10 Ways to Strengthen Your Idea with AI

AI can be a fantastic tool to challenge our own thinking, ask us tough questions, and stress-test ideas to reduce the likelihood of wasted time and resources.

Do you have an idea you're considering implementing for yourself or your business? Maybe you've already gone through exercises such as SCAMPER or diffuse thinking, and you think you're ready to move forward.

Here are 10 AI prompts to help you build confidence that your idea is worth investing your time and resources into.

1: Explain Like I'm 5

Explain my idea back to me as if I am 5 years old. Use analogies and comparisons to every day situations.

It might take a lot of work and thinking to arrive at good ideas, but the best ideas are simple, memorable, and easy to communicate to others.

Would a 5 year old really understand your idea? If not, your idea might be too complex.

2: 3 Challenging Questions

Ask me 3 challenging questions about my idea to help me make it stronger. Ask questions one by one and do not ask the next question until I respond.

This is all about putting yourself on the spot and facing potentially uncomfortable assumptions. You don't need to answer instantly - feel free to leave it a few hours or even days between answering the questions.

This only works if you answer yourself - no using AI to answer for you!

3: The Skeptic

Assume this idea will fail. List the most likely reasons it would not work in the real world, from market, behaviour, timing, and execution perspectives.

Good for new product or service ideas, this prompt forces you to face reality early. Use this to spot risks you can plan for, not reasons to abandon the idea.

4: Baby Steps

What is the smallest, least disruptive version of this idea that would still teach me something useful?

Use this to identify some low-stakes ways you could start to implement this idea. Small steps are useful not only to test the waters and see if your idea will work, but also ease yourself into new habits and ways of working. Humans are notorious for resisting change!

5: The Realist

Assume people do not behave rationally or consistently. How might habits, incentives, fear, or convenience undermine this idea?

Useful if your idea involves a team of stakeholders. We may have a clear idea about our idea, but often, other people don't necessarily see our vision or, even if they do, irrational human behaviour can undermine our plans!

6: 1 Sentence Pitch

Turn my idea into one sentence that a stranger could repeat easily. Then list the 5 assumptions hidden inside that sentence.

By boiling down your idea into one sentence your AI will skip certain details. In doing so, this can uncover assumptions you're making about the idea, useful to identify gaps in your thinking.

7: PR Disaster

It’s 12 months later and this idea failed. Write 5 realistic headlines about why.

In coaching this is known as a "pre-mortem" and is a way to plan for potential failure later on. It makes risks visible, making them less scary and unknown.

8: Stakeholder Swap

Rewrite my idea from three perspectives: the person I need to sell it in to, the person benefiting from it, the person who has to implement it. How would each person realistically describe it?

This stops you developing an idea for an imaginary ‘average’ stakeholder. The people impacted by your idea are unique and have their own needs and preferences. Embrace this to start figuring out where your idea might fall down.

Bear in mind the person paying might be paying with their time, rather than money!

9: Competitor Copycat

Assume a bigger competitor copies this tomorrow. What parts of my idea are easy to copy, and what parts are defensible? Suggest 3 ways to become harder to copy.

This allows you to sense check before you invest too much time and energy. Are you likely to spend months on this and then have a bigger competitor copy you in a matter of weeks?

What unfair advantage can you create for yourself to prevent this?

10: The Believer

List the 5 beliefs someone would need to hold for them to buy into this idea. For each belief, design one observable behaviour that would reveal the person holds this belief.

We often assume other people think like us, and believe in the same things as us. But people can surprise us!

Our ideas often rely on others sharing the same beliefs, values and priorities as us. This is fine, as long as we are able to identify people who hold those beliefs to reaffirm who we're making this idea for.