Gaia Product Ideation
Scope and when to use
Use this skill to diverge then converge from the Opportunity Thesis to ONE concept. Scope is one-off + IAP/IAG monetization; B2B seat-based SaaS is out of scope and an auto-renew anti-goal is mandatory unless an in-scope decision is recorded.
Use when:
- a validated opportunity needs concept generation and selection
- ideas must carry a monetization seed before they enter the backlog
- one concept must be chosen with provisional success/kill thresholds
Do not use when:
- no Opportunity Thesis exists yet (run discovery first)
- the concept is already chosen and needs monetization design
Required inputs
- the Opportunity Thesis, personas/JTBD, and WTP-by-segment from discovery
- the current unit-economics model version
- the platform target and its implied monetization shapes
Owned outputs
- a structured idea backlog with monetization seeds and provenance
- one selected concept brief with hook, loops, and value prop
- riskiest assumptions and provisional success/kill thresholds
Core workflow
- Set the ideation frame: target player, platform-implied monetization shapes, the monetization hypothesis as a divergence frame, and anti-goals (including no auto-renew).
- Diverge with silent brainwriting / Crazy 8s, SCAMPER on top-grossing titles, genre mashup/reskin, analogous inspiration, and forced-constraint prompts.
- Log every idea into a structured backlog: one-line pitch, taxonomy tags, a MANDATORY monetization seed, and provenance.
- For survivors, frame problem->solution JTBD with an explicit payment-attachable moment.
- Design hook + core loop + meta loop + reward schedule, then overlay the monetization loop and confirm it is still fun without paying.
- Write the value prop and the "why pay"; assess differentiation and moat (cloneable vs durable).
- Coarse-screen with knockouts, then score with RICE (Impact = consumer revenue) plus opportunity scoring.
- Apply the three lenses - desirability, feasibility, NET-viability - applying store fee and payback AT concept scoring; select ONE concept.
Three-lens selection
- Desirability: do persona-matched players want it and say why-pay.
- Feasibility: can the team build the lovable version within constraints.
- Net-viability: does the concept survive store fee + payback at this scoring stage, not just at launch.
Anti-patterns
- do not let an idea enter the backlog without a monetization seed
- do not score Impact on installs or attention instead of consumer revenue
- do not defer fee/payback math to a later stage when scoring concepts
- do not pick a cloneable concept with no durable moat by default
- do not smuggle an auto-renew model past the anti-goal
Handoff and downstream impact
- hand monetization design the concept brief and the monetization hypothesis
- hand the money gate the riskiest assumptions and provisional kill thresholds
- name the loop-back: a failed selection returns to divergent ideation
Completion checklist
- the backlog entries each carry a monetization seed and provenance
- the selected concept has hook, loops, value prop, and "why pay"
- scoring applied store fee and payback at the concept stage
- riskiest assumptions and provisional success/kill thresholds are explicit