Better questions for your startup
Most startup advice is garbage.
People tell you to “find product-market fit” or “talk to customers.” Cool. But how?
I’ve been playing with AI prompts to pick apart business ideas. The right question can save you months of guessing. Here are seven prompts that actually work.
Just copy them. Replace the brackets with your stuff. See what happens.
Stop competing on things that don’t matter
I'm in [YOUR INDUSTRY]. Analyze what factors my industry competes on that customers actually don't care about. What could I eliminate entirely to reduce costs while maintaining value? Give me 5 specific factors to consider eliminating and explain the potential cost savings for each.Everyone in your industry probably does the same stuff. Most of it is theater. This prompt finds the waste.
Steal from other industries
Take the core value proposition of [YOUR BUSINESS/IDEA] and identify 3 completely different industries that solve similar customer problems in radically different ways. How could I borrow their approaches to create a hybrid solution that doesn't exist yet? Provide specific examples with implementation steps.The best ideas come from mashing things together. Your industry is probably copying itself. Look somewhere else.
Find the people who should buy but don’t
Who are the people who SHOULD be using products in [YOUR INDUSTRY] but currently don't? Identify 3 groups of non-customers and analyze: 1) Why they avoid current solutions, 2) What barriers exist, 3) How I could redesign the entire experience to convert them into customers. Be specific about pain points and solutions.There’s a huge market of people avoiding your industry. Figure out why. Fix it. Win.
Make the bad parts good
Map the entire customer journey in [YOUR INDUSTRY] from awareness to post-purchase. Identify the 3 most frustrating pain points customers accept as 'just how things are.' For each pain point, brainstorm how I could elevate the experience to delight rather than frustrate. What would 10x better look like?People put up with terrible experiences because they have no choice. You could be the choice.
Break your pricing model
Analyze [YOUR INDUSTRY]'s pricing models. What if I offered 80% of the value for 50% of the price, or 120% of the value for the same price? Map out exactly what features/services I'd need to eliminate, reduce, raise, or create to make either scenario profitable. Show me the math.Pricing is strategy. This forces you to think about what actually matters.
Work backwards from the future
Imagine it's 2030 and [YOUR INDUSTRY] has been completely transformed. What major trend or technology shift made traditional competitors obsolete? Work backwards: what should I start building TODAY to be the company that makes that future happen? Give me a 6-month roadmap.Most people react to change. Better to cause it.
Sell feelings, not features
Beyond functional benefits, what emotional and psychological jobs are customers in [YOUR INDUSTRY] really hiring products to do? Identify 3 emotional needs that current solutions ignore or handle poorly. How could I build a business that makes customers feel [specific emotion] rather than just solving their functional problem?People buy stuff to feel a certain way. Figure out the feeling. Build for that.
These prompts work because they force you to think differently. You can’t answer them with your usual assumptions.
Try one today. Actually do it. The answers might surprise you.
