Instead of rushing to solve a perceived problem, spend time questioning the problem itself—a process Dr. Seelig calls "framestorming." For example, the problem isn't designing a better suitcase; it's getting your belongings to a destination. This redefinition opens up radically different and more innovative solutions.

Starting with limitations like budget and feasibility (convergent thinking) kills growth and leads to repetitive outcomes. You must begin with an expansive, divergent phase to generate a wide pool of ideas before applying any constraints.

Founders resist necessary pivots due to sunk costs. To overcome this, use the 'Day Zero' thought experiment: If you were dropped into your company today with its current assets, what would you do? This clean-slate mindset helps you make the hard, fast pivots required to find a real problem.

Conventional innovation starts with a well-defined problem. Afeyan argues this is limiting. A more powerful approach is to search for new value pools by exploring problems and potential solutions in parallel, allowing for unexpected discoveries that problem-first thinking would miss.

To break free from industry conventions, prompt teams to examine how unrelated industries have solved similar problems—like how thermostats evolved from simple dials to Nest. Posing questions like, "What if Apple designed our product?" can spur truly novel thinking.

Labeling a goal 'impossible' is a defense mechanism that shuts down creative thinking. The framing 'it's impossible, unless…' bypasses this block. It acknowledges the difficulty while immediately prompting the mind to search for the specific conditions or actions that would make the goal achievable, turning a dead end into a brainstorm.

To avoid generic brainstorming outcomes, use AI as a filter for mediocrity. Ask a tool like ChatGPT for the top 10 ideas on a topic, and then explicitly remove those common suggestions from consideration. This forces the team to bypass the obvious and engage in more original, innovative thinking.

The most powerful innovations often come from solving your own irritations. Instead of accepting that something 'sucks' (like conferences or food delivery), playfully brainstorm a version that wouldn't suck. This gap between the current poor experience and your ideal one is where the opportunity lies.

Teams often get stuck listing obstacles. To break this cycle, ask, "What would need to be true for this to happen?" This imaginative prompt bypasses the immediate "no" and shifts the group's focus from roadblocks to possibilities, unlocking creative solutions they would have otherwise dismissed.