Decode a franchise offering before you sign away a decade — the earnings claims and their absence, the territory that is not exclusive, the renewal terms that expire your equity, the mandatory-supplier margins, and the validation calls that reveal what the brochure will not. Use when asked to evaluate a franchise, review an FDD or franchise agreement, is this franchise a good deal, or what to ask existing franchisees. Produces a clause-by-clause decode organised by where the money leaks, the earnings-claim reality check, the validation-call script, and the walk-away list. Not legal or financial advice — a franchise lawyer reviews before any signature.
🗣 Say this to your agent
“Evaluate a franchise.”“Review an FDD.”“Is this franchise a good deal?”“What to ask existing franchisees?”
What to give it
▸The documents — the disclosure document and/or agreement, pasted in relevant part, or the specific sections available
▸The pitch numbers — what the salesperson said or implied about earnings, and where (in the document, or only out loud — the difference matters enormously)
▸Your numbers — capital available, borrowing, the income you need by when, and what you earn now
▸The system's shape — how many units, how many opened and closed in recent years if disclosed, franchisor age
▸The country — disclosure regimes differ; the FDD item structure referenced here is US, and the decode flags what to verify under local law
✅ The bar it holds itself to
Every skill in this library self-verifies — these are this skill's own quality checks, straight from its definition.
✓Every decoded clause lands in a class: cost, control, exit, or leak
✓The earnings analysis addresses sample, survivorship, and gross-vs-net explicitly
✓Verbal numbers absent from the document are flagged as such
✓The ten-year rebuild includes refresh cycles and supplier premiums
✓Former franchisees appear in the call script, not just current ones
✓The lawyer-before-signature line is unmissable
⚠️ What it refuses to do
**Evaluating the brand instead of the agreement.** You are not buying the product you like; you are buying the document.
**Taking the earnings claim as a forecast** — or treating its absence as neutral.
**Costing the entry fee** and letting the decade of gross-revenue royalties fade into percentages.
**Validation calls only to franchisor-provided names.** The list they give you is the list they chose.
**Reading *protected territory* as exclusive** without decoding the carve-outs.
Install
npx pm-claude-skills add --agent claude # or codex · cursor · gemini · hermes
# or one-line MCP (every skill, any client):
claude mcp add pm-skills -- npx -y -p pm-claude-skills pm-claude-skills-mcp
Related skills
🔌 Embed this skill
Drop this on your blog, docs, or site — it renders a "Run this skill" card:
<div data-pm-skill="franchise-decoder"></div>
<script src="https://mohitagw15856.github.io/pm-claude-skills/embed.js" async></script>
💬 Discussion