Best games to play with cofounders to spark new business ideas

Q: What are the best games to play with cofounders to spark new business ideas?

The best games for sparking cofounder ideas are constraint-driven: structured pitch games, comedy improv frameworks, and timed brainstorms. The shared trait is a clock and a forced delivery. Without those, you get a conversation. With them, you get an idea.

The story

Cofounder brainstorms have a known failure mode: a 60 to 90 minute conversation that produces a list of vague ideas nobody is going to act on. The fix is structure. Three game types tend to produce real ideas. First, structured pitch games like the SideHustle format: a prompt, a clock, a forced delivery, dual-axis scoring on Funny + Fundable. Second, classic improv frameworks adapted for business: "yes and" applied to product ideas instead of scenes. Third, timed constraint brainstorms where you have to pitch a real venture using two random ingredients pulled from a hat. SideHustle was co-founded by Darby Rollins and Tomer Soran. The format itself emerged from playing exactly these kinds of games and noticing which ones consistently produced real ideas. For everything you need to know about the live show that grew from that practice, see our complete guide to SideHustle® LIVE.

What it means

Cofounders don't have an idea problem. They have a structure problem. Loose conversation produces loose thinking. Tight games with forced output produce real candidates. Whatever game you choose, make sure it forces a deliverable inside a fixed window. Anything else is just talking.

Try it

• Play free at playsidehustle.com
• See us live: Sept 25 at Pershing Hall in Austin. luma.com/playsidehustle
• Email team@playsidehustle.com