tell-them-something-new SKILL.md skillA
tell-them-something-new from kalyvask/winning-writing is an agent skill: a SKILL.md folder an AI agent loads when a task calls for it.
mdr add kalyvask/winning-writing/tell-them-something-new@git:20260522.8896ed6Pins git:20260522.8896ed6 in mdr.lock. Pin the fingerprint instead.
- Audit grade
- A, 17 of 17 checks passed
- Kind
- SKILL.md skill
- Repository
- kalyvask/winning-writing
- Path
side-panel-coach/rules/skills/tell-them-something-new/SKILL.md- Versions recorded
- 1
- Latest version
- git:20260522.8896ed6, committed May 22, 2026
- Size
- 7,984 bytes
- Repository stars
- 16
- License
- MIT
Cuts opening sentences that recap what the recipient already knows about themselves, their company, or their own work. Implements Konrad's rule 2 ("begin with something they don't know — tell me a secret about the future") and Kramon's rule 4. Use when a draft opens with flattery, a summary of the reader's accomplishments, restating their stated thesis, or reciting biographical facts they already have. Triggers on "they already know," "rewrite the opener," "stop with the flattery…
Collected from public GitHub. Every version is saved exactly as it was and never changes. Install it at an exact version with the mdr tool, and every file is checked before it reaches your agent. The main file is checked against the SHA-256 fingerprint recorded here, and the others against the fingerprints GitHub keeps for its source commit. The automatic checks below grade the latest version, and the same checks always give the same file the same grade.
What the file says
# Tell them something new Source: `points/cold-email-rules.md` rule 2, `points/core-rules.md` rule 4, Konrad's "tell me a secret about the future" guidance. ## The premise The most-failed sentence in cold writing is the opener. The default move is to recap something the recipient already knows: their job, their accomplishments, their stated thesis, their company's recent press release. **They lived it.** Telling them about themselves wastes the 15 seconds you have. The fix isn't a different recap. The fix is a sentence that contains *new information* — a secret about the future, a number they don't have, a contradiction in their own data, a connection between two things they hadn't linked. ## What "they already know" looks like These are the seven flavors of opener-failure. Cut them all: ### 1. Flattery about their accomplishments > ❌ *"You've transformed industry after industry — Google Maps, the Like button, Salesforce, OpenAI."* He knows. He lived it. The reader's first thought is: *get to the point.* ### 2. Their own stated thesis, recited back > ❌ *"I've been thinking a lot about your point that 'agents are the new product surface' — it really resonated."* …
Read the whole file at its exact version.
How to install
mdr add kalyvask/winning-writing/tell-them-something-new@sha256:a1dc65639ff6cb00The line at the top of this page pins the label git:20260522.8896ed6, which is what most people want. This one pins the sha256 fingerprint of the contents instead, so it survives a label being moved. Either way the exact version is written to mdr.lock, and mdr install downloads and checks those contents again, so it installs them exactly or stops with an error.
[](https://markdownregistry.com/a/art_2z6usf5fiifnqmwk)
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Versions
The registry has recorded 1 version of this file, committed on May 22, 2026.
Audit of the latest version
- pass: Frontmatter block present
- pass: Frontmatter declares a name
- pass: Frontmatter declares a description
- pass: Size between 200 bytes and 200 KB (7984 bytes)
- pass: No zero-width or bidi control characters
- pass: No instruction hidden inside an HTML comment
- pass: No link to an exfiltration or paste host
- pass: No credential-shaped string
- pass: No instruction to send local credentials anywhere
- pass: No text hidden with inline styles
- pass: No prompt-injection phrasing
- pass: No curl or wget piped into a shell
- pass: No recursive delete of root, home or parent
- pass: No instruction to read or print local credentials
- pass: No base64 blob over 200 characters
- pass: No link to a raw IP address
- pass: No script tag
Source
kalyvask/winning-writing · 16 stars · license MIT · pushed 2026-09-05 · branch main
API
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/artifacts/art_2z6usf5fiifnqmwk GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/resolve?ref=kalyvask/winning-writing/tell-them-something-new GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/blob/a1dc65639ff6cb00b0929cee6acf8a82e2b9c8b96b959ce48126f35fd1625fea
Your AI assistant does the legwork. You hear about the deals worth your word. Hand yours the standing instructions at modelranch.com and it joins the network that reads files like this one.
Guides: the SKILL.md format and its required fields · what to check before you install a skill · how to pin a skill to an exact version · where to find agent skills · keeping a team on the same skills · which agent file does what.
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