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Poke the Bear

Write cold emails with Josh Braun's Poke the Bear method — principle-driven, research-backed, no templates.

Open source · MIT · Production-tested inside LeadGrow's live pipeline
Quick install
$ mkdir -p .claude/skills/braun-copywriting curl -sL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/LeadGrowGTM/poke-the-bear-skill/main/SKILL.md \ -o .claude/skills/braun-copywriting/SKILL.md
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What you unlock

A Claude Code skill that teaches Claude to write cold emails using Josh Braun's Poke the Bear methodology. No templates, no tricks — every line earns its place through a specific principle: the 6-element structure (TRUTH → THINK → cost of inaction → third-party validation → curiosity pique → low-friction CTA), illumination-question construction, "crispy" 5-line emails, and one chess move per follow-up. Pair it with LeadGrow's outbound CLIs to take a finished email from copy to live campaign. Frameworks credit Josh Braun — if you use it, buy his course.

OutcomeBuilt at LeadGrow, used in live pipelines, shipped open source so you don't have to build it yourself.
How it works
Poke the Bear — how it works
See it in action

3 things you can do right now.

No UI. No clicking. Just commands that execute.

Write a Braun-style cold email
$ > "Write a poke-the-bear cold email for a VP of Sales at a Series B SaaS"
Drafting with the 6-element structure... → TRUTH opener (no "hope you're well") → illumination question that pokes the status quo → 5 lines, one low-friction CTA
OutcomeA crispy, principle-built email — not a mail-merge template.
Build a poke-the-bear question matrix
$ > "Build a question matrix for RevOps leaders at 50-200 person SaaS"
6 illumination questions, ranked: 1. "How are you handling [status quo] now that [tension]?" ... each tied to a principle + quality test
Outcome6–8 angles to poke the bear — pick the sharpest for the opener.
Review a draft against the principles
$ > "Review this email against Braun principles" + paste draft
16-point checklist: ✗ CTA fails the 5-word reply test ✗ 2 door-slammer phrases ✓ TRUTH opener Rewrite suggested.
OutcomeA quality gate before you hit send. Cut the slammers, keep the openers.
What's included

Every capability, ready to script.

6-element structure: TRUTH → THINK → cost of inaction → third-party proof → curiosity pique → low-friction CTA
Illumination-question construction — 4 question frames, each with a quality test
Crispy emails — the calorie rule and a 3-pass cutting process (why 5 lines wins)
One chess move per follow-up — never bump, always advance with a new angle
16-point review checklist + the door-opener vs door-slammer "commission breath" test
The workflow

End to end. Zero manual steps.

Every element traces back to a Braun principle with a quality test — so the output is defensible, not vibes. No templates means no two emails read the same.

01

Install the skill.

One curl copies SKILL.md into your workspace. Claude Code auto-discovers it — trigger with /braun-copywriting or a phrase like "poke the bear email."

$ mkdir -p .claude/skills/braun-copywriting curl -sL .../SKILL.md -o .claude/skills/braun-copywriting/SKILL.md
02

Start from a customer truth.

Braun emails are built from a real tension, not a feature. Hand Claude a customer quote or job-to-be-done and it constructs the illumination question that pokes the status quo.

$ > "Here's a quote from a happy customer — build the opener"
03

Cut to crispy.

Three passes against the calorie rule. Every line that doesn't earn its place gets cut. Five lines beats fifteen — and the skill proves it line by line.

$ > "Make it crispy" # 3-pass cut to ~5 lines
04

One chess move per follow-up.

Never bump with "just following up." Each follow-up advances with a new angle from the question matrix — a fresh reason to reply, not a nudge.

$ > "Write follow-up 2 — one new chess move"
Real scenarios

What teams actually use it for.

Not theoretical. These are the pipelines running at LeadGrow and client stacks today.

01Writing a Braun-style cold email for a specific role and ICP
02Building a poke-the-bear question matrix (6–8 illumination questions) per prospect
03Reviewing existing copy against Braun principles before a campaign launches
Included skills

Pre-built automations. Ready to run.

These aren't demos. They're the Claude Code skills we run inside LeadGrow, shipped open source so you don't have to build them yourself.

braun-copywriting

Braun Copywriting

The core skill. Writes a cold email through the 6-element structure, with an illumination question that pokes the status quo and a low-friction CTA that passes the 5-word reply test.

Triggers: "/braun-copywriting" / "poke the bear email" / "write a crispy cold email"
question-matrix

Question Matrix

Builds 6–8 illumination questions per ICP using 4 question frames, each with a quality test. Pick the sharpest angle for the opener and reuse the rest across follow-ups.

Triggers: "build a poke the bear question matrix" / "illumination questions for [ICP]"
email-review

Principle Review

Runs any draft through the 16-point checklist — door-openers vs door-slammers, the commission-breath test, and the 5-word CTA test. Flags what to cut and what to keep.

Triggers: "review this email against Braun principles"
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