There are many cases of old ideas that failed, only to be implemented again - successfully - at a later time.

Apple Newton failed, but Palm Pilot and later the iPhone itself were successful.

Did you know that the first electric car was created in 1837 and that by the turn of the 19th century, there was a fleet of electric taxis working in London? The electric car failed then but is now becoming successful.

Many reasons exist that cause these initial failures: not the right moment in time, insufficient technology, lack of funds, and so on.

In hindsight, after becoming successful the second time around, you can see the crucial points where the initial idea missed the mark.

Now that a particular idea became successful, we know the contributing factors to its original failure.

The original - failed - entrepreneur could have tried to project these causes of failure in advance. Based on these projections, the idea could have been changed to make it work (as it did later) or dropped altogether.

Such projections are very hard, but they become nearly impossible if you are not using the right thinking tools.

Whatever methods you try using for predicting the future, the basic and most important one is knowing and understanding the essence of your idea. Without that, everything else becomes less clear, and that causes wrong decisions, elevating your chances of failure.