Brainstorm prompt builder
Ask an LLM to “give me some ideas” and you get four safe, predictable ones. The fix is structure: a specific quantity that forces it past the obvious, a diversity constraint that spreads ideas across the solution space, and a creative technique that attacks the problem from defined angles. This builder assembles all three into one prompt, with an optional feasibility note so the output is triageable.
How it works
The generated prompt sets an explicit idea count — higher counts push the model into less obvious territory. It adds a diversity requirement so ideas do not collapse into rewordings of a single concept, and applies an optional creative technique: SCAMPER walks through seven transformation lenses, random stimuli injects unrelated concepts to force novel connections, and first principles strips the problem to fundamentals. If you enable the feasibility note, each idea comes with a one-line viability read so you can triage at a glance instead of evaluating dozens of items cold.
Tips and examples
- Ask for more than feels comfortable. Fifteen ideas surfaces the interesting ones; five rarely does.
- Combine a count with a diversity rule. “15 ideas, no two sharing the same business model” is far stronger than either instruction alone.
- Use SCAMPER for product tweaks, random stimuli for blue-sky work. Match the technique to whether you are improving something or inventing something.
- Triage with the feasibility note, then deepen. Pick the 2-3 strongest and run a follow-up prompt that develops only those.