financial services claude liam deal sourcing 4k
The video uses a deal-sourcing skill to show what a skill is: one SKILL.md file that Claude reads and follows. It gives Claude a repeatable three-step process for finding candidates and drafting outreach, but no judgment about which deals are good.
When Claude picks up a skill called deal-sourcing, it can sound as if Claude has gained the ability to judge which companies are worth investing in. The video says it has not. The skill finds candidates, and whether any of them is a good deal remains up to the person using it.
The tempting assumption
The framing the video starts from is that a deal-sourcing skill means Claude now decides where to invest. It sounds like investment judgment. But nothing in the model changes when a skill is added.
The video makes this concrete with a thought experiment: delete the skills folder, and Claude does not lose any investment judgment, because there was none to begin with. It only stops running a three-step checklist.
What a skill actually is
A skill is a folder holding a single file, SKILL.md. For deal-sourcing, that file lists three steps in order:
- Search a sector for target companies.
- Check the CRM for existing relationships.
- Draft a personalized outreach email to the founder.
Claude reads the file top to bottom and works through it step by step. There is no branching unless the file itself says to branch.
A specification, not new judgment
This makes a skill a specification. The payoff is that the same three steps run for every sector, every time. The limit is that ranking candidates by how good an investment they are is not on the page, so Claude is not told to do it. Each time the skill runs, Claude reads the same file and works through the same steps. The video calls that the whole trick.
Why the output proves little on its own
The video also warns against treating results as evidence. Watching Claude surface twenty candidate companies shows only that the search step ran. It says nothing about whether any of them is a good investment. Likewise, watching Claude draft a clean, personalized outreach email shows nothing about whether the founder will ever reply. A skill named deal-sourcing does not hand Claude investment judgment. It finds candidate companies and drafts the outreach.
Key takeaways
- A skill is a folder with one SKILL.md file that Claude reads before and while it works.
- Deal-sourcing has three steps: search a sector, check the CRM, draft a founder outreach email.
- Deleting the folder removes the checklist, not any investment judgment.
- Claude follows the steps in order, without branching unless the file says so.
- The payoff is the same process every sector, every run.
- Ranking candidates by investment quality is not in the file.
- Twenty candidates or a polished email prove nothing about deal quality.
Try it yourself
Pick one repeatable search-and-outreach routine you run over and over. It can be about sourcing candidates for anything, not only deals. Ask Claude to write you a SKILL.md for it, with the steps in order and in plain language. Then have Claude read it back and walk you through exactly what it will do before it does it.
Chapters
- 0:00The naive framing: "Claude decides which companies to invest in"
- 0:09Sounds like investment judgment
- 0:16Broken, with a case — delete the folder, nothing is lost
- 0:26The anchor: one file — deal-sourcing's single SKILL.md, three steps
- 0:42Read it, then follow it in order: search, check CRM, draft email
- 0:52Spec, not judgment — the payoff and the limit
- 1:05The anchor returns — same file, every run
- 1:17Both directions — neither one is proof
- 1:31Carry-out
- 1:41Your turn
- 1:56Outro
Full transcript(auto-generated, with timestamps)
The naive framing: "Claude decides which companies to invest in"
[0:00]You guess Claude decides which companies to invest in once it picks up deal sourcing. It doesn't. It just finds candidates. Let's see what's actually inside that file.
Sounds like investment judgment
[0:09]Here Claude has a deal sourcing skill, and it sounds like Claude itself can judge which companies are worth investing in.
Broken, with a case — delete the folder, nothing is lost
[0:16]But nothing in the model changes. Delete the skills folder and Claude doesn't lose any investment judgment. There was none to begin with. It just stops running that three-step checklist.
The anchor: one file — deal-sourcing's single SKILL.md, three steps
[0:26]Here's what a skill actually is, one file. Deal sourcing, for instance, is a folder holding a single skill. MD three steps in order. Search a sector for target companies, check the CRM for existing relationships, draft a personalized outreach email to the founder.
Read it, then follow it in order: search, check CRM, draft email
[0:42]Claude reads that file top to bottom and works through it step by step. Search the sector, check the CRM, draft the email, no branching unless the file itself says branch.
Spec, not judgment — the payoff and the limit
[0:52]That makes a skill a specification, not new judgment. The payoff, the same three steps every sector every time. The limit, ranking those candidates by how good an investment they are, that's not on the page. So deal sourcing never gave Claude
The anchor returns — same file, every run
[1:05]Judgment about which deals are good. It just guarantees that every time it runs, Claude reads that same file and works through the same three steps. That's the whole trick. Watching Claude surface 20 candidate companies proves the search step ran. It
Both directions — neither one is proof
[1:19]Proves nothing about whether any of them are a good investment. And watching it draft a clean, personalized outreach email proves nothing about whether the founder ever replies. A skill named deal sourcing doesn't hand Claude investment
Carry-out
[1:32]Judgment. It finds candidate companies and drafts the outreach. Whether any of it's a good deal is still on you. Your turn. Paste this into Claude. Pick one repeatable search and outreach
Your turn
[1:42]Routine you run over and over sourcing candidates for anything, not just deals. Write me a skill MD for it, the steps in order plain language, then read it back to me and walk me through exactly what you'll do before you do it. Claude deal sourcing lay 'em in for bare.
