5 Prompts That Help You See Your Product Through a Different Lens
Use these AI prompts to test your product or concept, uncover blind spots, and gain clarity on your audience, positioning, and direction.
The most common reason product teams get stuck is having too many options and not knowing what the right next move is.
When everyone looks at the same idea from the same angle for too long, the brain starts looping the same assumptions.
The fix isn’t another meeting or adding more features.
It’s asking better questions.
That’s what these prompts are for. To help you challenge the idea from different angles, spot blind spots, and get unstuck fast.
You can use these prompts on your own or with your team to spark new perspectives, unblock discussions, and find a stronger direction.
They work great with ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, or any AI assistant.
Use them when:
defining a product concept
taking an existing product to the next step
people try the product but don’t come back
features are being added, but results aren’t moving
competition is getting louder and differentiation feels weak
1) The “Reality Check” Prompt
Wanna know why your idea/product might fail?
Use this prompt to spot blind spots before you build or launch.
Act as a tech journalist writing a news-style post-mortem.
The product below failed 18 months after launch.
Write a short fake news article summarizing:
- What we misunderstood about our customers
- What we ignored or overcomplicated
- What decisions seemed smart but failed
- What we should’ve done to minimize the risk
List 10 clear reasons why the product failed.
---
Here’s the product description:
🔥 fill the details of your project below 🔥
Product in 1 sentence
What are you building, and what does it help someone do?
Target user
Who exactly is it for? (role + context + type of customer)
Problem
What painful problem are they dealing with today?
When it happens
When does this problem show up the most? (specific moment or situation)
Solution features
What does the product do? (3 to 6 features in plain language)
Current alternatives
What do they use instead today? (tools, workarounds, “do nothing”)
Why better / different
Why would someone choose this over the alternatives?
User flow (3 steps)
What are the 3 main steps a user takes from start to success?
Outcome
What changes for the user after using it? What’s the win?
Pricing model
How do you make money? (subscription, one-time, usage-based, etc.)
Biggest assumption
What must be true for this idea to work at all?2) The “Emotional Hook” Prompt
This prompt helps you find the emotional driver behind adoption.
It helps you figure out what makes someone care, trust it, and come back.
Assume the product’s real value is emotional, not functional.
Identify:
- What users want to feel before using it (stress, confusion, insecurity)
- What users want to feel after using it (relief, control, confidence)
- What identity the product supports (smart, professional, calm, efficient)
- What emotions block adoption (fear of failure, shame, overwhelm)
- What emotional moment your product should “own”
Then output:
- The 1 emotional promise that matters most
- 10 emotional reasons users will stay or leave
- 3 moments that increase trust instantly
- A rewrite of the product pitch focused only on emotion + identity
---
Here’s the product description:
🔥 fill the details of your project below 🔥
Product in 1 sentence
What are you building, and what does it help someone do?
Target user
Who exactly is it for? (role + context + type of customer)
Problem
What painful problem are they dealing with today?
When it happens
When does this problem show up the most? (specific moment or situation)
Solution features
What does the product do?
Current alternatives
What do they use instead today? (tools, workarounds, “do nothing”)
Why better / different
Why would someone choose this over the alternatives?
User flow (3 steps)
What are the 3 main steps a user takes from start to success?
Outcome
What changes for the user after using it? What’s the win?
Pricing model
How do you make money? (subscription, one-time, usage-based, etc.)
Biggest assumption
What must be true for this idea to work at all?3) The “Unfair Advantage” Prompt
If competitors copied your features tomorrow, what would still make you win?
Use this prompt to uncover or sharpen what makes your product hard to copy.
Assume competitors can copy:
- features
- pricing
- landing page
- UI
Find what they cannot copy because it depends on:
- insight
- access
- relationships
- credibility
- speed
- deep niche focus
Then output:
1) 10 things competitors can copy fast
2) 10 unfair advantages I could build or claim
3) 3 unfair advantages that best fit this product
4) A positioning line that makes the advantage obvious
---
Here’s the product description:
🔥 fill the details of your project below 🔥
Product in 1 sentence
What are you building, and what does it help someone do?
Target user
Who exactly is it for? (role + context + type of customer)
Problem
What painful problem are they dealing with today?
When it happens
When does this problem show up the most? (specific moment or situation)
Solution features
What does the product do?
Current alternatives
What do they use instead today? (tools, workarounds, “do nothing”)
Why better / different
Why would someone choose this over the alternatives?
User flow (3 steps)
What are the 3 main steps a user takes from start to success?
Outcome
What changes for the user after using it? What’s the win?
Pricing model
How do you make money? (subscription, one-time, usage-based, etc.)
Biggest assumption
What must be true for this idea to work at all?4) The “Future Shock” Prompt
Test your product against realistic shifts to see what breaks, survives, and how to adapt.
Your job is to test this product against the future, but **every future shift must be directly relevant to the product below** (not generic trends).
First, read the product description carefully and identify:
- the core user behavior
- the core dependency (what must be true for it to work)
- the biggest vulnerability (what could break it)
Then generate **3 realistic future shifts** that would directly impact this product:
1) **A tech shift** specific to this product’s category or key technology
2) **A user behavior shift** specific to this user group and context
3) **A market/competitor shift** in the exact space this product competes in
For each future shift, answer:
- What breaks in the product instantly?
- What becomes irrelevant overnight?
- What becomes more valuable than before?
- What would we need to change to survive and still win?
Then output:
1) The 3 shifts (short + clear + relevant)
2) The 3 product adaptations (one per shift)
3) The strongest future-proof version of the product (combine insights)
4) A new positioning line that stays strong across all 3 futures
---
Here’s the product description:
🔥 fill the details of your project below 🔥
Product in 1 sentence
What are you building, and what does it help someone do?
Target user
Who exactly is it for? (role + context + type of customer)
Problem
What painful problem are they dealing with today?
When it happens
When does this problem show up the most? (specific moment or situation)
Solution features
What does the product do?
Current alternatives
What do they use instead today? (tools, workarounds, “do nothing”)
Why better / different
Why would someone choose this over the alternatives?
User flow (3 steps)
What are the 3 main steps a user takes from start to success?
Outcome
What changes for the user after using it? What’s the win?
Pricing model
How do you make money? (subscription, one-time, usage-based, etc.)
Biggest assumption
What must be true for this idea to work at all?5) The “Product Shapeshifter” Prompt
Rethink your concept or product under extreme constraints to reveal the core value and unlock unexpected directions. Feel free to update the different directions.
Your job is to redesign the same product under 3 extreme constraints.
Each version must still deliver the same user outcome, but with a totally different shape.
Create 3 versions:
### Version 1: No App Allowed
The product cannot be an app, SaaS, or platform.
What does it become?
### Version 2: No Learning Curve
The user cannot spend more than 30 seconds learning how it works.
What changes?
### Version 3: No Trust Required
Assume users don’t trust you at all.
No data sharing, no permissions, no risky onboarding.
How does it still work?
Then output:
1) The 3 redesigned versions (clear description)
2) What each version reveals about the product’s true value
3) Which version is most likely to win and why
4) One experiment to test the strongest version in 7 days
---
Here’s the product description:
🔥 fill the details of your project below 🔥
Product in 1 sentence
What are you building, and what does it help someone do?
Target user
Who exactly is it for? (role + context + type of customer)
Problem
What painful problem are they dealing with today?
When it happens
When does this problem show up the most? (specific moment or situation)
Solution features
What does the product do?
Current alternatives
What do they use instead today? (tools, workarounds, “do nothing”)
Why better / different
Why would someone choose this over the alternatives?
User flow (3 steps)
What are the 3 main steps a user takes from start to success?
Outcome
What changes for the user after using it? What’s the win?
Pricing model
How do you make money? (subscription, one-time, usage-based, etc.)
Biggest assumption
What must be true for this idea to work at all?👀 More UX + AI Reads:
Closing Thoughts 💭
AI speeds up execution, but it doesn’t solve the hard part: knowing what’s worth building in the first place. That’s why I think reframing is one of those skills we need to practice more intentionally now.
Changing perspectives helps you detach, zoom out, and ask the uncomfortable but much-needed questions everyone avoids.
Thanks for reading! 🫶
Let’s Collaborate 💫
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Hands-on Workshop 🔥
I'm holding an in-person workshop on January 29 · 6:00 PM (CET) in Berlin.
Bring an idea and we’ll turn it into a clear, testable concept using Design Thinking + AI, so you leave with direction and something tangible you created during the session.
⭐️ Here is the link to join: https://luma.com/6so5e8ik
Really useful collection 👍: saving this one. Prompts as perspective shifts work, but not because of the AI. They force a moment of reflection. The counter-question interrupts the autopilot. That's the actual trick, isn't it? The AI isn't the clever bit. The pause is.
These prompts are extremely useful!! Thanks for sharing 🦩🩷