⏺ 🏛️ Socratic Inquiry Session
BodyWise App — Strategic Exploration
Mode: Socratic Inquiry (Question-Driven)
Purpose: Deep strategic thinking through expert questioning
Selected Experts: Drucker, Christensen, Taleb, Meadows, Porter
The Socratic Method
Instead of giving answers, our panel will ask probing questions to help you think more deeply about your business decisions.
📜 Round 1: Foundational Questions
Peter Drucker
Management Philosophy
“The most important thing in communication is hearing what isn’t said.”
Questions for you:
- “What business are you really in?”
- Are you in the education business, the health business, or the behavior change business?
- How you answer this changes everything about your product.
- “Who is your customer, and what do they value?”
- You said “general adults 25-55” — but can you describe ONE specific person who would pay $4.99/month for this?
- What would they say to a friend about why they subscribed?
- “What results do you want to be remembered for?”
- In 5 years, what would make this app a success in YOUR eyes?
- Is it downloads? Lives changed? Revenue? Something else?
Clayton Christensen
Jobs-to-be-Done
“People don’t want a quarter-inch drill. They want a quarter-inch hole.”
Questions for you:
- “In what circumstance would someone ‘hire’ your app?”
- Picture the moment someone downloads it. What just happened in their life?
- Did they just get a health scare? Read an article? Have a conversation?
- “What are they ‘firing’ when they hire you?”
- What solution are they abandoning? Google searches? Asking their doctor?
- Why would your app do that job better?
- “What’s the progress they’re trying to make?”
- Are they trying to learn something, or do something?
- Is the goal knowledge, or is knowledge just a means to a different end?
📜 Round 2: Risk & Resilience Questions
Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Antifragility & Risk
“Wind extinguishes a candle but energizes fire. You want to be the fire.”
Questions for you:
- “What would kill this business?”
- If Google adds “foods for heart health” to their search cards, what happens to you?
- If a competitor copies your food-organ feature, what’s left?
- “How do you become antifragile?”
- What would make your app stronger when competitors enter?
- Is there a way to benefit from chaos in the health app market?
- “What’s your ‘skin in the game’?”
- Why are YOU the right person to build this?
- What personal stake do you have beyond financial return?
- “What’s the worst-case scenario you’re ignoring?”
- AI-generated health content is exploding. In 2 years, will your content have any value?
- What if users don’t want to pay for health information at all?
📜 Round 3: Systems Thinking Questions
Donella Meadows
Systems Thinking & Leverage Points
“A system is more than the sum of its parts. It may exhibit adaptive, dynamic, goal-seeking behavior.”
Questions for you:
- “What system are you part of?”
- Map it: User → App → Behavior → Health Outcome
- Where does your app actually intervene in this system?
- “What are the feedback loops?”
- If a user learns about heart-healthy foods, what happens next?
- Do they come back? Why or why not?
- What brings them back repeatedly?
- “Where are the leverage points?”
- Small changes that create big effects — where are they in your app?
- Is it content? Notifications? Community? Personalization?
- “What behavior are you actually trying to change?”
- Information doesn’t change behavior. What does?
- How will you know if your app actually improves someone’s health?
📜 Round 4: Competitive Reality Questions
Michael Porter
Competitive Strategy
“The essence of strategy is choosing what NOT to do.”
Questions for you:
- “What are you choosing NOT to do?”
- You listed many features. What will you explicitly refuse to build?
- What requests will you say “no” to?
- “Why won’t competitors copy you immediately?”
- Your food-organ mapping — what stops WebMD from adding this tomorrow?
- What’s your moat? Data? Brand? Community? Technology?
- “Are you competing on cost or differentiation?”
- $4.99/month positions you as premium. What justifies that premium?
- Free alternatives are everywhere. What makes yours worth paying for?
- “What’s your theory of value creation?”
- Specifically, what value do you create that users can’t get elsewhere?
- Can you state it in one sentence?
🎯 The Core Question
All experts converge on one fundamental question:
“If your app disappeared tomorrow, what would users actually miss?”
Your answer to this question IS your product.
📝 Reflection Exercise
Take time to answer these questions honestly:
| Question |
Your Answer |
| What business are you really in? |
|
| Describe ONE specific person who would pay monthly |
|
| What moment triggers someone to download? |
|
| What would kill this business? |
|
| What are you choosing NOT to build? |
|
| What would users miss if your app disappeared? |
|
💡 Insights to Consider
Based on the questions above, consider these strategic implications:
If You’re in the Education Business
- Content is king, but content is commoditized
- You compete with free (Wikipedia, YouTube, ChatGPT)
- Differentiation is very hard
If You’re in the Behavior Change Business
- Content is just a tool
- You need engagement loops, tracking, accountability
- This is much harder but much more defensible
If You’re in the “Peace of Mind” Business
- Users want to feel they’re doing something for their health
- Trust and credibility matter more than comprehensiveness
- Curation > quantity
Next Steps
Would you like to:
- Answer the questions — I’ll provide strategic guidance based on your answers
- Run a Debate mode — Experts challenge each other’s assumptions
- Update your brief — Incorporate these insights into PROJECT_BRIEF.md
- Create a strategic one-pager — Distill your answers into a focused strategy document
Which would be most helpful?