🎯 Use-Case Guides

Knowing a mental model is useful. Knowing which models to combine, and in what order for your specific situation is the real skill.

Each guide here targets a concrete real-world scenario and walks you through exactly which models to use, step by step.

---

Guide List

#	Scenario	Recommended Models	Audience
1	Annual Personal Review	Inversion + Circle of Competence + Pareto Principle	Anyone doing a year-end reflection
2	Startup Key Decisions	First Principles + Inversion + Pre-mortem	Founders, early-stage teams
3	Product Pricing Strategy	First Principles + Anchoring Bias + Cost-Benefit Analysis	Product managers, founders
4	Career Transition	Opportunity Cost + Regret Minimization + Satisficing	Anyone considering a career pivot
5	Fundraising Preparation	Pre-mortem + Steel Manning + Signaling Theory	Startup founders
6	New Product Launch Planning	Pre-mortem + Second Order Thinking + MECE	Product managers, growth teams
7	Resolving Team Conflict	Hanlon's Razor + Ladder of Inference + Nonviolent Communication	Managers, team leads, HR
8	Investment Decision Framework	Expected Value + Circle of Competence + Margin of Safety	Investors, individual investors
9	Hiring and Talent Decisions	Reference Class Forecasting + Survivorship Bias + MECE	Founders, hiring managers, HR
10	Business Problem Diagnosis	5 Whys + Issue Tree + Root Cause Analysis	Managers, product managers
11	Annual Strategy Planning	Scenario Planning + Leverage Points + MECE	Leadership teams, founders
12	Personal Goal Setting	Regret Minimization + Circle of Competence + Two-Way Door	Anyone setting goals
13	UX Research and User Interviews	Jobs to Be Done + Empathy Map + Ladder of Inference	Product designers, researchers
14	Negotiation Preparation	BATNA + Steel Manning + Anchoring Bias	Anyone entering a negotiation
15	Running a Creative Sprint	Reverse Brainstorming + Six Thinking Hats + SCAMPER	Product teams, creative directors

---

How to Use These Guides

1. Find your scenario — pick the one that best matches your current situation
2. Follow the steps — each guide gives a clear analysis sequence; no need to master all models first
3. Apply with AI — every guide links directly to MindMax, where AI actively walks you through the analysis

---

Don't know which scenario fits?

Describe your problem in MindMax and let the AI recommend the right scenario guide and model combination.