Could a bad idea turn into a successful business or product? How?

The only bad ideas are the ones that haven't been tested.

Yes, that can definitely happen. Sometimes it just takes the right kind of an entrepreneur to make it happen. For that reason, it is a little bit misleading to label some business ideas as bad business ideas. Here is a video explaining some distinctions of when business ideas are bad, and when it is more of a matter of founder-to-idea mismatch. For more on business ideas, here are some mobile apps made by yours truly that can be quite helpful. Here is the Android business idea app: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.businessideas and here is the iOS business idea app: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/small-business-ideas-help/id583498069?ls=1&mt=8

It depends on how you know the idea is "bad" - there are definitely ideas that stand little chance of success. "New Coke" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Coke) is a classic example. However, I don't think it's the "bad idea" that kills most products - it's combination of poor execution and the inability to change course. There are many examples of products that started as "bad ideas" that have become huge successes - either because the idea wasn't "bad" at all, or because the execution was brilliant, or because the product turned out to be useful in a context that wasn't part of the original design.

You can build a whole business on an idea that isn't going anywhere. However, if you recruit good people, you may be able to change ideas, or sell out in a talent acquisition.

I would love to see the whole comment thread about bad ideas. The thing is that every new great idea seems to be badly received before execution. That's the "proof" that you have something interesting going on. If people like your idea it's because they recognize and can relate to it (it's kind of been done before). If the idea is new and truly innovative it's "bad" and "frightening" by default. I love the quote from computer pioneer Howard H. Aiken: ”Don’t worry about people stealing your ideas. If your ideas are any good, you’ll have to ram them down people’s throats” A lovely (or horrifying) proof of silly ideas turning into astonishing business is "The Snuggie" (a.k.a "the what the f***k blanket") which allegedly grossed $40 million in just three months after it's launch. I've seen recent numbers of a staggering 20 million units sold since then (!?).

HackerNews had a very interesting comment thread some month ago where people debated that if bad ideas even existed. They invented silly ideas and tried to find business for it. Almost everything worked : - machine that smash you in the face => boxing training There was other example, but I can find them right now

The thing about "bad" ideas is that they are only bad until they take off. Take, for example, "bad" ice cream flavors. They sell avocado popsicles at a chain of places here in North Carolina, with real success. Talk about a bad idea that turned out not to be. I'm amending this because it occurred to me that this is just the kind of question that might have been asked if Socrates were teaching in a business school. He might get things started by asking what we mean by "good" when we say "good idea." Is a successful plan for a novel terrorist act of mass destruction a "good" idea? What about an idea that results in a failure that, in doing so, exposes and permits the remediation of potentially disastrous flaws in operations or infrastructure? And so on. Fascinating. This question deserves some sort of prize, seems to me.