launching to fail

There's a very interesting article published by David Vinjamuri, author of "Accidental Branding" , in AdAge the other week.

In addition to have a go at the way new products are researched and developed by many packaged good companies, he points out how entrepreneurs (the engine of the economy) actually do it - by trying lots of things and failing. this is one of my favorite quotes:

"I was sitting on the deck at Clif Bar founder Gary Erickson's Napa Valley house...I asked Erickson what was the single most valuable lesson he had learned in his 16 years at Clif Bar. He shook his head, saying: "I haven't gotten any better at knowing which new products will succeed and which will fail. The most important thing I've learned is how to launch products quickly and cheaply so I can afford to fail and still keep innovating."