Devil's Advocate

Attack your own idea before the market does.

The Devil's Advocate exercise treats your idea as a case to be won — and puts the strongest possible opposing counsel in the room. The goal isn't to defeat the idea. It's to find the objections you can't answer, because those are the ones the market will find too.

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How to run this

  1. State the idea you're defending clearly.
  2. For each adversary role, generate the strongest possible objections.
  3. Rate each objection: Defended (answered well), Conceded (partly true), or Exposed (no good answer).
  4. Map Exposed objections to risk categories.
  5. Identify your biggest vulnerability and plan one specific action to close it.

Devil's Advocate

Adversarial collaboration practice · used in law, strategy, and design
The Studio · Wade Institute of Entrepreneurship
The Idea
DEFENDED ✓
Objections You Answered Well
Objections where your response was strong and evidence-backed.
CONCEDED ~
Objections Partly True
Objections with real merit that you acknowledged but couldn't fully refute.
EXPOSED ✗
Objections With No Good Answer
Objections where you had no credible defence. These are your vulnerabilities.
Adversaries Faced
List the adversary perspectives you tested: sceptical customer, well-funded competitor, regulator, burned investor, etc.
Danger Zone
Which Exposed objection is most likely to kill the idea if not addressed?
Suggested Next Step
One specific action to address the Danger Zone before your next decision point.

Idea: __________________________________    Date: _____________    Exposed objections: _____

Common mistake

Playing a weak devil's advocate. If every objection is easily defended, you made the adversary too agreeable. The best devil's advocates use real data, real alternatives, and real failure modes.

What good looks like

At least one Exposed rating — an objection you couldn't answer. If you have none, either the idea is extraordinary or the exercise wasn't honest.

When to move on

When you've identified your top Exposed objection and committed to a specific action to address it before your next decision point.

Try it interactively with WAiDE

WAiDE will play the devil's advocate — testing your idea from multiple adversarial angles and helping you identify which objections you genuinely can't answer. You'll leave with a vulnerability map and a session report.

Start Devil's Advocate with WAiDE →

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