Maybe if you are a jeweler you can tell at a glance whether a muddy ring’s stones are real. Most of us cannot.
When I am metal detecting I mostly find trash: cans, nails, batteries. Occasionally something sparkles under the coil. I found a ring in a park, barely buried, packed with mud. It is an exciting moment. After that much effort, the brain wants the find to be valuable.
Businesses do the same thing. Someone has an idea they are sure customers will love. Gut instinct (the muddy ring) becomes a declaration: we found a winner.
Smart teams—and detectorists—validate.
For a ring you might use the sparkle test, then a diamond tester, then more than one method. In this case: it was fake. A fake ring can still look nice. You just should not price a decision as if it were a diamond.
I still try to find the owner. Monetary value and emotional value are not the same thing. Product ideas work that way too: excitement is allowed. Investment should wait for a test.