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In all honesty, I've never been in that exact situation. I have hung out with friends, and in the midst of influenced conversations, have to crush their wonderful ideas. This arises when hanging out with non-engineering and non-science majors.(Although I did have some very creative, silly engineering friends too). Generally I was regarded as the realist, who apparently "ruins" everything.
I did do a brief student consulting jig once, which in itself was a unique and interesting experience. I was brought on because I was an engineer, I was a scientist who had some background in materials, chemistry, as well as toxicology. The product we were looking into was a cleaner that could elminate Norovirus, something that the typical restaurant cleaner doesn't handle. (For those who don't know, various strains of viruses, regardless of whether harmless or harmful, can be quite difficult in terms of their resistance).
I never really thought it could bear fruit (as an individual start-up company).
But I couldn't tell people that yet. We surveyed the restaurant market around us, to whom most weren't even aware of Norovirus, meaning no demand. Furthermore purchasing their cleaner was often bundled with other kitchen supplies and goods, meaning there was difficult penetrating the supply line. But we were forced to present the pluses, to give some positive outlook on the fact that even though there was no market, it could be created. We tried to present it as best as possible as a disruptive technology, but the whole time it felt like a false story.
Ultimately, and thankfully, we suggested that it would be a better product to combine into another suppliers line rather than marketing alone.
But that's my short story in being the so-called "expert"
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