Ideas that got mocked

In the course of my life so far, I've had a number of ideas. Many of my 'best' ones came to nothing because people I discussed them with just laughed. Here's some examples.

When I was 16 and my dog was old, almost blind, almost deaf, and we think a bit senile, she would vanish while out on her evening walk. Just there one minute, gone the next, and after much searching I'd find her in the wrong garden or such. So I thought if only she had a collar that lights up, so I could see where she was. What if other people have the same problem. So I thought I'd make one, cost it all up properly and mass produce it and sell it. On came the jokes about christmas tree dogs and such, so I never did it. Now I see them all the time.

When I was about 14 or 15 and airbags were just coming out on cars, and my dad rode a motorbike, I thought what about airbags in the pads of the bike jacket and trousers, with a rip cord between the back of the jacket and the bike, and a tiny CO2 canister to inflate the pads if rider and bike become unexpectedly separated. On came the jokes about the michellin man and bikers rolling away in a ball when they stop for fuel, so I never pursued it.

When I was about 21 I got sick of having to tell many, many recruiting agents the same thing. Sure they all have my CV, but they all want more info and all ask similar questions. employers too have a hard time. It's costly for businesses to take a couple of hours out of the day to interview someone, and most of that time is spent asking the 'standard' questions. What if you could put your CV on the internet, share contact details, add posts that give an insight as to who you are and what you're interested in, and allow people to recommend each other and endorse them for certain skills. Along came the jokes about the internet being a passing fad, so again, I did nothing. I wouldn't even like to guess how much LinkedIn is worth these days.

A few years ago while trying to learn Spanish I got frustrated that I had nobody to practice with. Here's an idea, build a website that allows like minded people to mark each other, chat, and generally practice. More mockery along the lines of 'who wants to talk to a stranger in a foreign language on the internet'. LiveMocha announces about a year ago that they'd merge with (probably been bought out by) no less than Rosetta Stone, the leading online language tutors.

So here I am, still a poor man

Who else has missed/blown such opportunities?

 

Remote control smoke alarms, but I see somebody else has now had the same idea

 

Many years ago a friend was asked whether he wanted to invest in a new software company being formed by a relative in Canada and called 'Corel', but declined. (I've been hill walking with them both in Wales when he was back in the UK).

 

I invented the Debit card, but was told by Barclays, who I worked for at the time,