Whether you’re launching a new product or improving an existing one, knowing how to generate new product ideas can make all the difference.
The best ideas come from a mix of customer insights, market trends, competitor analysis, and surveys etc.,.
But, in today’s post, we’ll be discussing brainstorming. The goal is to generate not just common ideas but to produce revolutionary concepts by pushing our limits with extreme questions.
We’re often bogged down by the same old ideas, drawn from customer feedback, support tickets, and user interviews.
These can’t be underestimated.
They are essential; these small, tactical ideas help us grow incrementally, but they don’t fuel the kind of 10x thinking we need for real breakthroughs.
So, how do you come up with game-changing, transformative ideas?
The simple answer: brainstorming, right?
Okay, but where should you start? What should be the reference point to kick off a brainstorming session?
Today, we’re going to discuss these reference points for brainstorming to generate new product ideas—more specifically, breakthrough ideas.
Here are a series of prompts that will stretch your thinking in new ways, breaking free from the constraints of conventional ideas.
They might even inspire a unique business model.
1. What if you have to increase the price?
Imagine if you have to increase your prices by 10x. What would it take to justify that?
How would your product evolve to reflect the exclusivity or premium value you’re now charging for?
How would the design of your product and website change to match that new positioning?
What subset of your market would you target with this new pricing?
Often, early-stage startups underprice themselves. Even established businesses struggle to break through the psychological barrier of increasing prices.
But thinking about what would justify a massive price hike can surface ideas you can use to justify a 2x, 3x, or even 10x increase.
2. What if you have 0 customers tomorrow?
If all your customers disappear tomorrow, how would you start fresh?
What would your homepage say?
Would you change your brand, pricing model, or feature set to capture a new audience?
Often, we hold onto legacy features or ideas because they satisfy a small subset of our users.
But if you are free from those constraints, what would you build to make yourself more competitive today?
3. What if you have to ship a new feature in just 2 weeks?
What if you only have two weeks to ship a brand-new, fully functional feature that would delight your customers?
Forcing yourself to strip down complexity and focus on essentials can lead to surprising breakthroughs.
Hackathons prove that you can build amazing things in short periods when you eliminate distractions and make trade-offs. This could be the shake-up your team needs to refocus on agility.
4. What if you aren’t allowed to continue the same business model?
What if you have to change the way you charge your customers?
Maybe you’re a subscription-based business forced to adopt a pay-per-use model, or vice versa.
How would that change your pricing structure, your customers, and even your messaging?
Business models shape how we think about value. Sometimes shaking them up can reveal opportunities for growth.
5. What would you do if you don’t have a website?
Trust me, this is a killer and it’ll help you generate new product ideas!
Ever wondered, what if you aren’t allowed to have a website?
How would you still grow your business?
Could your product’s value be so self-evident that customers talk about it to their friends?
Could you leverage social media, or turn your product into its own growth engine?
Viral products rely on this type of thinking, but even non-viral products can tap into the power of in-product marketing.
6. What if you don’t have access to customers?
If you can never talk to customers, how would you figure out what to build next?
Could you analyze user behavior in such detail that you can quickly determine if a change is beneficial?
Are there clear indicators of value or satisfaction?
Could you speed up idea testing?
For instance, could a feature begin as a placeholder button like “coming soon,” asking users why they want it, what their expectations are, or inviting them to get notified when it’s available—so you can gauge interest before investing in development?
7. What if you have to work with 50% of your team for the next 3 months?
Given the reduced team size, what would you ship in the next 3 months?
How would you prioritize user requests, and how differently would you maintain the status quo from an operational standpoint?
This will force you to think like a Product Manager and help you create what your users truly want.
Push your limits with this extreme question—it’s a likely scenario in case you run into budget constraints!
8. What if a competitor launches a killer feature that kills your traffic?
It’s a real possibility that a competitor could introduce a killer feature that significantly reduces your traffic. What would you do in such a situation?
How would you adjust your product strategy while managing costs and regaining your audience?
Would you replicate the feature, or would you focus on innovating a new one?
This encourages proactive thinking around competitive challenges and maintaining relevance in the market.
9. What if your competitor partners with a big corporation?
What would you do if a major corporation buys out your competitor and starts rolling out new features?
How would you respond to this shift in the competitive landscape?
Would you accelerate your feature development, adjust your market strategy, or focus on building customer loyalty to keep up with their pace?
What steps could you take to differentiate and continue to thrive despite their corporate backing and the potential surge of new features?
10. What if your core technology becomes obsolete?
Suppose a groundbreaking technology emerges that makes your current product outdated.
How would you pivot to maintain relevance?
Would you adopt the new technology, invest in R&D for innovation, or refocus your strategy on other areas of value?
How quickly could you adapt while managing costs and resources?
Brainstorming is hard, but pushing your ideas to extremes can help you break out of the rut of incremental thinking.
Whether it’s drastically increasing your prices, eliminating tech support, or rethinking your entire business model, these extreme prompts can generate new product ideas that lead to real innovation.
That’s all for today, see you again!
If you enjoyed these prompts, stay tuned for more tips on thinking bigger and bolder!
