The difficulty in starting companies is not just about finding the right technology, but also getting the timing right. It’s easier to predict what might happen in the future; it’s harder to predict when the future is going to happen. When you’re working in a venture-funded start-up, time is of the essence. Investors get impatient. So the lesson there is that real breakthrough innovation is best achieved a step at a time. Technology is something that can be consumed in small bites. You don’t have to take a big bite all at once.
Jim Dolce, as quoted in Adam Bryant, “Achieving Breakthroughs in Small Bites”, The New York Times (21 June 2015), BU2.