There's No Such Thing as a Bad Idea

I attended a local meet-up last night for startup companies and aspiring entrepreneurs (gratuitous plug for Startup Ignite) and it's got me thinking about an old axiom.

Whoever said, "There's no such thing as a bad idea," is a dumbass.

Or so I thought. I've always fiercely believed there are plenty of bad ideas, especially in the startup world.

Building an app the emits an ultra high-frequency tone when you approach your house so your dog knows not to bark at you ... is a dumb idea.

Creating a Facebook competitor that has no discernible differences aside from using teal instead of royal blue, and swapping the "Like" button for an "Enjoyed it!" button instead ... is a dumb idea.

Doing anything involving QR codes ... is a dumb idea.

"Dumb" Is Irrelevant

The more astute of you will notice I said, "Bad idea," in the title, but "Dumb idea" in my analogies. That's what makes all the difference. ... at least, I think.

There are about as many dumb ideas floating around out there as there are stars in the sky. That's not a real stat, by-the-by. But "dumb" has nothing to do with being feasible or attainable or profitable. Girls Gone Wild, Head-on (applied directly to the forehead!), and Halloween costumes for dogs are all incredibly dumb ideas - but they happened, and grew (and some subsequently died), and had their go of it.

A truly "bad" idea is the one that's sitting on the shelf, rotting and being forgotten.

So, I'm Amending My Interpretation

I've always taken, "There's no such thing as a bad idea," to mean, "There's no such thing as a dumb idea." That was dumb of me, and incorrect.

From here on out, I'm taking it to mean, "There's no such thing as an idea that can't work." At least in startups.