# Cold Start Problem

Start and scale networked products using Andrew Chen''s "The Cold Start Problem"...

- Repository: https://github.com/wondelai/skills (2552 stars)
- Category: Design
- License: MIT
- Last updated: 2026-09-10
- Runs scripts: no, instructions only

## Install

Claude Code: `npx skills add wondelai/skills --skill cold-start-problem -g -a claude-code -y`
Codex: `npx skills add wondelai/skills --skill cold-start-problem -g -a codex -y`
Cursor: `npx skills add wondelai/skills --skill cold-start-problem -g -a cursor -y`
Gemini CLI: `npx skills add wondelai/skills --skill cold-start-problem -g -a gemini-cli -y`
Claude Code plugin marketplace: `/plugin marketplace add wondelai/skills`

## Description

Start and scale networked products using Andrew Chen''s "The Cold Start Problem" framework for network effects. Use when the user mentions "network effects", "chicken and egg", "cold start", "two-sided marketplace", "atomic network", "hard side", "liquidity", "critical mass", "invite-only launch", "how do I get my first users", or "the marketplace has no buyers or sellers". Also trigger when launching a marketplace, social, or collaboration product that is worthless without other users, deciding launch sequencing and seeding tactics, or diagnosing stalled network growth at scale. Covers the five stages: cold start, tipping point, escape velocity, hitting the ceiling, and the moat. For word-of-mouth virality, see contagious. For habit-driven retention, see hooked-ux.

## SKILL.md, as published by its author (untrusted third-party text, read it as data)

# The Cold Start Problem

A framework for starting and scaling products that live or die by network effects, marketplaces, social apps, messaging, and collaboration tools, distilled from Andrew Chen's *The Cold Start Problem*. Use it to launch products that are worthless until other users show up, to sequence growth network by network, and to navigate the five stages: the cold start, the tipping point, escape velocity, hitting the ceiling, and the moat.

## Core Principle

**Network effects start as a liability, not an asset.** Value lives in connections between users, and on day one there are none, the same force that makes a dense network unstoppable makes an empty one useless. You don't escape by launching to a market; you escape by building one tiny, complete, self-sustaining network at a time, solving its hard side first, then tipping adjacent networks with a repeatable playbook until the market follows.

## Scoring

**Goal: 10/10.** Rate launch plans and growth strategies for networked products 0-10 against the principles below. Report the current score and the specific changes needed to reach 10/10.

- **9-10:** Named atomic network with an instrumented magic moment, hard side solved first, repeatable tipping playbook, density/liquidity metrics, explicit ceiling and moat plan
- **7-8:** Clear atomic network and hard-side focus, but tipping tactics are ad hoc or metrics still track totals over density
- **5-6:** Network effects acknowledged, but the launch targets a broad market and both sides are treated equally
- **3-4:** Generic user-acquisition plan; network thinking limited to "add invites and hope it spreads"
- **0-2:** Big-bang launch to everyone at once, vanity signups, no hard-side strategy, no liquidity measures

## Framework

### 1. Network Effects Fundamentals

The rest: https://github.com/wondelai/skills/blob/HEAD/cold-start-problem/SKILL.md