Suck IT and See

Do visionary/successful companies try lots of things consistent with their goals and and keep the stuff that works. Or do they know exactly how to get to where they want to be and home in on perfection like a wasp buzzing towards your pint of beer?

The ultimate suck it and see company has to be 3M. All things big start off small, but who knows for sure what will grow? They recognised that you need to develop a pipeline of little things and keep nurturing those that work. Time to market is also key. In the 1970's Glaxo was one of many drug companies climbing the greasy pole. Then their researchers discovered a potential wonder drug, ranitidine. Instead of doing toxicology testing sequentially, they decided to save time by running the toxicity studies in different species in parallel. By taking a calculated risk Glaxo were first to market and the rest, as they say, is history.

So one could conclude that if you want to make a bee line for success, you need to take a leaf out of Charles Darwin's book and try lots of things and keep the ones that work, and if you are going succeed, make it snappy!