You are in a room with three co-founders, a whiteboard, and forty-five minutes to agree on why the company exists. The discussion loops back on itself. A Gemini prompt will not decide for you, but it gives you drafts to react to instead of blank silence. These five prompts move the conversation from vague to specific.
Where statements go generic
- The statement runs three sentences and tries to cover everything, so it ends up saying nothing.
- It uses words any company could use, like “innovative” or “world-class,” with no detail that ties it to your work.
- Mission and vision get mixed together, so the team cannot tell what you do today from where you are headed.
The prompts
1. Mission statement options
Write five mission statement options for [company], which does [what you do] for [who you serve]. Each option should be one sentence, name the customer, and avoid words like innovative or world-class. Vary the tone so I can react to real choices, not one safe draft.What it does: Gives you a range of specific drafts instead of one bland statement.
How to use: replace [company], [what you do], and [who you serve]; keep the rest as is.
2. Vision statement options
Write four vision statements for [company] describing the future state we are working toward: [future state]. Keep each to one sentence and make it a claim we could be held to, not a slogan. Note which one is most ambitious and which is most achievable.What it does: Separates the far-off goal from the daily work and keeps it concrete.
How to use: replace [company] and [future state]; keep the rest as is.
3. Values with real behaviors
Turn these culture words into a values list: [culture words]. For each value, write one sentence on what it looks like in daily work and one sentence on what it does not mean. Cut any value you cannot give a concrete behavior for.What it does: Stops values from being decoration by attaching them to behavior.
How to use: replace [culture words]; keep the rest as is.
4. Compress to one line
Here is our draft statement: [draft statement]. Cut it to one line of no more than 15 words. Keep the specific nouns, drop the filler, and do not replace lost meaning with vague adjectives.What it does: Forces the statement down to something people can actually remember.
How to use: paste your draft into [draft statement]; keep the rest as is.
5. Test it for vagueness
Read this statement: [mission statement]. Tell me which words could apply to almost any company and which parts are actually specific to us. Suggest two edits that make it harder to confuse with a competitor's, aimed at [audience].What it does: Shows you the empty phrases before your team commits to them.
How to use: replace [mission statement] and [audience]; keep the rest as is.
Weak ask vs better ask
| Weak ask | Better ask |
|---|---|
| Write a mission statement for my company. | Write five one-sentence mission options for [company] that name [who you serve] and what we do for them. No words like innovative. |
| Is this a good vision statement? | Flag the words in [vision statement] that could fit any company, then suggest two edits that tie it to [future state]. |
The pattern holds for both statements: name the audience, ban the empty words, and ask for several options so the team has something to argue about.
Keep going
- More Business & Startup prompts
- Claude prompts for board updates
- ChatGPT prompts for business plans
- Gemini prompts for author bios
These prompts are free to use. Copy them, tweak the [variables], ship something.