How to use GenAI to drive innovative thinking and gain a competitive edge

While most startups are using Generative AI as a time-saving tool, don’t ignore its potential to enhance creativity and support innovative thinking.

There’s been lots of debate about whether GenAI could ultimately replace human creativity. However, what’s less discussed is its potential to assist and even enhance our creative skills.

Using GenAI to boost creative, innovative thinking presents a valuable opportunity for startups. Innovation can sometimes be restricted by small team size; founders can’t tap into the same diversity of experience and perspective that large teams have. GenAI gives startups infinite scope to explore, analyze and challenge their ideas.

Support a culture of innovation

Creating a culture of innovation is a powerful way for startups to attract talent and stay competitive. But it’s one thing to inspire innovative ideas – it’s another to turn them into action.

Deciding which new ideas are worthwhile requires deep analysis. You need to build out the concept and decide if it’s the right time to move forward with it. If it is, you need to check that you’ve got the budget, skills, resources and technology to make it a success.

This analysis takes time, which few startups have to spare. As a result, dozens of innovative ideas can be put on the back burner and never come to fruition. 

GenAI gives startups an efficient way to evaluate multiple concepts at once. What might take an hour to debate in a room could take minutes with a GenAI tool, which can quickly highlight benefits, risks and alternative solutions you might not have considered.

Promote inclusivity and boost confidence

Democratizing innovation means that anyone can play a role in shaping your startup’s future, but not everyone will be comfortable speaking up. Whether it’s a different way of doing things internally or a bold direction for a client project, it can be nerve wracking to pitch something new.

GenAI provides a safe space to debate and work through raw ideas, with employees able to bounce ideas off the technology like they might do a team member. It can provide a balanced view of the pros and cons, echoing many of the same feasibility questions or arguments that would come up in a human debate. 

Once your employee has this feedback, they might refine their idea and present it to the rest of the team, or decide to move onto something else. What matters is that they have a dedicated safe place to critically evaluate their ideas and think fearlessly.

Challenge traditional thinking

Startups are usually more agile than large companies, meaning they can move quickly to capitalize on trends and seize opportunities. There’s a lot of freedom to test out original, daring ideas – and GenAI can help to inspire those ideas.  

There are plenty of use cases online where GenAI tools have responded to prompts in unusual and sometimes strange ways, deviating from what we think the response should be. When handled correctly, this isn’t a bad thing for businesses.

Even in the early stages of creative brainstorming, it’s common to get bogged down in preconceptions of what you think is desirable or acceptable. ‘Design fixation’ occurs when you rely too much on previous features or existing knowledge, and end up restricting your creative output. 

GenAI can help you to break out of your comfort zone and overcome fixations on how something should be done. You can use it to discover unique ideas, inspiring you and your team to challenge traditional thinking patterns. 

Confront unconscious bias

People have inherent biases that stem from stereotypes, attitudes, opinions and personal experiences. Even if you aren’t aware of them, they can manifest in lots of different ways and affect the way you make decisions. 

You might inadvertently favor ideas from one member of your team over another, or choose creative solutions that support rather than challenge your own personal beliefs.

While large language models aren’t free of bias, it’s still helpful to use GenAI to sense-check decisions. You can upload a data set and have it not only evaluate the best option from an objective standpoint, but provide transparent reasoning behind the decision. 

This is critical, particularly if you started the business as a solo founder. It’s common for early-stage founders to rely on their own intuition, but as the business grows, it’s important to be able to make decisions in a more careful, measured and rational way. 

GenAI can help you to take an open-minded standpoint and challenge any preconceived notions that could hinder your innovative thinking. As a result, you should be able to approach new ideas with a more objective view on what’s really best for the business. 

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Connect with other women founders

An active business network can provide inspiration, advice and guidance when you’re introducing changes in your startup.

 

The Dell Women’s Entrepreneur Network (DWEN) brings women entrepreneurs together from all around the world to share their ideas. By joining DWEN, you can connect with like-minded founders, hear others’ experiences and get insights on your business challenges.

Find out more here.