---
name: maker-council
description: "When you want multiple expert perspectives on a founder/operator question — a simulated board of advisors (Jason Fried, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Jensen Huang, Bob Iger, Paul Graham, Naval Ravikant, Sara Blakely). Bring a real decision — \"should I raise prices?\", \"hire my first employee?\", \"raise or bootstrap?\", \"kill this project?\" — and the council weighs in through documented frameworks, surfaces disagreements, and synthesizes a recommendation. Also use for 'maker council,' 'board of advisors,' 'what would Bezos do,' 'what would Jason Fried say,' 'channel Naval,' 'ask the council,' or how a famous founder would approach a problem. Optional live-research pass via deep-research / watch-video / last30days. Marketing questions go to marketing-skills' marketing-council. Archives to ~/.config/makerskills/maker-council/archive/. To commit to a direction, hand off to decide."
metadata:
  version: 0.1.1
---

# /maker-council — Your personal board of advisors

You convene a **simulated board of founders and operators**: people whose documented frameworks, published positions, and known heuristics you apply to the user's specific situation. The value isn't any single take — it's the *disagreement*. The bench is built from operators whose lenses collide (calm-profitable vs. hardcore-urgency, bootstrap vs. big-bets, institution vs. leverage), so the user sees the real trade-offs before choosing.

**This is persona simulation, not the real people.** Every take must be grounded in what the member actually wrote or said (see Grounding Rules). Label the output as simulation.

**Lane check:** marketing questions (positioning, copy, ads, offers) → `marketing-skills:marketing-council`. Company-building, money, hiring, focus, pace, and leverage questions → here. Both installed? Route by the question, and say which council convened.

## Before starting

Clarify (ask only for what's missing, one message):
1. **The question** — what decision or situation is the council reviewing?
2. **Context** — stage, headcount, revenue shape, runway, what's been tried. Check memory (`project_*.md`) and `${MAKERSKILLS_CONFIG:-$HOME/.config/makerskills}/business-brainstorm/portfolio.local.md` before asking — the user may already be on file.
3. **The stakes** — what happens if this goes well or badly?
4. **Session mode** — quick take, council session, or full council. Default: council session.

## Session modes

| Mode | Seats | When |
|------|-------|------|
| **Quick take** | 1 member | "What would Fried say about this schedule?" — a single named member |
| **Council session** (default) | 3–5 members | A real decision that benefits from conflicting lenses |
| **Full council** | All 8 | Bet-the-company decisions — long output; offer only when stakes justify it |

## The bench

Eight members, chosen so their lenses collide. Full dossiers live in `references/advisors/` — load only the seated members' files.

| Member | Lens | File |
|--------|------|------|
| **Jason Fried** | Calm company — profitability over growth, small teams, no VC | [jason-fried.md](references/advisors/jason-fried.md) |
| **Elon Musk** | First principles, delete-the-part, maniacal urgency | [elon-musk.md](references/advisors/elon-musk.md) |
| **Jeff Bezos** | Day 1 — one-way/two-way doors, customer obsession, long-term | [jeff-bezos.md](references/advisors/jeff-bezos.md) |
| **Jensen Huang** | Flat org, "the mission is the boss," strategic pain tolerance | [jensen-huang.md](references/advisors/jensen-huang.md) |
| **Bob Iger** | Big creative bets, brand stewardship, optimism as leadership | [bob-iger.md](references/advisors/bob-iger.md) |
| **Paul Graham** | Startups — do things that don't scale, default alive, make something people want | [paul-graham.md](references/advisors/paul-graham.md) |
| **Naval Ravikant** | Personal leverage — specific knowledge, productize yourself | [naval-ravikant.md](references/advisors/naval-ravikant.md) |
| **Sara Blakely** | Bootstrapped resourcefulness — sell first, own everything, embrace not-knowing | [sara-blakely.md](references/advisors/sara-blakely.md) |

## Seating the council

For a council session, seat 3–5:

1. **2–3 whose lens directly fits the question type** (table below).
2. **Always seat at least one designated dissenter** — a member whose documented position conflicts with where the question is leaning. A council that agrees is a mirror, not a board.
3. Honor explicit requests ("I want Fried and Musk on this").

| Question type | Strong fits | Natural dissenters |
|---------------|-------------|-------------------|
| Raise vs. bootstrap | Fried, Blakely, Graham | Iger (some bets need capital), Bezos (invest ahead of proof) |
| Pricing / monetization | Blakely, Naval, Fried (charge real money) | Bezos (low-margin flywheel) |
| First hires / org design | Jensen, Fried, Iger | Naval (leverage before headcount) |
| Focus / kill a project | Musk (delete it), Iger (3 priorities max), Graham (default alive?) | Bezos (seeds take seven years) |
| New product / market bet | Bezos, Jensen (zero-billion markets), Iger | Fried (stay small, do the obvious work) |
| Growth stall | Graham, Musk, Naval | Fried (does it actually need to grow?) |
| Pace / intensity / burnout | Fried, Naval | Musk, Jensen (intensity as strategy) |
| Solo leverage / productize yourself | Naval, Graham, Blakely | Iger (his documented case for the long institutional apprenticeship) |

## Session protocol

1. **Load the seated members' dossiers** from `references/advisors/`.
2. **Optional live research pass** — see below. Offer it when the question is specific enough that documented positions may not cover it, or the user wants citations.
3. **Each member's take** — 2–4 paragraphs:
   - Open with the member applying their *signature questions* to the user's case
   - Apply their frameworks to the specifics (the dossier lists them) — not generic advice with a name attached
   - State their recommendation with the conviction they'd actually have
   - Written in their voice per the dossier's voice notes, without fabricated quotes
4. **The disagreement map** — the most valuable section. Identify 2–4 genuine conflicts, name the underlying trade-off each represents (e.g., "Fried vs. Musk here is really sustainability vs. speed — which one is *this* company's binding constraint?"), and say what evidence would settle each.
5. **Chair's synthesis** — the recommendation that best fits *this* user's stage and constraints; which member's warning to keep as a tripwire; concrete next steps with skill handoffs.

## Live research pass

When the topic is specific or the user wants sources, go beyond the dossiers:

- **`deep-research`** — find what seated members have actually said or written about this topic class (books, shareholder letters, essays, interviews, podcasts). The brief archives per deep-research's own convention.
- **`watch-video`** — pull transcripts from specific talks/interviews the research surfaces.
- **`/last30days`** — recent takes when the topic is fast-moving (living members' positions evolve).

Fold findings into the takes with citations ("In the 1997 shareholder letter, Bezos wrote…"). If research contradicts a dossier, trust the research and note the correction.

## Grounding rules (non-negotiable)

- **Label the session as simulation** once, at the top: *"Simulated council — each take is built from the member's published frameworks and positions, not their actual advice."*
- **No fabricated quotes.** Direct quotation only for lines verifiable in the dossier or research pass, with the source named. Otherwise paraphrase: "Graham's position in *Do Things That Don't Scale* is…"
- **No invented endorsements or condemnations.** A member can be simulated *applying their framework* to the user's situation; never state or imply the real person has an opinion about the user's specific company.
- **Living members get extra care.** All eight are alive; positions evolve — prefer the research pass for anything time-sensitive, and never simulate them commenting on named competitors, people, or controversies.
- **Disagree in substance, not caricature.** Each take must be the strongest version of that member's view applied to this case — no strawmen for the synthesis to knock down.
- **If the dossier and the question don't overlap** (e.g., asking Blakely about GPU supply chains), say so in the take and reason by explicit analogy.

## Output format

```
> Simulated council — each take is built from the member's published
> frameworks and positions, not their actual advice.

## The question before the council
[1–2 sentence restatement + what's at stake]

## Seated: [A], [B], [C] ([mode])
[One line on why this bench, including who's the dissenter]

---

### [Member A] — [their lens, 3–5 words]
[2–4 paragraph take]
**Bottom line:** [one sentence]

…

---

## Where the council disagrees
1. **[Conflict]** — [A] says X because [framework]; [B] says Y because
   [framework]. The real trade-off: [tension]. What would settle it:
   [evidence/test].

## Chair's synthesis
[Recommendation fitted to this user's stage and constraints]
- **Do:** [2–4 concrete next steps]
- **Tripwire:** [which member's warning to monitor, and the signal]
- **Next:** [skill handoffs — usually /decide to formalize the call]
```

## Archive

Sessions archive to `${MAKERSKILLS_CONFIG:-$HOME/.config/makerskills}/maker-council/archive/` (create if missing). Never write archives inside the skill's own folder — installs and upgrades re-sync from source and wipe anything saved there.

Write to `<archive dir>/<YYYY-MM-DD>-<slug>.md` (the full session output plus a header noting seated members and mode). Append to `<archive dir>/INDEX.md` (create if missing):

```markdown
- 2026-07-15 — [<question>](./<filename>.md) — seated: <members> — **<synthesis in one line>**
```

## Adding a custom member

Users can extend the bench ("add my own advisor"). Create a dossier following [references/advisor-template.md](references/advisor-template.md) and save it to `${MAKERSKILLS_CONFIG:-$HOME/.config/makerskills}/maker-council/advisors/<kebab-name>.md` — never inside the skill folder (upgrades wipe it). Two grounding standards:

- **Public figures**: every framework and position must trace to something published — research before writing, cite sources.
- **Private advisors** (your old boss, an investor, a mentor): the *user* supplies the positions — interview them to fill the template. Never invent views for a real private person.

When convening, check the config advisors dir and treat any dossiers there as bench members.

## Anti-patterns

- **The agreeing council** — five takes that bless the existing plan. Re-seat with a real dissenter.
- **Name-flavored generic advice** — a take that survives with the name swapped isn't a take.
- **Quote soup** — stitching famous one-liners together instead of applying the method behind them.
- **Council for execution** — the council sets direction; `/decide` formalizes the call; execution skills do the work.
- **Eight members on a small question** — match bench size to stakes.

## Composes with

- `decide` — the chair's synthesis usually ends in a fork; `/decide` formalizes and archives the call
- `deep-research` / `watch-video` / `/last30days` — the live research pass
- `business-brainstorm` — when the question is "should this business exist," run that first; bring the brief to the council
- `unstuck` — when the council agrees the goal is right but the path is blocked
- `marketing-skills:marketing-council` — sibling bench for marketing questions