Sometimes, bad ideas happen to good people. We talked to a panel of experts in innovation about what bad ideas have in common to help you recognize them when they happen and figure out your plan of action.

The problem only you have. Just because a solution works for you, it might not work for anyone else or make good business sense, says Jonathan Axelrod, managing director at Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator. Don’t assume that your needs are the market’s needs.

The idea you’ll monetize later. Finding a path to profitability is essential in testing the viability of an idea and whether it can find success. Crunch some hard numbers, suggests Greg Grove, an attorney at Chicago’s Much Shelist, and know what the cost to acquire customers will be, when you might break-even, and if it’s not too late to really reap the profits you think are available. After looking at the data, says Grove, “an idea that might initially look good, might be less good than you think.”

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