Agent-Skills.md

Agent Skills: Gaia Product Monetization Design

Provides Stage 3 monetization-design guidance for consumer one-off / in-app-purchase products - selecting a primary model (premium / freemium-IAP / free-ads / hybrid) against retention and platform, a price ladder with psychology, an IAP catalogue, ad-revenue economics, a faucet/sink economy balanced via cohort simulation, a conversion funnel with lifetime ARPPU, validation of net-of-fee unit economics with a cashflow check, and translation into product requirements. Use to design the money model and prove net LTV:CAC >= 3:1 with payback before requirements ship.

UncategorizedID: frostaura/ai.toolkit.gaia/fa-product-monetization-design

Repository

frostaura/ai.toolkit.gaia
frostauraLicense: MIT
3026

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pnpm dlx add-skill https://github.com/frostaura/ai.toolkit.gaia/tree/HEAD/plugins/product/skills/fa-product-monetization-design

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plugins/product/skills/fa-product-monetization-design/SKILL.md

Skill Metadata

Name
fa-product-monetization-design
Description
Provides the money-model design playbook (Stage 3) for consumer one-off / in-app-purchase products - choosing a primary model (premium / freemium-IAP / free-ads / hybrid) against retention, audience and platform, a price ladder with pricing psychology, an IAP catalogue, ad-revenue economics, a faucet/sink economy balanced by cohort simulation, a conversion funnel with lifetime ARPPU, and net-of-fee validation with a cashflow check. Use it by designing the model around the selected concept, proving net LTV:CAC >= 3:1 with a payback window, then translating it into binding product requirements. Use it when a chosen concept needs pricing, an IAP catalogue or an in-game economy, when someone asks how this product should make money, or when unit economics must be proven before requirements ship. It never tests willingness-to-pay with real money - that is `fa-product-validation`.

Gaia Product Monetization Design

Scope and when to use

Use this skill to design the money model for the selected concept and prove it nets out. Scope is one-off + IAP/IAG monetization; B2B seat-based SaaS is out of scope and an auto-renew pass is red-lined unless an in-scope decision is recorded.

Use when:

  • a selected concept needs a primary model, price ladder, and economy
  • unit economics must be validated net-of-fee with a cashflow check
  • the money model must become concrete product requirements

Do not use when:

  • no concept is selected yet (run ideation first)
  • the model is validated and only needs money-on-the-line testing

Required inputs

  • the selected concept brief and its monetization hypothesis
  • the current unit-economics model version and segment mix
  • platform billing constraints and target-geo price/eCPM data

Owned outputs

  • the chosen primary model, price ladder, IAP catalogue, and ad stack
  • a cohort-simulated economy with faucet:sink balance and gate placement
  • a net-of-fee economics validation and the monetization product requirements

Core workflow

  1. Select the primary model (premium / freemium-IAP / free-ads / hybrid) justified against retention, audience, and platform; honor red lines (no exploitative loot boxes targeting minors, no loop-breaking pay-to-win, NO auto-renew pass unless recorded).
  2. Build the price ladder with psychology: charm pricing, a 4-6 rung IAP ladder, decoy/best-value anchoring, a first-time starter pack, and localized NET-by-geo pricing.
  3. Define the IAP catalogue (consumables, non-consumables, currencies, bundles; soft vs hard currency; a season pass treated as a one-off).
  4. Model ad-revenue economics: mediation, eCPM by geo/format, ad ARPDAU, and rewarded feeds back into IAP.
  5. Balance the economy faucets and sinks; simulate a cohort at 30/60/90d, set the faucet:sink ratio, place the monetization gate, and guard against inflation.
  6. Define the conversion funnel and metrics (install->activated->retained->payer->repeat->whale) using LIFETIME ARPPU (not monthly), ARPDAU, and segments.
  7. Validate unit economics: net of the fee each channel actually pays (15/30 base tiers; external-link and DMA alternative terms differ) plus refunds/chargebacks/fraud/tax, run a CASHFLOW/working-capital check, require LTV:CAC >= 3:1 with payback, and stress whale fragility.
  8. Translate to product requirements: shop surface, contextual offers, pass system, ads integration, remote-config economy, A/B plan, and analytics spec.

Economy balancing

  • Simulate a real cohort over 30/60/90 days; a static spreadsheet hides inflation.
  • Tune faucet:sink so the soft economy stays scarce enough for the gate to matter.
  • Place the monetization gate where it relieves friction, never where it breaks the loop.

Anti-patterns

  • do not pick a model that fights the genre's retention curve
  • do not price in a single currency or quote gross IAP take
  • do not report monthly ARPPU or MRR framing (that is subscription math)
  • do not balance the economy without a multi-day cohort simulation
  • do not pass economics without the cashflow/working-capital check

Handoff and downstream impact

  • hand validation the falsifiable money model and the price ladder to test
  • hand the money gate the net-of-fee LTV:CAC, payback, and cash gap
  • name the loop-back: a failed validation re-tunes the economy here

Completion checklist

  • the primary model is justified and red lines are honored
  • the price ladder and IAP catalogue are localized and net-by-geo
  • the economy is cohort-simulated with faucet:sink and gate placement set
  • net-of-fee LTV:CAC >= 3:1, payback, and cashflow all pass
  • the monetization product requirements are explicit and instrumentable

References