Every entrepreneur knows the feeling: you have an idea so brilliant, so revolutionary, so clearly destined to change the world, that you start to parent it. You name it. You design a logo. You whisper to it at night like it’s a newborn. And this is where things go horribly wrong.

Ideas are born perpetually in the entrepreneurial mind. Some are genuinely brilliant. Others exist solely to remind us that confidence and competence are not the same thing. At 3:19 a.m, when sleep has abandoned you and your sanity is on airplane mode, every minuscule idea can feel like a billion-dollar stroke of genius.

The reality is, however, that not every idea deserves a commemorative hoodie, and falling in love with your ideas is very dangerous for a business leader. You start ignoring facts, data, the market, and the little voice in your head that politely says “no one’s gonna pay for this shit.”

The best entrepreneurs don’t marry their ideas. They date them casually, stress-test them brutally, and are not afraid to ghost them when they start showing red flags like “no budget,” “no client need,” and “this sounded better after three beers.”

How do you know you’ve become a parent to a bad idea? If you’ve ever found yourself defending a new idea in a meeting saying things like “it’s very niche” or “it’s ahead of its time” or “the market just doesn’t get it yet”, you’re an idea lover, and you need to take that idea and throw it in the pool and drown it in the deep end as soon as possible.

Being a strong and disciplined entrepreneur means being brave enough to occasionally euthanize ideas. Because loving your mission is essential. Staying true to your values is critical. Remaining focused on what you do and what you deliver is key, and eliminating distractions is paramount.

So if you’re building your company and every idea feels like your child, remember that some children grow up to be leaders, while others become half-baked initiatives living quietly on Slide 47 of a forgotten pitch deck. Up to you to choose.