yup. innovation is a crap shoot. if you have the luxury of patience, optimization has the potential for much higher yield.
my dude worked for apple for 18 years (quit when we bought our property and moved up to the mountains). he was recruited heavily out of his aerospace background by john (yeah - that john) who was head of product development at the time. he resisted for months until they made him an obscene offer he couldn’t refuse. during his tenure, there was a significant shift in focus. i love it when he talks about the strategy and tactics during those years.