# NymStorm — Project Concept Summary

## The Core Problem

In traditional team brainstorming, loud voices dominate, social hierarchy stifles wild ideas, and people self‑censor before they even speak. Remote meetings amplify this: production blocking (one person talks while others forget ideas), Zoom fatigue, and the awkwardness of pitching a half‑formed thought to a boss. The result is that most teams leave with a handful of safe, boring suggestions — the truly innovative ideas never surface.

## The Solution

NymStorm is a SaaS brainwriting platform that turns brainstorming into a 24h, 48h, 72h or 1‑week (team chooses), completely anonymous, asynchronous sprint. Instead of a real‑time meeting, participants contribute ideas whenever inspiration strikes, and every idea is shown under a playful animal alias (Fox, Otter, Owl…). No names, no profile pictures, no department titles — just the idea itself. After the idea‑generation phase, the team votes on the best ideas — still completely anonymous.

An AI‑lite facilitator occasionally injects “wild card” provocative questions (e.g., “What if budget was zero?”) to push the group past comfortable patterns. The AI also clusters similar ideas so the board stays organised.

The entire experience is designed for psychological safety: because nobody knows who said what, junior employees, quiet thinkers, and wild ideas get exactly the same weight as the CEO’s.

## The Four Idea Types (Core Model)

NymStorm distinguishes four kinds of contributions, each with a specific role in the brainstorming process:

| Type | `parentId` | `isDerived` | `isWildCard` | Behavior in Ideation Phase | Behavior in Voting Phase |
|------|------------|-------------|--------------|----------------------------|--------------------------|
| **Root** | `null` | `false` | `false` | Standalone idea. | ✅ Can be voted. |
| **Reply** | ✅ (parent) | `false` | `false` | **Discussion** of parent idea. Nested under parent in UI. | ❌ Cannot be voted. Shown together with parent as context. |
| **Derived** | ✅ (parent) | `true` | `false` | **New idea** inspired by parent. Standalone in UI, with *“Inspired by [parent idea]”* tag. | ✅ Can be voted (as its own idea). |
| **Wildcard** | `null` | `false` | `true` | AI‑generated provocative prompt. Standalone. Users **cannot reply**, but can **build on this** (creating `derived` ideas). | ❌ Not shown in voting phase. |

**Summary of interactions:**
- **Reply** = conversation / feedback (no voting weight, purely for discussion).
- **Build on this** = creates a new, votable `derived` idea that stands alongside the original.
- **Wildcard** = AI disruption tool, not a votable artifact.

## Target Audience (Early Adopters)

- Distributed product & design teams in tech companies that need async ideation.
- Creative agencies wanting to bypass the “loud art director” effect.
- Innovation departments inside large enterprises running cross‑department challenges.
- Professional facilitators and design‑thinking consultants who need a structured, evidence‑based method to show clients.

These users already pay for tools like Miro or Mural, but NymStorm’s radical anonymity + AI nudging + structured idea types gives them a distinct reason to switch.

## Key Differentiators (vs. Existing Tools)

While tools like Stormz and GroupMap offer some anonymous modes, no competitor combines:

1. **Persistent, deeply‑baked anonymity** (not a toggle, but the default — identity stripped from DB to UI).
2. **Async‑first, structured 24h–1 week sprints** (not a one‑hour workshop).
3. **Structured idea development with four distinct interaction types** — separating discussion (`reply`) from true idea evolution (`derived`), plus AI‑injected `wildcard` prompts.
4. **AI wild‑card provocations** — a system that actively shakes up groupthink, not just a blank canvas.
5. **A playful, psychological‑safety‑first UX** with animal aliases and encouraging micro‑copy.

## MVP Scope (What to Build First)

The minimum viable product tests one core hypothesis: *will teams pay for a tool that makes brainstorming anonymous and async?* The MVP includes:

- Magic‑link email login (no passwords).
- Sprint creation with a “How might we…” prompt and duration.
- Anonymous idea submission — four types automatically handled:
  - **Root idea** (default submission)
  - **Reply** (button: “Reply to this” — discussion, not a new idea)
  - **Derived** (button: “Build on this” — generates a new, votable idea)
- Wildcard prompts — system‑injected from a fixed bank every few hours (AI‑lite).
- Threaded UI:
  - `Replies` nested under parent ideas.
  - `Derived` ideas shown as top‑level cards with an attribution tag (“Inspired by…”).
- Dot voting (each participant gets 3 dots) when the sprint closes — only `root` and `derived` ideas are votable. `Replies` appear as context, `wildcards` are hidden.
- Simple leaderboard of top‑voted ideas.

*Everything else (advanced AI clustering, SSO, analytics) is deliberately left out.*

## Tech Stack (MVP)

- **Framework:** TanStack Start (React + SSR on Cloudflare)
- **UI:** Mantine 9 (components and theming)
- **Authentication:** Better Auth (magic link, framework‑agnostic)
- **Database:** Turso Cloud (distributed SQLite with Drizzle ORM)
- **Deployment:** Cloudflare Workers / Pages

All sensitive user‑to‑alias mappings are stored server‑side and never exposed via the API. After the sprint, the team votes on ideas; an optional “reveal” step can later show the contributors, but the generation phase stays fully anonymous.

## Business Model & Pricing

A per-seat SaaS subscription with monthly and yearly billing:

| Plan | Price | Who it's for |
|------|-------|--------------|
| **Free** | $0 | Tiny startups, student groups, testing the waters. |
| **Pro** | $13/month or $143/year | Small product teams, boutique creative agencies. |
| **Business** | $23/month or $153/year | Mid-size tech companies, innovation departments in big firms. |

### Plan Details

**Free**
- 1 active sprint at a time
- Up to 8 participants
- 5 AI provocations per sprint
- Exports, content moderation, and reveal ceremony available on higher plans

**Pro** (highlighted tier)
- Unlimited concurrent sprints
- Up to 28 participants
- Unlimited AI provocations
- Export to PDF, CSV, & Notion
- Content moderation
- Reveal ceremony available on higher plans

**Business**
- Unlimited concurrent sprints
- Up to 128 participants
- Unlimited AI provocations
- Export to PDF, CSV, & Notion
- Content moderation
- Voluntary participants reveal

### Add-ons

All plans support per-seat add-ons:
- Additional participants ($3–$4 per seat)
- Additional sprints, AI provocations, exports, content moderation, and reveal ceremony can be added à la carte

### Enterprise

Custom pricing for white-label AI models, advanced analytics, dedicated support, and SSO. Contact sales.

## The Big Picture

NymStorm is not meant to replace every brainstorm — it’s a specialised tool for moments when teams need truly fresh, unfiltered thinking and know their normal meeting culture crushes it. By separating **discussion** (`reply`) from **idea evolution** (`derived`), we prevent the common failure mode where a brilliant seed gets buried under side‑comments. The MVP is intentionally tiny, designed to validate that teams will pay for psychological safety **and structured idea development** — before adding complexity.