--- title: "Inc. Magazine quotes PERIOD.: how founders use AI to stress-test their idea" description: "US Inc. Magazine spoke with founders, including PERIOD.'s Lisa Volkers, about using AI as a hostile sparring partner instead of a cheerleader." url: https://myperiod.app/en/blog/inc-magazine-ai-stress-test-startup lang: en date: 2026-06-25 publisher: PERIOD. B.V., Amsterdam --- [Back to blog](https://myperiod.app/blog) [Privacy & PERIOD.](https://myperiod.app/blog/categorie/privacy) · 3 min read # Inc. Magazine quotes PERIOD.: how founders use AI to stress-test their idea [Lees dit artikel in het Nederlands](https://myperiod.app/blog/inc-magazine-ai-stress-test-startup) PERIOD. team · June 25, 2026 *Inc. Magazine*, one of the best-known US business titles, published a piece on how founders use AI to stress-test their startup idea before writing a single line of code. Lisa Volkers, co-founder of PERIOD. was asked how we do it. [Read the full article at Inc. →](https://www.inc.com/diana-bocco/ai-claude-chatgpt-stress-test-startup-idea/91363659) ## What the article is about The core point: most founders use ChatGPT and Claude the wrong way. They ask "is my idea good?" and get flattery, because that's what the models are optimized for. Far more useful is to give the AI a hostile role: let it attack your idea, tear apart your positioning, demolish your assumptions. ## Our quote > "You are a 34-year-old woman who switched cycle apps three times in two years because each one felt invasive, react to this onboarding flow as her. AI as a simulation tool is most useful when you're explicit about what you want it to attack. Generic prompts give mushy answers. Specific adversarial prompts give a free pre-mortem.", Lisa Volkers in *Inc. Magazine* ## Why this works for PERIOD. We build a cycle app for people who feel let down by commercial trackers: too pink, too pushy, too much data-selling. For that audience, "does the idea sound nice?" is a useless question. The real question is: *where does someone who's already been burned three times drop off?* By letting AI play a skeptical persona reacting to onboarding, copy and privacy explainers, we find those drop-off points before a real user hits them. ## Three prompts we use every day - **The skeptical ex-user:** "You've deleted three cycle apps because they sold data. Give five reasons you wouldn't trust PERIOD. either." - **The toughest competitor:** "You work at the biggest cycle app in the world. How do you neutralize this privacy story, how do you make it irrelevant?" - **The assumption-buster:** "What has to be true for PERIOD. to work, and which of those assumptions is weakest?" ## What this says about how we build PERIOD. wasn't dreamed up in a boardroom and "validated" with focus groups afterwards. We build in the open, test with real users every week, and use AI not to confirm ourselves but to be wrong faster. It's the same reason we're transparent about [privacy](https://myperiod.app/privacy): the sooner we find the weak spots, the better the app gets. ## Read the full piece ["How to Use AI to Stress-Test Your Startup Idea Before You Build It", Inc. Magazine, June 2026](https://www.inc.com/diana-bocco/ai-claude-chatgpt-stress-test-startup-idea/91363659). Want to know more about PERIOD.? [Download on the App Store](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/period-cycle-period-tracker/id6757947793) · [via Google Play](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=app.myperiod.android). Want to understand your cycle better? ## Keep reading [Best period tracker app for privacy in 2026: 6 questions that decide itWhich cycle app is safest for your data? Six questions to test any app in two minutes, plus how Flo, Clue, Natural Cycles and PERIOD. compare.Read more](https://myperiod.app/blog/best-period-tracker-app-privacy-2026)[Is PERIOD. free? What the app really costs (and what it does not)Short answer: yes. Tracking your cycle, predictions and reminders cost nothing. Plus and baby are extras. Here is exactly what is what, no fine print.Read more](https://myperiod.app/en/blog/is-period-gratis-wat-kost-de-app)[Does my period app sell my data? How to check in 5 minutesShort answer: you cannot tell from the app itself, but you can from the privacy policy and the trackers. Five checks you can do yourself, on any cycle app, including ours.Read more](https://myperiod.app/en/blog/verkoopt-mijn-menstruatie-app-mijn-data-checklist)