** — predictable when calibrated; CAC-heavy and plateaus at team capacity.
+- **PR** — spike-driven; sustains awareness rather than direct conversion.
+
+**The rule:** start the next channel before the current one plateaus. Riding one channel to its ceiling before investing in the next produces a multi-month growth plateau that takes more effort to break out of than it would have taken to start the next channel earlier.
+
+In the plan: Section 4 (Acquisition) names current channels, planned channels, and skipped channels. The 12-month roadmap (Section 10) sequences when the next channel investment begins.
+
+### Product S-curves
+
+Your core product naturally hits a growth ceiling as you saturate the initial market. Pushing harder on the same features doesn't break through. What does:
+
+- Adding features that target new use cases
+- Extending the product line to serve adjacent needs
+- Expanding into new market segments (e.g., team collaboration added to a single-user tool — opens a new market)
+
+In the plan: Sections 5 (Activation) and 8 (Revenue) name where the product needs to grow to unlock the next growth tier.
+
+### Market S-curves
+
+Every market segment has its own growth ceiling. Time the expansion into the next segment while the current segment is still showing strong growth. Common patterns:
+
+- SMB → mid-market → enterprise
+- Single vertical → adjacent verticals
+- Domestic → international
+
+Waiting until a segment is saturated makes the transition harder.
+
+In the plan: Section 2 (Strategic frame) names current segment + future segments. Section 10 (12-month outlook) sequences when expansion moves begin.
+
+### The orchestration
+
+The real magic: while SEO is maturing, you're using paid for quick wins. As those channels mature, you're developing product features that unlock enterprise. Meanwhile, the groundwork for international expansion is being laid for when domestic saturates.
+
+This is the operational thesis behind the AARRR mapping (Sections 4–8) and the 12-month outlook (Section 10): each section is a curve, and the plan sequences them so the next curve is ramping while the current one is still growing.
+
+## The 3-3-2-2-2 VC growth path
+
+For companies that have crossed $1M ARR and raised institutional capital, the VC benchmark is:
+
+| Year | Multiple | Cumulative ARR (from $1M) |
+|---|---|---|
+| Year 0 | — | $1M |
+| Year +1 | 3× | $3M |
+| Year +2 | 3× | $9M |
+| Year +3 | 2× | $18M |
+| Year +4 | 2× | $36M |
+| Year +5 | 2× | $72M |
+| Year +6 | 2× | $144M |
+| Year +7 | 2× | $288M |
+
+Most companies don't hit this. Useful regardless — anchoring the 12-month outlook against this benchmark forces the plan to either (a) match it and show how, or (b) explicitly defend choosing a slower trajectory.
+
+For non-VC-backed (bootstrapped, founder-funded, profit-focused) companies, this curve doesn't apply. Use linear or step-function targeting instead.
+
+## How this informs the plan
+
+| Section | What to include |
+|---|---|
+| **3 (Current state)** | Where the company is on each S-curve (channel maturity, product maturity, market saturation). Name the current phase ($0–10K / $10K–100K / $100K–1M / $1M+). |
+| **4 (Acquisition)** | Current channels + their position on the S-curve (early / mature / plateauing). Next channel investment with rationale. |
+| **5–8 (AARRR)** | Each section names the binding constraint at the current phase. For Phase 2 companies, Activation is usually the leverage point. For Phase 3, Retention + Referral compound the existing growth. |
+| **9 (90-day roadmap)** | Linear-pattern moves dominate (predictable additions). Step-function setups (the build-up to a launch, an enterprise tier, a new market segment) live here. |
+| **10 (12-month outlook)** | Sequence channel S-curves, product S-curves, market S-curves. If VC-backed Series A+, anchor against 3-3-2-2-2. If not, name the linear or step-function targets. |
+| **13 (Measurement)** | The north-star metric reflects the current phase (Phase 1 is usually pure new-signup; Phase 3 is usually expansion ARR or NRR). |
+
+## Operational guidance for the planner
+
+- **Don't promise exponential.** If the plan implies doubling every month, the founder will use it against you in 90 days. Linear + step-function is honest.
+- **Name the binding constraint.** Phase 1 binding constraint is finding any channel that works. Phase 2 is funding the team. Phase 3 is breaking the ceiling on whichever channel got you here.
+- **Plateaus aren't failures.** They're the moment between two S-curves. The plan should anticipate them and stage the next move.
+- **Don't conflate "growth" with "growth rate."** A company adding $20K MRR each month for 24 months has built a remarkable machine. The fact that the *percentage* growth rate declines as the base grows is arithmetic, not failure.

package/bundled-skills/marketing-plan/references/idea-cross-reference.md

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+# Idea Cross-Reference — 139 Marketing Ideas Mapped to AARRR
+
+The `marketing-ideas` skill catalogs 139 proven marketing tactics. This doc is the source-of-truth mapping: every idea assigned to a primary AARRR stage, with notes for when it's typically active and what category constraints apply.
+
+The plan's Section 12 ("Tactical idea bank") uses this mapping as the base, then layers client-specific filters: brand voice rules might skip some ideas; funding stage might shift Q-status; client category might rule out others.
+
+## How to read this doc
+
+- **139 unique ideas, 144 entries.** Five ideas cross-cut multiple AARRR stages and appear under each stage they serve (#79 Early-Access Referrals, #86 Lifetime Deals, #91 In-App Upsells, #114 Moneyball Marketing, #117 Product Competitions). Each duplicate row carries a cross-cut note.
+- **"Entries" counts rows; idea IDs are unique.** Section header counts reflect rows in this doc, not unique ideas from `marketing-ideas`.
+- **Numbers correspond exactly to the `marketing-ideas` skill ordering.** If `marketing-ideas` reorders or expands, update this doc.
+
+## AARRR assignment for all 139 ideas
+
+### Acquisition (116 entries)
+
+These ideas primarily serve top-of-funnel awareness, traffic, and lead generation.
+
+| # | Idea | Category | Typical stage available |
+|---|---|---|---|
+| 1 | Easy Keyword Ranking | Content & SEO | Now (any stage) |
+| 2 | SEO Audit | Content & SEO | Now |
+| 3 | Glossary Marketing | Content & SEO | Q2+ |
+| 4 | Programmatic SEO | Content & SEO | Q3+ (needs data + template system) |
+| 5 | Content Repurposing | Content & SEO | Now (immediate leverage) |
+| 6 | Proprietary Data Content | Content & SEO | Now (if data exists) |
+| 7 | Internal Linking | Content & SEO | Now |
+| 8 | Content Refreshing | Content & SEO | Q2+ (after content base exists) |
+| 9 | Knowledge Base SEO | Content & SEO | Q3+ (after help docs exist) |
+| 10 | Parasite SEO | Content & SEO | Now |
+| 11 | Competitor Comparison Pages | Competitor | Q2+ |
+| 12 | Marketing Jiu-Jitsu | Competitor | Now |
+| 13 | Competitive Ad Research | Competitor | Pre-paid |
+| 14 | Side Projects | Free Tools | Q3+ |
+| 15 | Engineering as Marketing | Free Tools | Q3+ |
+| 16 | Importers as Marketing | Free Tools | SaaS-specific |
+| 17 | Quiz Marketing | Free Tools | Q2+ |
+| 18 | Calculator Marketing | Free Tools | Q3+ |
+| 19 | Chrome Extensions | Free Tools | Browser-relevant only |
+| 20 | Microsites | Free Tools | Q3+ |
+| 21 | Scanners | Free Tools | Specific products only |
+| 22 | Public APIs | Free Tools | Developer/dev tool products |
+| 23 | Podcast Advertising | Paid Ads | Post-budget |
+| 24 | Pre-targeting Ads | Paid Ads | Post-budget |
+| 25 | Facebook Ads | Paid Ads | Post-budget |
+| 26 | Instagram Ads | Paid Ads | Post-budget |
+| 27 | Twitter Ads | Paid Ads | Post-budget |
+| 28 | LinkedIn Ads | Paid Ads | Post-budget (B2B-strong) |
+| 29 | Reddit Ads | Paid Ads | Post-budget |
+| 30 | Quora Ads | Paid Ads | Post-budget |
+| 31 | Google Ads | Paid Ads | Post-budget |
+| 32 | YouTube Ads | Paid Ads | Post-budget |
+| 33 | Cross-Platform Retargeting | Paid Ads | Post-paid-firing |
+| 34 | Click-to-Messenger Ads | Paid Ads | Niche use cases |
+| 35 | Community Marketing | Social & Community | Q3+ |
+| 36 | Quora Marketing | Social & Community | Now |
+| 37 | Reddit Keyword Research | Social & Community | Now |
+| 38 | Reddit Marketing | Social & Community | Q2+ |
+| 39 | LinkedIn Audience | Social & Community | Now (B2B + founders) |
+| 40 | Instagram Audience | Social & Community | Q2+ |
+| 41 | X Audience | Social & Community | Depends on founder bandwidth |
+| 42 | Short Form Video | Social & Community | Q3+ |
+| 43 | Engagement Pods | Social & Community | Generally off-brand |
+| 44 | Comment Marketing | Social & Community | Q2+ |
+| 49 | Monthly Newsletters | Email | Q2+ (Acquisition use: subscriber capture) |
+| 54 | Affiliate Discovery via Backlinks | Partnerships | Q2+ |
+| 55 | Influencer Whitelisting | Partnerships | Post-paid-budget |
+| 56 | Reseller Programs | Partnerships | Q4+ |
+| 57 | Expert Networks | Partnerships | Q3+ |
+| 58 | Newsletter Swaps | Partnerships | Q2+ |
+| 59 | Article Quotes (HARO) | Partnerships | Now |
+| 60 | Pixel Sharing | Partnerships | Post-paid |
+| 61 | Shared Slack Channels | Partnerships | Q3+ |
+| 63 | Integration Marketing | Partnerships | Q3+ |
+| 64 | Community Sponsorship | Partnerships | Q2+ |
+| 65 | Live Webinars | Events | Q2+ |
+| 66 | Virtual Summits | Events | Q3+ |
+| 67 | Roadshows | Events | Q4+ |
+| 68 | Local Meetups | Events | Q3+ |
+| 69 | Meetup Sponsorship | Events | Q3+ |
+| 70 | Conference Speaking | Events | Now (if founder is speakable) |
+| 71 | Conferences (own-hosted) | Events | Q4+ |
+| 72 | Conference Sponsorship | Events | Q3+ |
+| 73 | Media Acquisitions | PR & Media | Series A+ |
+| 74 | Press Coverage | PR & Media | Now (if newsworthy) |
+| 75 | Fundraising PR | PR & Media | When fund closes |
+| 76 | Documentaries | PR & Media | Q4+ |
+| 77 | Black Friday Promotions | Launches | Q4 (seasonal) |
+| 78 | Product Hunt Launch | Launches | At GA or major feature |
+| 79 | Early-Access Referrals | Launches | Pre-launch or GA |
+| 80 | New Year Promotions | Launches | Q1 (seasonal) |
+| 81 | Early Access Pricing | Launches | GA |
+| 82 | Product Hunt Alternatives | Launches | Same as PH |
+| 83 | Twitter Giveaways | Launches | Generally off-brand |
+| 84 | Giveaways | Launches | Q3+ |
+| 85 | Vacation Giveaways | Launches | Q4+ (seasonal) |
+| 86 | Lifetime Deals | Launches | Generally off-brand (damages LTV math) |
+| 87 | Powered By Marketing | Product-Led | Q4+ |
+| 88 | Free Migrations | Product-Led | SaaS-specific |
+| 89 | Contract Buyouts | Product-Led | B2B SaaS only |
+| 97 | Playlists as Marketing | Content Formats | Q3+ |
+| 98 | Template Marketing | Content Formats | Q3+ |
+| 99 | Graphic Novel Marketing | Content Formats | Generally off-brand |
+| 100 | Promo Videos | Content Formats | Q3+ |
+| 101 | Industry Interviews | Content Formats | Q2+ |
+| 102 | Social Screenshots | Content Formats | Q2+ |
+| 103 | Online Courses | Content Formats | Q3+ |
+| 104 | Book Marketing | Content Formats | Q4+ |
+| 105 | Annual Reports | Content Formats | Q4+ |
+| 106 | End of Year Wraps | Content Formats | Q4 (seasonal) |
+| 107 | Podcasts (own-hosted) | Content Formats | Q3+ |
+| 108 | Changelogs | Content Formats | Q2+ |
+| 109 | Public Demos | Content Formats | Now |
+| 110 | Awards as Marketing | Unconventional | Q4+ |
+| 111 | Challenges as Marketing | Unconventional | Q3+ |
+| 112 | Reality TV Marketing | Unconventional | Generally off-brand |
+| 113 | Controversy as Marketing | Unconventional | Brand-dependent |
+| 114 | Moneyball Marketing | Unconventional | Ongoing methodology |
+| 115 | Curation as Marketing | Unconventional | Q2+ |
+| 116 | Grants as Marketing | Unconventional | Q4+ |
+| 117 | Product Competitions | Unconventional | Developer-specific |
+| 118 | Cameo Marketing | Unconventional | Generally off-brand |
+| 119 | OOH Advertising | Unconventional | Series A+ |
+| 120 | Marketing Stunts | Unconventional | Brand-dependent |
+| 121 | Guerrilla Marketing | Unconventional | Brand-dependent |
+| 122 | Humor Marketing | Unconventional | Brand-dependent |
+| 123 | Open Source as Marketing | Platforms | Developer products |
+| 125 | App Marketplaces | Platforms | Platform-specific |
+| 126 | YouTube Reviews | Platforms | Q3+ |
+| 127 | YouTube Channel | Platforms | Q3+ |
+| 128 | Source Platforms | Platforms | B2B SaaS only |
+| 129 | Review Sites | Platforms | Now |
+| 130 | Live Audio | Platforms | Q3+ |
+| 131 | International Expansion | International | Q4+ |
+| 133 | Investor Marketing | Developer/etc | Now (when raising) |
+| 138 | Podcast Tours | Audience-Specific | Q2+ |
+
+### Activation (8 entries)
+
+| # | Idea | Category | Typical stage available |
+|---|---|---|---|
+| 47 | Founder Welcome Email | Email | Q2+ (Activation use) |
+| 48 | Dynamic Email Capture | Email | Q2+ |
+| 51 | Onboarding Emails | Email | When UI is stable |
+| 90 | One-Click Registration | Product-Led | Now |
+| 91 | In-App Upsells | Product-Led | Q2+ (cross-cuts Revenue) |
+| 95 | Concierge Setup | Product-Led | Q3+ (high-value users) |
+| 96 | Onboarding Optimization | Product-Led | Now |
+| 124 | App Store Optimization | Platforms | Now (App Store products) |
+
+### Retention (8 entries)
+
+| # | Idea | Category | Typical stage available |
+|---|---|---|---|
+| 45 | Mistake Email Marketing | Email | Opportunistic |
+| 46 | Reactivation Emails | Email | Now |
+| 50 | Inbox Placement | Email | Now (technical setup) |
+| 52 | Win-back Emails | Email | Q1+ |
+| 53 | Trial Reactivation | Email | Q2+ (when paywall is firing) |
+| 94 | Offboarding Flows | Product-Led | Q2+ |
+| 135 | Support as Marketing | Developer/etc | Q2+ |
+| 134 | Certifications | Developer/etc | Q3+ (cross-cuts Referral) |
+
+### Referral (5 entries)
+
+| # | Idea | Category | Typical stage available |
+|---|---|---|---|
+| 62 | Affiliate Program | Partnerships | Now (when inbound exists) |
+| 79 | Early-Access Referrals | Launches | Pre-launch / GA |
+| 92 | Newsletter Referrals | Product-Led | Q3+ (if newsletter exists) |
+| 93 | Viral Loops | Product-Led | Q3+ |
+| 137 | Two-Sided Referrals | Audience-Specific | Q2+ |
+
+### Revenue (2 entries — most monetization is strategy not tactic)
+
+| # | Idea | Category | Typical stage available |
+|---|---|---|---|
+| 91 | In-App Upsells | Product-Led | Q2+ (cross-cuts Activation) |
+| 132 | Price Localization | International | Q4+ |
+
+> **Skipped from Revenue:** #86 Lifetime Deals appears under Launches (Acquisition section) only. It's generally off-brand for subscription products because it damages LTV math; recommend in Section 12's Skip list with rationale, not in stage totals.
+
+### Cross-cutting / brand foundation (2 entries)
+
+| # | Idea | Category | Typical stage available |
+|---|---|---|---|
+| 114 | Moneyball Marketing | Unconventional | Ongoing methodology |
+| 139 | Customer Language | Audience-Specific | Now (foundational) |
+
+### Developer-specific / dev tool products (2 entries)
+
+| # | Idea | Category | Use when |
+|---|---|---|---|
+| 117 | Product Competitions | Unconventional | Developer tool products |
+| 136 | Developer Relations | Developer/etc | Developer tool products |
+
+## How to apply this to a specific client
+
+For Section 12 of the plan:
+
+### Step 1 — Filter for category fit
+
+For each idea, ask:
+- Does this idea apply to the client's category? (e.g., #16 Importers only for SaaS; #19 Chrome Extensions only for browser-relevant; #136 DevRel only for dev tools)
+- Skip ideas that don't apply, with a note
+
+### Step 2 — Filter for brand voice
+
+For each idea, ask:
+- Does this idea conflict with the client's brand voice?
+- Common conflicts:
+  - **Lifetime Deals (#86)** — conflicts with premium positioning
+  - **Twitter Giveaways (#83)** — often off-brand for serious / clinical / luxury voices
+  - **Humor Marketing (#122)** — off-brand for serious / clinical voices
+  - **Cameo Marketing (#118)** — off-brand for most voices
+  - **Reality TV Marketing (#112)** — off-brand for most voices
+
+If conflict, place in Skip list with explicit rationale.
+
+### Step 3 — Set timing status
+
+For ideas that pass filters, set status:
+- **Now (Q1)** — already in 90-day plan OR can run alongside without new capacity
+- **Q2** — post-bedrock-fix, post-foundation; second-quarter layer-in
+- **Q3+** — post-seed-close, post-GA; expansion moves
+- **Q4+** — long-game / large-investment
+
+Use the "Typical stage available" column as the default. Shift earlier if client has unusual capability (e.g., a celebrity founder shifts Conference Speaking #70 from "Now" to "Now and high-leverage").
+
+### Step 4 — Write the client-specific note
+
+Every "Now / Q2 / Q3+" idea gets a one-line client-specific note. Examples:
+- For idea #11 Competitor Comparison Pages: "Quietude vs. Calm / Headspace / Brain.fm / Endel / Wavepaths — high-intent SERPs"
+- For idea #133 Investor Marketing: "Alex's seed raise — leverage angel backchannel for PR + intros"
+- For idea #15 Engineering as Marketing: "HRV interpretation guide; nervous system self-assessment; sound bath finder directory"
+
+### Step 5 — Sum the bank
+
+After all five AARRR tables + skip list:
+
+```markdown
+### Idea-bank summary
+
+- {Acquisition count} ideas applicable to Acquisition (the dominant stage at {client}'s current stage)
+- {Activation count} to Activation, {Retention count} to Retention
+- {Referral count} to Referral
+- {Revenue count} to Revenue
+- {cross-cutting count} cross-cutting
+- {skipped count} ideas skipped for brand / business-model fit
+
+**What this proves:** the plan is roughly X% of the available tactical surface area, not 100%. {appropriate or not for the stage} — as capacity unlocks across Q2 → Q3 → Series A, the cross-reference becomes the inventory to scale activity without losing strategic coherence.
+```
+
+## How to maintain this doc
+
+If `marketing-ideas` adds new ideas (it's a living skill — the 139 may become 145 or 160 over time):
+1. Read `skills/marketing-ideas/references/ideas-by-category.md` in the `marketingskills` repo
+2. Assign each new idea to a primary AARRR stage using the rules above
+3. Add to this doc's tables
+4. Update SKILL.md's idea-count reference
+
+## Sources
+
+- `skills/marketing-ideas/SKILL.md` (in the `marketingskills` repo)
+- `skills/marketing-ideas/references/ideas-by-category.md` (in the `marketingskills` repo)