The current objective of public traded senior management teams is to optimize short-term businesses and revenue goals. To achieve this goal they MUST (implicitly) ignore long-term innovation. If not, then their competitors will generate better financials, attract cheaper capital and beat you. To resolve this dilemma we recommend that companies establish an innovation fund and look to take small stakes in a portfolio of technologies and companies looking to disruptive the current market. Track and review the portfolio to see how they are doing, then if and when management see's a threat or opportunity - buy it. Cheaper and Faster than DIY in-house

In my experience managing innovation project portfolios, I've found that both, innovation and operationalisation should always happen simultaneously. I've often adopted the 30-30-40 rule to allocate budget and capacity across the range of roadmap items. I allocate 30% to high-risk, disruptive, user-centric innovation—ensuring we constantly ideate and prototyping, even if to fail. Another 30% goes toward decommissioning outdated technologies or underperforming projects and freeing up capacity. The final 40% focuses on continuous improvement—scaling proven innovations and optimising operational processes. This approach helps balance efforts across all innovations in different lifecycle stages within the organisation.

Balancing short-term scalability with long-term product innovation is indeed a tightrope walk, but it’s possible to keep both in focus. - Dedicated Innovation Budget to experience ideas and validation - Innovation KPIs - Establishing a Future-State Team - Regular Innovation Cadence through innovation days or hackathons - Customer Feedback Loop to validate ideas and prevent disconnects - Establishing a Leadership Advocacy - innovation acceleration labs every so often Scaling and innovating don’t have to be mutually exclusive. With a structure that fosters curiosity, prioritizes future opportunities, and holds space for experimentation, you can keep innovation alive while achieving those essential short-term gains.