Step 1: Let Claude interview you for the brief
Don't write your company brief from scratch. You'll either write too much or skip the parts that matter. Open a normal chat (not the Project yet) and paste this.
I'm going to set up a Claude Project for my company so I never have to explain it again. Interview me to build a one-page company brief.
Ask me one question at a time, and wait for my answer before the next one. Cover:
1. What we sell, in one sentence a stranger would understand
2. Who buys it (role, company size, the moment they start looking)
3. The problem they had before us and what they used instead
4. Pricing: plans, prices, billing unit, any discounts we actually give
5. Current numbers I'm comfortable sharing (MRR, customers, growth, churn)
6. Our top 3 competitors and the honest reason people pick us over each
7. What we are NOT, and customers we don't want
8. How we sound: 3 words for our voice, and 3 words we never use
9. Our focus for the next 90 days
When you have everything, write the brief as plain markdown under these headings: Product, Customer, Problem, Pricing, Numbers, Competitors, Not us, Voice, Current focus. Max 600 words. No marketing language. Where I was vague, write [CONFIRM] instead of guessing.
Answer like you're talking to a smart new hire. Short, blunt, specific. When the brief comes back, fix every [CONFIRM] and save it as a file called company-brief.md.
Done when
You have one file, under 600 words, that you'd be comfortable handing to a new employee on day one.
Step 2: Create the Project and paste these instructions
In Claude, go to Projects, click New Project, and name it after your company. Then open the Project's instructions field and paste this, editing the two lines in brackets.
You are working inside [Company]'s workspace. The files in this Project are the source of truth about the business. Read company-brief.md before answering anything about our product, customers, pricing or strategy.
How to work with me:
- I'm the founder. Skip the basics and the disclaimers. Assume I know my market.
- If a file answers the question, use the file, not general knowledge. Say which file you used.
- If the files and my message disagree, point it out and ask which one is current.
- If you don't know something about the business, say so and ask. Never invent numbers, customers or quotes.
- Give me one recommendation, not five options, unless I ask for options.
- Default length: short. Bullets over paragraphs. No summary at the end.
- Write in our voice when drafting anything customer-facing: [paste your 3 voice words]. Never use: [paste your 3 banned words].
The line that does the most work is "never invent numbers, customers or quotes". Without it, Claude will happily fill a gap in your data with something plausible, and you won't notice until it's in a pitch deck.
Step 3: Upload five files, not fifty
More files doesn't mean better answers. Stale or contradictory files make answers worse, because Claude can't tell which pricing sheet is the real one. Start with these five.
| File | Why it earns its spot |
|---|
company-brief.md | The one-page truth from Step 1 |
| Current pitch deck (PDF) | How you frame the story and the market |
| Pricing page, copied as text | So quotes and proposals use today's numbers |
| 3 to 5 real customer quotes | Real language for copy, emails and positioning |
| Your last investor update or board memo | Where the business actually is, including the bad parts |
Leave out: old decks, brainstorm docs, anything with pricing you've since changed, and giant exports nobody has read. If a file would confuse a new hire, it'll confuse Claude.
One habit keeps it sharp: when something changes (new plan, new price, new focus), update company-brief.md the same day and re-upload it. That's the whole maintenance job.
Step 4: Run the three tests
Open a new chat inside the Project and run these one at a time. They check different things.
Test 1. Does it know the facts?
Without me explaining anything, describe our company, who we sell to and what we charge. Then tell me which files you pulled that from.
If it gets pricing wrong, your pricing file is stale or missing.
Test 2. Does it admit what it doesn't know?
What was our churn rate last quarter, and which customer segment churned most?
If you didn't upload that data, the right answer is "I don't have that". If it gives you a number, tighten the "never invent" line in your instructions and run it again.
Test 3. Does it sound like you?
Write a 90-word cold email to a founder who matches our ICP. Use our voice and one real customer quote from the files.
If it reads like a generic sales template, your voice words are too vague. "Direct, specific, dry" works. "Professional, friendly, innovative" doesn't.
Done when
All three pass without you adding any context to the chat.
What to use it for this week
Once it works, stop opening blank chats for business work. Everything company-related goes in the Project.
| Task | Prompt to start with |
|---|
| Sales email | "Draft a follow-up to [name] after our demo. They pushed back on [objection]." |
| Pricing question | "A prospect with 40 seats wants 30% off annual. What do I say?" |
| Content | "Turn this customer quote into a LinkedIn post in our voice." |
| Hiring | "Write a job post for our first AE. Use the brief for who we sell to." |
| Investor update | "Here are this month's numbers. Draft the update in our usual format." |
You can check and edit what Claude remembers any time under Settings, then Capabilities. Glance at it once a month. If something's wrong there, fix it; it's cheaper than correcting it in every chat.
Run it today
- Paste the interview prompt into a normal chat and answer the nine questions. About 12 minutes.
- Create the Project, paste the instructions, upload the brief plus four files. About 5 minutes.
- Run the three tests. About 3 minutes.
Twenty minutes, once. After that, every chat starts where the last one should have ended.