Don't undertake a project unless it is manifestly important and nearly impossible.
Edwin LandRead
I believe quite simply that the small company of the future will be as much a research organization as it is a manufacturing company.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The future of small companies will focus equally on research and manufacturing.
Edwin Land's quote reflects the evolving landscape of business, suggesting that small companies in the future will prioritize innovation and research just as much as they emphasize production and manufacturing. This paradigm shift highlights the importance of creativity and development in staying competitive in a rapidly changing market.
Themes
ResearchManufacturingInnovationFutureBusiness
In practice
Example use cases
In a pitch meeting, you might use this quote to emphasize the importance of research in your business model.
More from Edwin Land
All quotes βIndustry is best at the intersection of science and art.
Edwin LandRead
It is a curious property of research activity that after the problem has been solved the solution seems obvious. This is true not only for those who have not previously been acquainted with the problem, but also for those who have worked over it for years.
Edwin LandRead
My motto is very personal and may not fit anyone else or any other company. It is: Don't do anything that someone else can do. Don't undertake a project unless it is manifestly important and nearly impossible.
Edwin LandRead
Work only on problems that are manifestly important and seem to be nearly impossible to solve. That way you will have a natural market for your product and no competition.
Edwin LandRead
Intense concentration for hour after hour can bring out resources in people that they didn't know they had.
Edwin LandRead
Similar quotes
I grew up using maps and having a sense of direction, and now I have a phone. I used to try to remember numbers, and now I... can just call them up instantly. And that's great. But what's happening right now is that we're in a phase of human evolution where we're merging with machines.
Franklin FoerRead
Remove advertising, disable a person or firm from proclaiming its wares and their merits, and the whole of society and of the economy is transformed. The enemies of advertising are the enemies of freedom.
David OgilvyRead
AI has been making tremendous progress in machine translation, self-driving cars, etc. Basically, all the progress I see is in specialised intelligence. It might be hundreds or thousands of years or, if there is an unexpected breakthrough, decades.
Andrew NgRead
Open platforms encourage innovation. Whenever you have a closed platform, a monopoly on commerce, and all these platform rules, it stifles innovation.
Tim SweeneyRead
One of the symptoms of an absence of innovation is the fact that you lose your jobs. Everyone else catches up with you. They can do what you do better than you or cheaper than you. And in a multinational corporate-free market enterprise, it is the company's obligation to take the factory to a place where they can make it more cheaply.
Neil Degrasse TysonRead
What matters is 'Have you done a better job of making our experiences feel like home on Windows?' That's our real goal, and that's what we're going to stay focused on.
Satya NadellaRead