Claude is a co-founder that never sleeps, never complains, and has read more business books than any human could. But like any powerful tool, its value depends on how you wield it. These 10 prompting techniques separate founders who dabble from those who dominate.

1. Strategic Sparring Partner

Use Claude to stress-test your thinking before committing resources.

The skill: Prompt Claude to argue against your position, find weaknesses in your strategy, and surface risks you haven’t considered.

Example prompt:

I'm planning to launch a B2B SaaS targeting accountants. My strategy is [X].

Be my adversary. What are the 5 strongest arguments that this will fail? What am I missing? What would a skeptical investor ask that I can't answer?

Why it matters: Founders often suffer from confirmation bias. Your team might be too aligned (or too polite) to push back. Claude provides the intellectual sparring you need.

Level up: After getting pushback, ask Claude to help you address each weakness. Iterate until your strategy is bulletproof.

2. First-Draft Everything

Claude can produce competent first drafts of almost any business document in minutes.

The skill: Use Claude for initial drafts, then apply your expertise and voice to refine.

What to first-draft:

  • Investor pitch decks
  • Blog posts and thought leadership
  • Email sequences
  • Job descriptions
  • Product requirement documents
  • Terms of service
  • Sales proposals
  • Customer case studies

Example prompt:

Write a first draft of a job description for a senior full-stack engineer at an early-stage fintech startup. We value ownership, speed, and clean code. Salary range $150-200k. Remote-first.

Why it matters: First drafts are the hard part. Going from 0 to 1 is harder than 1 to 100. Let Claude do the 0-to-1, then apply your judgment for 1-to-100.

3. Customer Research Synthesis

Transform scattered customer feedback into actionable insights.

The skill: Feed Claude transcripts, reviews, and feedback, then extract patterns.

Example prompt:

Here are 15 customer interview transcripts from our discovery calls.

Analyze these and give me:
1. The 3 most common pain points
2. Exact quotes that demonstrate each pain point
3. Features requested that we don't have
4. Objections that came up during sales
5. How customers describe the problem in their own words

Why it matters: Customer research is only valuable if synthesized and acted upon. Most founders have data scattered across notes, recordings, and memory. Claude consolidates it.

Level up: Use customer language in your marketing copy. Claude can identify the exact phrases your customers use.

4. Market Research on Demand

Claude can rapidly compile market intelligence from your descriptions and questions.

The skill: Use Claude to explore market dynamics, competitive landscapes, and industry trends.

Example prompt:

I'm entering the project management software market targeting construction companies.

Help me understand:
1. What are the top 5 competitors and their positioning?
2. What's the typical pricing structure in this space?
3. What do construction companies complain about with existing tools?
4. What are adjacent markets I should watch?
5. What regulatory or industry changes might affect this market?

Why it matters: Market research usually takes days of Googling. Claude provides a starting point in minutes. Verify critical facts, but use Claude for rapid orientation.

Get initial drafts of legal documents and understand regulatory requirements.

The skill: Use Claude for first drafts of contracts, policies, and compliance documentation. Always have an attorney review.

Example prompt:

Draft a SaaS subscription agreement for a B2B software product. Include sections on:
- Service description
- Fees and payment
- Term and termination
- Intellectual property
- Limitation of liability
- Data processing

This is a first draft for my attorney to review, not final.

Why it matters: Legal fees are expensive. Coming to your attorney with a structured first draft reduces billable hours and helps you understand what you’re signing.

Warning: Never use unreviewed AI-generated legal documents for actual business. Claude helps you prepare; lawyers finalize.

6. Financial Modeling Assistant

Claude can help build, debug, and explain financial models.

The skill: Use Claude to structure financial thinking, create formulas, and sanity-check assumptions.

Example prompt:

I'm building a financial model for my SaaS startup.

Assumptions:
- Starting MRR: $5,000
- Monthly growth rate: 15%
- Gross margin: 80%
- Monthly burn: $20,000
- Current runway: 12 months

Help me build a model that shows:
1. When we hit profitability
2. What growth rate we need to hit $100k MRR in 12 months
3. How much runway we need to get there
4. Sensitivity analysis on growth rate

Why it matters: Financial modeling is where many technical founders stumble. Claude can bridge the gap between intuition and spreadsheet.

7. Technical Translation

Translate between technical and business contexts.

The skill: Use Claude to explain technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders, or to understand technical concepts yourself.

Example prompt:

I need to explain to my investors why we chose PostgreSQL over MongoDB for our fintech application.

Translate this into business terms: what does this mean for reliability, scaling, and compliance? Avoid jargon.

Reverse direction:

My CTO says we need to "refactor the authentication layer and implement proper rate limiting." What does this mean in business terms? Why should I care? What are the risks of not doing it?

Why it matters: Founders often struggle to communicate across the technical/business divide. Claude bridges that gap in both directions.

8. Decision Framework Builder

Structure complex decisions with clear frameworks.

The skill: When facing ambiguous decisions, use Claude to build decision frameworks.

Example prompt:

I'm deciding whether to raise a seed round or bootstrap. I have 6 months of runway and $8k MRR.

Build me a decision framework with:
1. Key factors to consider
2. How to weight each factor
3. What signals should push me toward raising
4. What signals should push me toward bootstrapping
5. What information I need to gather before deciding

Why it matters: Founders make hundreds of decisions. Good frameworks lead to good decisions. Claude helps structure thinking when emotions and complexity cloud judgment.

9. Pitch and Narrative Refinement

Sharpen your story for investors, customers, and recruits.

The skill: Use Claude to workshop your pitch until it’s crisp and compelling.

Example prompt:

Here's my 60-second investor pitch:

[Your pitch]

Make it tighter. Identify weak points. Suggest stronger hooks. Tell me what questions an investor would ask after hearing this.

Iterate:

The hook isn't working. Give me 5 alternative opening lines that would grab attention from a partner at a16z.

Why it matters: Your pitch is told hundreds of times. Small improvements compound. Claude provides infinite patience for iteration.

10. Knowledge Base Creation

Transform your expertise into organized, searchable documentation.

The skill: Use Claude to structure internal knowledge, onboarding materials, and process documentation.

Example prompt:

I'm going to describe our customer onboarding process as I do it. Ask me clarifying questions, then turn this into structured documentation that a new hire could follow.

Then:

Here's everything I know about our sales process in a rambling voice memo transcript. Turn this into a playbook with:
- Stage definitions
- Actions at each stage
- Common objections and responses
- Qualification criteria
- Handoff procedures

Why it matters: Founders are bottlenecks because knowledge lives in their heads. Claude helps extract and structure that knowledge for others.

Meta-Skill: Prompt Engineering for Business

All these skills depend on effective prompting. Principles:

Be specific. “Help me with marketing” is weak. “Write 5 LinkedIn posts announcing our Series A, targeting engineering leaders, 150 words each, casual but professional tone” is strong.

Provide context. Claude doesn’t know your business. Give it the relevant background for each request.

Iterate. First outputs are starting points. “Make it shorter.” “More specific.” “Add examples.” “Challenge this assumption.”

Assign a role. “You are an experienced CFO reviewing this financial model.” Role assignment improves output quality.

Request formats. “Give me a table comparing…” “List the top 5…” “Write this as a one-pager…” Structured requests get structured outputs.

The Founder’s Edge

The gap between founders who use AI effectively and those who don’t will widen. These skills aren’t about replacing your judgment—they’re about augmenting your capacity.

A solo founder with Claude can:

  • Explore 10 strategic options instead of 2
  • Produce first drafts 10X faster
  • Synthesize customer research in minutes
  • Prepare for investor meetings with a virtual sparring partner
  • Document processes without hiring a technical writer

The tool is available to everyone. The skill to use it well is the differentiator.

Master these 10 skills. Build faster. Decide better. Win.