Innovation is a bottoms-up, decentralized, and unpredictable thing, but that doesn’t mean it cannot be managed. - Eric Ries

It is insufficient to exhort workers to try harder. Our current problems are caused by trying too hard — at the wrong things.

This led to some frustrating board meetings at which we could show great product “progress” but not much in the way of business results.

The point is not to find the average customer but to find early adopters: the customers who feel the need for the product most acutely. Those customers tend to be more forgiving of mistakes and are especially eager to give feedback.