“The difficulty in starting companies is not just about finding the right technology, but also getting the timing right”

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.