The OceanGate tragedy is a great example of why ideas are worth nothing and engineering and commercialization are far bigger than anyone thinks. - This is a great r/entrepreneur lesson.

Stockton Rush has clearly demonstrated how important the final details of taking a design from MVP to commercialization is. OceanGate had a great prototype, but clearly it was not proven technology. Controversy around the design limits and post dive inspection ultrasonic testing versus destructive testing occurred during the development. The design should be been rated to 50% below the working limits and then verified using destructive testing after 50 or 60 pressure cycles. The problem is creating a 400+ bar test facility at scale is incredibly cost prohibitive. Using carbon fiber in a compressive stress environment seems a bit "out of the box" thinking.

I worked for a company that manufactured subsea tools, and the number of companies that would come along with a great "idea", but without any rigorous engineering to back it up was amazing. You have to prove that a tool will run 100's of times without failure and then figure out how to manufacture and test it. The prototype is probably 10% of the total cost of commercialization. This is why your idea is not worth much. It is even more important when human lives are on the line.

I believe this also applies to software as well. Building a prototype is pretty trivial these days, but making it robust from a usability and security perspective is the large, underwater end of the iceberg.

RIP the crew of the Titan who had to illustrate this concept so well for us.