The Bright Side of a Bad PitchVCs hear it all, but the bad ideas can be as worthwhile as the good ones.

Like people in any business, we in the VC world love to exchange horror stories. Ours tend to focus on absurd pitches: perpetual-motion machines, kitten sweaters and everything in between. Our cumulative experiences would rival the gag reel onShark Tank.

Despite this, we do our best to educate -- not humiliate -- founders. It's our job. People invest millions with VC firms so that we'll go out and find the next Facebook or Uber. That means taking meetings -- lots of them. Conversations with entrepreneurs are the lifeblood of our business. We spend most of our time listening to far-fetched pitches, but doing so makes us better. That's because venture capital is a numbers game, and reviewing as many ideas as possible, including the bad ones, helps us identify the ones that just may strike gold.