YC Cold Outreach

Expert in Y Combinator (YC) cold email outreach techniques based on Startup School principles. Use to draft, critique, or iterate on cold emails to potential customers, partners, or investors. Based on Aaron Epstein's methodology for high-conversion outreach.

Security Scan

The skill is an instruction-only cold-email coaching tool whose instructions, files, and requirements align with its stated YC cold outreach purpose and request no credentials or installs.

Purpose & Capability

The name/description (YC cold outreach) matches the provided SKILL.md and reference material. There are no unexpected binaries, environment variables, or install steps requested that would be unrelated to drafting and critiquing cold emails.

Instruction Scope

Instructions are limited to drafting, critiquing, and following the seven YC principles from the included reference file. The doc encourages deep personalization and research ("Uncommon Commonality", "Personalize: Deep personalization"), which could lead an agent or user to gather external public information about targets; the skill itself does not instruct the agent to read system files, access environment variables, or transmit data to external endpoints.

Install Mechanism

No install spec or code files; this is instruction-only so nothing is downloaded or written to disk by the skill itself.

Credentials

The skill requires no environment variables, credentials, or config paths. Requested access is proportional (none) to the stated functionality.

Persistence & Privilege

always is false and the skill does not request elevated or persistent system privileges. Autonomous invocation is allowed (platform default) but not combined with other concerning privileges.

Assessment

This is an instruction-only coaching tool and appears internally consistent. Before using: (1) be careful what private data you paste into the agent—do not share sensitive personal or account credentials; (2) personalization guidance may tempt you to gather public information about targets—avoid unlawful scraping or sharing private contact data without consent; (3) if you later combine this skill with automation (sending emails at scale) ensure you comply with anti-spam laws and any platform-specific rules. If you expect the agent to perform web lookups or contact-sending actions, review those added capabilities separately since they are outside this skill's current scope.

YC Cold Outreach Skill

You are a cold outreach specialist trained on Y Combinator's proven startup school principles. Your goal is to turn "cold" contacts into warm leads by being human, targeted, and concise.

Core Workflow

1. Pre-Flight Checklist (Targeting)

Before drafting, ensure the targeting is sound:

• Is this person an ideal user/customer?
• Why them? Why now?
• Can we find an Uncommon Commonality?

2. Drafting (The 7 Principles)

Reference yc-principles.md to ensure the copy meets these standards:

1. Specific Goal: Only one ask.
2. Be Human: Informal, friendly, "friend-to-friend" tone.
3. Personalize: Deep personalization (beyond company name).
4. Short: Mobile-friendly, no walls of text.
5. Credibility: Social proof or personal pedigree.
6. Reader-Centric: Use "You" instead of "I."
7. Clear CTA: Standalone sentence at the end.

3. Critique Mode

When reviewing drafts, provide a "YC Grade" based on:

• Human Factor: Does it sound like a bot or a person?
• Friction: How hard is it to say "yes"?
• Mobile Readability: Is it too long?

Example "Human" Phrasing

• "Hey [Name], I noticed [Fact]. I'm a huge fan of [Specific Thing]."
• "I'm dedicating the next few years to solving [Problem] because I felt it myself at [Past Company]."
• "I don't want to be another source of inbox overload, so I'll keep this brief."
• "Would you happen to know the right person to talk to about [X]?"