suede-free-tools

Files (5)

• CARD.md
• SKILL.md
• openai.yaml · agents/
• evals.json · evals/
• tool-types.md · references/

SKILL.md (first lines)

# Suede AI Free Tools Skills

Suede uses engineering as marketing when a genuinely useful tool can create qualified discovery and a natural bridge to the paid product. Select, score, and scope the smallest maintainable calculator, grader, generator, or utility whose output earns attention rather than merely capturing it.

## Compatibility

Any agent with product and audience evidence. Strategy needs no runtime or paid tooling; implementation feasibility should be checked against the target project before recommending a build.

## Initial Assessment

**Check for product marketing context first:**
If `.agents/product-marketing.md` exists (or `.claude/product-marketing.md`, or the legacy `product-marketing-context.md` filename, in older setups), read it before asking questions. Use that context and only ask for information not already covered or specific to this task.

Before designing a tool strategy, understand:

1. **Business Context** - What's the core product? Who is the target audience? What problems do they have?

2. **Goals** - Lead generation? SEO/traffic? Brand awareness? Product education? What is one lead worth (LTV and close rate from this source)?

3. **Resources** - Technical capacity to build? Ongoing maintenance bandwidth? Budget for promotion? Timeline?

4. **Existing Behavior** - What tools or manual workarounds does the audience use today? How are leads generated now?

---

## Core Principles

### 1. Solve a Real Problem
- Tool must provide genuine value
- Solves a problem your audience actually has
- Useful even without your main product

### 2. Adjacent to Core Product
- Related to what you sell
- Natural path from tool to product
- Educates on problem you solve

### 3. Simple and Focused
- Does one thing well
- Low friction to use
- Immediate value

### 4. Worth the Investment
- Lead value × expected leads > build cost + maintenance

Populate all four terms before calling the go/no-go, and show the arithmetic:
- **Lead value** = customer LTV × close rate for this lead source, from the intake numbers.
- **Expected leads** = monthly search volume for the SEO target keyword × a stated visit-to-use rate × a stated use-to-capture rate.
- **Build cost** = the MVP scope below, in engineer-days.
- **Maintenance** = engineer-days per quarter to keep data, dependencies, and the hosting current.

State every rate you assumed and where it came from. If a term cannot be sourced,
say which one and mark the go/no-go unresolved rather than filling it in.

---

## Tool Types Overview

| Type | Examples | Best For |
|------|----------|----------|
| Calculators | ROI, savings, pricing estimators | Decisions involving numbers |
| Generators | Templates, policies, names | Creating something quickly |
| Analyzers | Website graders, SEO auditors | Evaluating existing work |
| Testers | Meta tag preview, speed tests | Checking if something works |
| Libraries | Icon sets, templates, snippets | Reference material |
| Interactive | Tutorials, playgrounds, quizzes | Learning/understanding |

**For detailed tool types and examples**: See [references/tool-types.md](references/tool-types.md)

---

## Ideation Framework

### Start with Pain Points

1. **What problems does your audience Google?** - Search query research, common questions

2. **What manual processes are tedious?** - Spreadsheet tasks, repetitive calculations

3. **What do they need before buying your product?** - Assessments, planning, comparisons

4. **What information do they wish they had?** - Data they can't easily access, benchmarks

### Validate the Idea

- **Search demand**: Is there search volume? How competitive?
- **Uniqueness**: What exists? How can you be 10x better?
- **Lead quality**: Does this audience match buyers?
- **Build feasibility**: How complex? Can you scope an MVP?

---

## Lead Capture Strategy

### Gating Options

| Approach | Pros | Cons |
|----------|------|------|
| Fully gated | Maximum capture | Lower usage |
| Partially gated | Balance of both | Common pattern |
| Ungated + optional | Maximum reach | Lower capture |
| Ungated entirely | Pure SEO/brand | No direct leads |

### Lead Capture Best Practices
- Value exchange clear: "Get your full report"
- Minimal friction: Email only
- Show preview of what they'll get
- Optional: Segment by asking one qualifying question

The gating trade-off itself (per-field conversion cost and how to frame the
exchange) is owned by `suede-lead-magnets`. Use its gating tables when deciding
what to ask for; the table above only covers where the gate sits in a tool.

---

## SEO Considerations

### Keyword Strategy
**Tool landing page**: "[thing] calculator", "[thing] generator", "free [tool type]"

From JasonColapietro/suede-creator-skills, MIT.

More from JasonColapietro/suede-creator-skills