Ideas Are As Worthless As They Are Plentiful
Posted: Mon Aug 31, 2026 2:36 pm
As somewhat of a follow-up to my last post (viewtopic.php?t=73), I feel compelled to assert that ideas, inventions, and solutions are generally worthless.
The vast majority of small businesses and new enterprises fail, and sure, some of them because they're built upon bad ideas. Building a coffee shop in a small town that already has six, inventing a product that solves too niche of a problem, entering an already competitive industry as a newcomer, etc.
There are however even some commercially successful bad ideas on shelves and out in the world. I'm sure many of you have had a similar though to "Who on earth would buy this?" while roaming the isles of you local Super Mart. Maybe even on your commute, you've passed a business and thought to yourself "Who would shop there?" or "Who needs that service?".
How does this happen? Why do good, noble, helpful, and useful ideas fail? And why do bad ideas sometimes find success? I don't think it's a bad seed so to speak, it's bad care. A lack of follow-though, a lack of ownership, a lack of stewardship. People might be passionate entrepreneurs, but not good managers.
For example lets look at a celebrity product: CALI by SNOOP Wines, a wine company started by the rapper Snoop Dog (Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr.). Let's suppose Calvin is a avid wine fan, that he knows a thing or two and actually has some ideas about how to make a new wine, that he's taken time to actually study the art of making a wine and all the elements that go into it. Is his wine in stores across the country because it's revolutionary, because it's innovative, because everyone just has to have it? I doubt it. It is almost certainly because A: He has the money, resources, and influence to produce and promote it. And B: Because he was able to hire people to manage aspects of the business and production that he was not familiar with or did not care to manage himself. Whether or not his wine is a good or bad idea is not the point. The point is that regardless of whether it was a good or bad idea, he or his team were able to produce and execute on it.
It is not my objective to sway any would-be entrepreneurs or civically minded individuals from developing new ideas to solve problems, my aim is to caution you. I myself work at a company that produces products. I am in the research and development side of things. My company's current problem is not a lack of ideas (good or bad), it is our production capacity. Not from an industrial or throughput standpoint, but by lacking competent individuals who can own and execute on essential functions of the business. Ordering materials, keeping inventory, maintaining a tidy workspace, not gossiping. These are some of the thousands of cuts that can kill an idea, a service, a business, an enterprise, etc.
All of these points have also yet to account for the millions of ideas that die inside people's heads. How many things never even make it on to a sticky note or a to-do list? Millions of ideas are born every day, and millions more die. The ones that last, the ones that stick, are the ones that get carried across the finish line and are properly maintained and cared for across time. This is not the fun part. This is not the emotional and exciting part. And this is where I believe people fail. They are excited in the genesis of a new idea, they have a lot of strong emotion to attach to it. But many have no emotion about the details, and they lack the discipline to overcome that lack of strong emotion and motivation. If you do not have the time, resources, influence, skills, discipline, or the means to employ people with these things, you should seek them for yourself or your ideas may never bear fruit. They certainly won't bear fruit for long.
The vast majority of small businesses and new enterprises fail, and sure, some of them because they're built upon bad ideas. Building a coffee shop in a small town that already has six, inventing a product that solves too niche of a problem, entering an already competitive industry as a newcomer, etc.
There are however even some commercially successful bad ideas on shelves and out in the world. I'm sure many of you have had a similar though to "Who on earth would buy this?" while roaming the isles of you local Super Mart. Maybe even on your commute, you've passed a business and thought to yourself "Who would shop there?" or "Who needs that service?".
How does this happen? Why do good, noble, helpful, and useful ideas fail? And why do bad ideas sometimes find success? I don't think it's a bad seed so to speak, it's bad care. A lack of follow-though, a lack of ownership, a lack of stewardship. People might be passionate entrepreneurs, but not good managers.
For example lets look at a celebrity product: CALI by SNOOP Wines, a wine company started by the rapper Snoop Dog (Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr.). Let's suppose Calvin is a avid wine fan, that he knows a thing or two and actually has some ideas about how to make a new wine, that he's taken time to actually study the art of making a wine and all the elements that go into it. Is his wine in stores across the country because it's revolutionary, because it's innovative, because everyone just has to have it? I doubt it. It is almost certainly because A: He has the money, resources, and influence to produce and promote it. And B: Because he was able to hire people to manage aspects of the business and production that he was not familiar with or did not care to manage himself. Whether or not his wine is a good or bad idea is not the point. The point is that regardless of whether it was a good or bad idea, he or his team were able to produce and execute on it.
It is not my objective to sway any would-be entrepreneurs or civically minded individuals from developing new ideas to solve problems, my aim is to caution you. I myself work at a company that produces products. I am in the research and development side of things. My company's current problem is not a lack of ideas (good or bad), it is our production capacity. Not from an industrial or throughput standpoint, but by lacking competent individuals who can own and execute on essential functions of the business. Ordering materials, keeping inventory, maintaining a tidy workspace, not gossiping. These are some of the thousands of cuts that can kill an idea, a service, a business, an enterprise, etc.
All of these points have also yet to account for the millions of ideas that die inside people's heads. How many things never even make it on to a sticky note or a to-do list? Millions of ideas are born every day, and millions more die. The ones that last, the ones that stick, are the ones that get carried across the finish line and are properly maintained and cared for across time. This is not the fun part. This is not the emotional and exciting part. And this is where I believe people fail. They are excited in the genesis of a new idea, they have a lot of strong emotion to attach to it. But many have no emotion about the details, and they lack the discipline to overcome that lack of strong emotion and motivation. If you do not have the time, resources, influence, skills, discipline, or the means to employ people with these things, you should seek them for yourself or your ideas may never bear fruit. They certainly won't bear fruit for long.