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People often talk about passion being the catalyst for a new business. That wasn’t the case for me. Nearly two decades ago, I started my company not because of a passion—while online forms are very useful, they aren’t that exciting—but because of a vision: to make people’s everyday lives easier by automating tedious tasks that our products could just as well handle. While tech and AI have transformed the workplace since 2006, we’ve remained steadfast in our vision.
In today’s fast-changing world, a company’s vision is more critical than ever. As Harvard Business Review noted in its seminal article, “Vision provides guidance about what core to preserve and what future to stimulate progress toward.”
For founders, the process of developing a vision can seem daunting. That’s where AI can come in. While they’re often associated with more rote tasks, gen AI tools like ChatGPT can be powerful assistants for more meaningful work requiring deep thought and creativity—like clarifying your company’s vision. It may be less common, but in the end, strategic AI use will set your company apart.
Here are three ChatGPT prompts to assist you in forming an ironclad company vision.
Identify Your Core Values
It’s helpful to begin by breaking down vision into its component parts. Per Harvard Business Review, a company’s vision consists of its core ideology and envisioned future. Core ideology, in turn, is your company’s values and purpose.
Values are what your company stands for and holds sacred. While the world around a business may change, impacting how it operates, values do not. Values are not just aspirational. They’re not based on what a company ought to do or feel, but rather on the principles that guide how a company actually functions.
Grab a pen and paper (or your favorite automated notetaking app), and start spelling out what your company’s values are. For example, here are a couple of my company’s values: We prioritize experimentation and learning over efficiency and perfection. We put users first—we listen to them and make decisions to better serve them.
Then, use the following prompt to ensure you’ve identified a few true, honest values.
“I’m identifying the core values of my company. Below is a list of values I believe we hold. I’d like you to help me stress-test them. For each value, ask me a few questions to help determine whether this value is truly core (something we would hold onto even if it created difficulty or cost), or if it is simply aspirational. Then, based on my answers, help me refine the list down to 3–5 authentic core values with concise wording.”
Spell Out Your Core Purpose
If core values are essentially how your company functions, the core purpose is why it exists. What is your company’s raison d’être?
It is not a metric to measure or a goal to be achieved. It’s the “why” that continually guides the organization.
To put some meat on the bones, consider the eco-friendly footwear company, Allbirds. The purpose is not just to make stylish, comfortable shoes or to become the world’s biggest sneaker brand. Instead, the purpose is more along the lines of: Rethinking how shoes are made so people can enjoy style and comfort while supporting a healthier planet.
Here’s a prompt that you can use to articulate your company’s core purpose, rather than just the business model or a short-term goal.
“I’m articulating my company’s core purpose—the enduring reason we exist beyond profit, metrics, or short-term goals. Below is some context about our business, what we do, and what we hope to stand for. I’d like you to help me spell out the ‘why’ that guides everything we do, in a way that is enduring, inspiring, and specific to our business.”
Project Your Company Into The Future
Another important aspect of shaping your corporate vision is projecting your company into the future. Yes, a founder must ensure the business is viable today. But sustainable companies also anticipate tomorrow’s needs, and design their visions to meet them.
This is where ChatGPT can be an asset. You can use it to test and refine your long-term vision by running through a range of “what if” scenarios and identifying how your current direction might evolve or need shoring up.
Once you’ve drafted your vision, try the following prompt:
“I’d like your help in ensuring that my company’s mission remains strong and relevant as circumstances evolve in the future. Here is my current company vision: [insert vision]. Please analyze it from a future-oriented perspective, considering potential market shifts, customer behavior changes, technological advancements, regulatory factors, and competitive landscape changes that could impact this vision over the next 5–10 years.
Then please provide: Suggestions to strengthen the vision; potential risks or blind spots to address; any other suggestions that will make the vision more resilient over time.”
Putting It All Together
Generative AI is making entrepreneurship more accessible than ever. We often think of tools like ChatGPT as a way to outsource formulaic, manual tasks—but it can also support the creative and strategic work that defines your company. The risk, of course, is over-reliance: outsourcing your thinking entirely and losing the nuance of your messaging.
But tomorrow’s most successful leaders will understand how to use ChatGPT strategically—as an assistant, not a replacement—for high-impact work like shaping your company’s vision.