IdeasColab - Structured Ideation, Powered by AI

The Problem

Ideation is often treated as creative chaos - sticky notes on a screen, scattered thoughts in a Zoom call, and hours of follow-up synthesis.
But for teams working remotely and cross-functionally, this chaos creates friction, not flow. The tools we use - from Miro to Google Sheets - were built for documentation, not structured creativity. They lack the ability to help teams make meaning while ideas are still fresh.

The Insight

The moment of ideation is where alignment is most fragile - and most critical.
We asked: What if the tool itself could identify themes, patterns, and clusters - live - as ideas emerge?

The Product

IdeasColab is a lightweight ideation platform designed for distributed teams to generate, group, and interpret ideas - in a single, uninterrupted flow.

At its core is an AI-powered clustering engine that takes and organizes inputs into themes as they arrive - using semantic similarity to reveal structure in real time.

Key Capabilities

  • Facilitator Console
    Create a session, define the prompt, and track participation in real time.

  • Participant Interface
    Lightweight, accessible, and distraction-free. Join via link, submit ideas with or without attribution, and watch them appear live.

  • Live AI Clustering
    A real-time NLP engine groups similar ideas into clusters - reducing facilitator effort and eliminating post-session cleanup.

  • Exports & Insights
    Downloadable idea clusters, word clouds, and raw submissions - instantly ready for synthesis and sharing.

My Role

  • Defined the product vision, flow, and core differentiators

  • Designed the end-to-end UX for both facilitator and participant modes

  • Developed the MVP using React + Firebase, integrating an NLP-based semantic clustering model

  • Ran multiple live workshops to validate product-market fit with design and product teams

Outcomes

  • Used in over 10 real-world ideation workshops across functions

  • Replaced 3-tool setups (Miro, Zoom, Excel) with one streamlined flow

  • Reduced synthesis time by 60%+, enabling facilitators to focus on strategy, not sorting

  • Received high praise for the “invisible magic” of real-time AI clustering

IdeasColab wasn’t just a tool for idea capture — it was a framework for collective sensemaking.
By bringing structure to spontaneity, it helped teams move from ideation to insight — faster, and more meaningfully.

Creativity doesn’t need chaos. It needs clarity at the right moment.