# What's the dumbest/worst "Next Million Dollar Idea" someone has shared with you? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 1, 2023, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-dumbest-worst-next-million-dollar-idea-someone-has-shared-with-you/992447 "2023-11-01T23:19:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2023, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-dumbest-worst-next-million-dollar-idea-someone-has-shared-with-you/992447/101 "2023-11-03T09:03:57Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Someone I know decided he was going to grow mushrooms to sell to restaurants. I have started getting ads on Reddit for something called “magic bags” in which you can grow your own mushrooms - single portion sized, not in bulk. There is an unconvincing claim that they are intended for “gourmet” mushrooms. I’ve never seen the ad before, so I assume it picked up the cue from me reading this thread. I wonder if “magic bag” guy made millions? ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2023, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-dumbest-worst-next-million-dollar-idea-someone-has-shared-with-you/992447/102 "2023-11-03T09:06:28Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > I’ve literally never seen Drive-Thru Pizza at all LOL I work at precisely such a place (western Michigan). There’s a lobby and you can order inside and even eat there, but the vast majority of our business is done at the drive-thru window. Yes, even when there’s a long wait. ---
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2023, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-dumbest-worst-next-million-dollar-idea-someone-has-shared-with-you/992447/103 "2023-11-03T11:41:11Z")
Ah, I missed that. Are/were they tropically themed in their signage? My story is probably related to yours. Not _Pacific_ Northwest, just Northwest.(Boise is just a little too far to the east) ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2023, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-dumbest-worst-next-million-dollar-idea-someone-has-shared-with-you/992447/104 "2023-11-03T12:54:22Z")
> [@TokyoBayer](#): > > My brother, until he finally went completely crazy, was the master of the genre. > > He was convinced that he could build a better private jet than anything out in the market. He wasn’t an engineer, but had read a number of books on aircraft design, although he had to skip the math because it was too complicated. But he knew how to design a better jet. > > There were so many over the years, and I’ve pushed them out of my mind because it was too frustrating talking to him about it. He would make up his mind and nothing you said could make him listen. > > He had hundreds of ideas, but never built a single one, let alone a working model or even detailed drawings. You might be surprised if you knew how many people have been carrying an idea along with them throughout their lives. They get frustrated because they have thousands of hours of thought invested into something and when they attempt to talk about it they are usually talking to someone who hasn’t given it any thought at all and they are thinking on the fly. I can relate to your brother in some respects because I have done the same thing with the concept of collaboration starting in my early 20’s. Every couple of years I will delete hundreds of pages of work in an attempt to erase it from my mind but it just keeps coming back. It is impossible to talk about because no one else has given it that much thought. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2023, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-dumbest-worst-next-million-dollar-idea-someone-has-shared-with-you/992447/105 "2023-11-03T14:12:53Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > I have started getting ads on Reddit for something called “magic bags” in which you can grow your own mushrooms - single portion sized, not in bulk. There is an unconvincing claim that they are intended for “gourmet” mushrooms. I’ve never seen the ad before, so I assume it picked up the cue from me reading this thread. I wonder if “magic bag” guy made millions? As you have deduced, these are meant to be the substrate for magic shrooms. Friends of mine successfully use rice cakes or much more popularly Uncle Ben’s instant rice. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2023, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-dumbest-worst-next-million-dollar-idea-someone-has-shared-with-you/992447/106 "2023-11-03T14:32:35Z")
I have something that is a ‘mushroom log’, don’t recall exactly what it’s called. It is seeded (or spored I guess) and ready to grow mushrooms when the plastic is unsealed and maybe you add water or something. It is alleged to grow edible ‘gourmet’ mushrooms. The local grocery doesn’t always have great choices but they sell the mushrooms already grown. So do the guys on the street. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2023, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-dumbest-worst-next-million-dollar-idea-someone-has-shared-with-you/992447/107 "2023-11-03T14:35:16Z")
I think Al Bundy cornered the market on “worst million dollar ideas”. LOL ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2023, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-dumbest-worst-next-million-dollar-idea-someone-has-shared-with-you/992447/108 "2023-11-03T14:39:25Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > My million dollar business plan is to buy a bar and send salespeople to all the other bars. My plan was to open a bar catering to the young drunk male demographic, but every once in a while, hire a bunch of prostitutes to come in, pick up a random guy, and have sex with him. Those guys will come back every week for the next decade, and bring their friends, telling them tales of how awesome this place is, how this hot girl just banged him with no effort! He’ll chase that white whale forever, and every horny guy in the area will eventually hear the stories, and come to my bar. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2023, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-dumbest-worst-next-million-dollar-idea-someone-has-shared-with-you/992447/109 "2023-11-03T14:42:35Z")
> [@Horatius](#): > > My plan was to open a bar catering to the young drunk male demographic, but every once in a while, hire a bunch of prostitutes to come in, pick up a random guy, and have sex with him. Those guys will come back every week for the next decade, and bring their friends, telling them tales of how awesome this place is, how this hot girl just banged him with no effort! He’ll chase that white whale forever, and every horny guy in the area will eventually hear the stories, and come to my bar. Perhaps you are unaware that there are plenty of bars that work based on that concept, except with volunteers instead of prostitutes and no management involvement. ---
**Author:** ![filmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2023, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-dumbest-worst-next-million-dollar-idea-someone-has-shared-with-you/992447/110 "2023-11-03T14:45:53Z")
There was this time I was working in a morgue, and one of my coworkers was always saying how he was this [big idea man](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084412/characters/nm0000474). One of his great ideas was to eliminate garbage by creating edible paper. Eat the paper, no garbage! One of his other “flashes of genius” was to feed mayo to tuna fish. I guess to save time making tuna salad?!? Anyway, they were mostly junk ideas. But he did have one good one. That was to turn the morgue into a bordello. We made some pretty good bank from that one! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2023, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-dumbest-worst-next-million-dollar-idea-someone-has-shared-with-you/992447/111 "2023-11-03T14:46:15Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > except with volunteers instead of prostitutes Yeah, see, that’s the weakness of the traditional drunk guy bar scene. ---
**Author:** ![Akaj](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/akaj/32/145_2.png) [@Akaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Akaj)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2023, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-dumbest-worst-next-million-dollar-idea-someone-has-shared-with-you/992447/112 "2023-11-03T15:34:19Z")
Another guy I met during my startup years had an idea for a standalone kitchen garbage can that opened in front instead of on top. The advantage being that you could pull the full bag out horizontally instead of lifting it out vertically. OK, it’s not the worst idea. If you built it, some people might prefer it. But the guy had literally nothing but a crude schematic and was already talking IPO. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2023, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-dumbest-worst-next-million-dollar-idea-someone-has-shared-with-you/992447/113 "2023-11-03T15:36:13Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Perhaps you are unaware that there are plenty of bars that work based on that concept, except with volunteers instead of prostitutes and no management involvement. True. But IME / IMO the supply of volunteer female labor is far short of the demand for same by the drunk male customers. > [@purplehorseshoe](#): > > LOL I work at precisely such a place (western Michigan). There’s a lobby and you can order inside and even eat there, but the vast majority of our business is done at the drive-thru window. > > Yes, even when there’s a long wait. So how does that actually work? I drive up, and by lucky coincidence nobody is in the drive-up line. I pull up to the order window, order a large 3-toppping, and you say “that’ll be $17.97 and be ready in 20 minutes”. So I pay. Now what? Then I sit in my car idling outside your order window for 20 minutes while nobody behind me can pull up to even order? Despite the fact they want one slice and a soda you could hand out the window in 30 seconds? I’m just baffled as to how this could work well. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2023, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-dumbest-worst-next-million-dollar-idea-someone-has-shared-with-you/992447/114 "2023-11-03T16:08:44Z")
You either call it in ahead of time or place your order at the window and park in the lot for a while. This was being done 25 years ago at a place near me. I found out quickly their pizza sucked and but they might have had slices available that could be served quickly. It’s no different than the many restaurants with curb-side service except they usually don’t a dedicated drive-up window and just hand deliver orders to waiting cars. This particular place was part of a small local chain that went out of business. In the intervening years pizza delivery grew around here. It wasn’t that common out here in the burbs back then. So the drive thru system might not be attractive in direct competition right now. Also, it doesn’t take 20 minutes to cook a pizza. Dominos can deliver one to me in 20 minutes and they have a lot of choices. Pizzas can be made in 60 seconds or less using pre-cooked shells. Very good pizza even if not exactly the style of pizza you’d like. But I think the demand for drive thru pizza is limited by the availability of inexpensive delivery and pick up locations. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2023, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-dumbest-worst-next-million-dollar-idea-someone-has-shared-with-you/992447/115 "2023-11-03T16:49:07Z")
My dad actually knows the guy who invented the flexible hose that connects your dryer to the outside vent (before it was invented they used solid metal stovepipe). The lesson from him is that you don’t usually get rich just by inventing a thing, even a thing that everyone who has a dryer uses. The investor(s) who fund the development of your idea are the ones who make most of the money. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2023, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-dumbest-worst-next-million-dollar-idea-someone-has-shared-with-you/992447/116 "2023-11-03T16:53:55Z")
Back when I worked in public relations, we had million-dollar ideas come to us on a regular basis. Most of them dropped out when they discovered that public relations firms don’t normally accept stock options as payment from entrepreneurs who haven’t even incorporated yet… There were a couple that had promise but never worked out. The one I remember best was a chemist who had invented a formula for dishwasher detergent that out performed the big national brands. When those big national brands turned him down, he came to us with the idea of selling to supermarkets and big box stores as a private label. Unfortunately he ran into a brick wall when those companies told him he had to supply it at an exact price point, so they could underprice the national brands. Try as he might, the only way he could get the cost of manufacturing down was to eliminate the ingredients that made it a superior product in the first place. Coincidentally, when I was a kid my uncle had a similar plan for an all purpose household cleaner. Sadly, there were already three national brands that did the same thing. Those three brands still dominate the market today. ---
**Author:** ![Dogginit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dogginit/32/16920_2.png) [@Dogginit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogginit)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2023, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-dumbest-worst-next-million-dollar-idea-someone-has-shared-with-you/992447/117 "2023-11-03T17:12:59Z")
Deleted. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2023, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-dumbest-worst-next-million-dollar-idea-someone-has-shared-with-you/992447/118 "2023-11-03T17:20:27Z")
> [@HoneyBadgerDC](#): > > You might be surprised if you knew how many people have been carrying an idea along with them throughout their lives. They get frustrated because they have thousands of hours of thought invested into something and when they attempt to talk about it they are usually talking to someone who hasn’t given it any thought at all and they are thinking on the fly. I can relate to your brother in some respects because I have done the same thing with the concept of collaboration starting in my early 20’s. Every couple of years I will delete hundreds of pages of work in an attempt to erase it from my mind but it just keeps coming back. It is impossible to talk about because no one else has given it that much thought. One of my brothers is like that / you. A big pet idea he cannot let go of even after decades. The problem isn’t that the outsiders haven’t given it enough thought. It’s that the obsessive has given it too much thought. And thought without rigorous feedback from others all along. Along the way, they have slowly but unwittingly morphed their model of the world until the world is compatible with the idea. Rather than recognizing, as newbies instantly do, that the idea is badly incompatible with the world as it really is. Not the world the idea-man naively and obsessively mischaracterizes. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2023, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-dumbest-worst-next-million-dollar-idea-someone-has-shared-with-you/992447/119 "2023-11-03T17:21:25Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > So how does that actually work? I drive up, and by lucky coincidence nobody is in the drive-up line. I pull up to the order window, order a large 3-toppping, and you say “that’ll be $17.97 and be ready in 20 minutes”. So I pay. Now what? @TriPolar already explained one way, but I could also imagine a fast food style place that works basically like McDonald’s for pizza. McD’s doesn’t make you wait at the drive through while they cook your burger; they have burgers already already prepared ahead of time. It seems like one could do exactly the same thing with pizza. Limit the options to a few of the most popular ones, say plain cheese, pepperoni, veggie, meat lovers, and supreme. No customization. You pull up to the speaker: “I’ll have a personal pepperoni and a large Coke, please.” Pull forward, pay, and they hand you a personal sized pepperoni pizza from the warmer. It probably won’t be particularly good pizza, but it would be acceptable pizza if you’re in a hurry and want pizza. And now that I think about it, it’s pretty much the same as the Pizza Hut Express and similar places you often see in airports and food courts and the like, where you just grab a pizza from the warmer and go pay for it, except with a drive through. I’m honestly surprised Pizza Hut didn’t add something like a drive through until quite recently, since they already had the Express concept for decades. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2023, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-dumbest-worst-next-million-dollar-idea-someone-has-shared-with-you/992447/120 "2023-11-03T18:05:42Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > I’m honestly surprised Pizza Hut didn’t add something like a drive through until quite recently, since they already had the Express concept for decades. I’m sure like McDonald’s brand frozen food it’s considered often at HQ but it’s not something that ties well into their existing business model. They probably have specific marketplace metrics they need to see before considering moving in those new directions. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-dumbest-worst-next-million-dollar-idea-someone-has-shared-with-you/992447.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-dumbest-worst-next-million-dollar-idea-someone-has-shared-with-you/992447.md?page=7)