Originally written by Mike Lebus on Small Business
After 15 years of looking through business pitches on the AIN platform, you get very quick at analysing investment opportunities and spotting the worst startup ideas. The most common theme is that the entrepreneur clearly hasn’t given their business enough thought to refine it for launch and certainly not enough to inspire an investor.
With this in mind, I am going to list five reasons why an investor might say no, and give real examples of some of the worst startup ideas that we’ve received over the years. It won’t surprise you to learn none of them turned into viable businesses.
>See also: Q&A – Sarah Turner, Angel Academe: ‘Women tend to talk more honestly about their business’
5 of the worst startup ideas…
#1 – Trying to solve a problem that doesn’t exist
One entrepreneur thought it would be a good idea to design shoes with TV screens in them. The rest of us realise there simply is no desire for people to walk around watching TV in their shoes. It’s pretty easy to see why this one never made its way onto the shop shelves.
#2 – The business is immoral or unethical
Investors tend to prefer to