De how to invest in R&D

Money is the nerve of war - imperial wars.

Motivation is the nerve of war - partisan wars.

Same applies to economy, the real economy.

Large companies have the power to invest swaths of money and get little for it. 

Small companies led by passionate people could with little money create real value.

The issue are that:

- large company have too much money and not enough ideas -> they tend to invest in many wrong (because unsuccessful) directions, hopping for the best, i.e. that what they were working on takes off almost inexplicably.

- small companies, even individual, have more motivation than means -> they tend to work in one unique direction, the one they hardcore believe in, and as such are not rational. However, they might strike gold, because they are actually doing.

Both act irrationally, but there is a way to combine rationaly both: for large companies to buy small companies or individual and give them means.

And that's what happens.

I don't speak about buying sucesful startups like youtube, flickr, snapchat.

I speak about buying unknown companies or individuals that have little to show for.

There is a whole business in that. But this works properly not microcredit styles. It works strong backing style. If you put too much pressure on paying bills, you'll burn the usefull effort and time of people in useless stuff. If you want a solid product, you have to give a solid backing, without conditions. Just empower people by giving them the responsabilites of working for themselves - not a picky manager.

Because, at the end of the day, large companies manage many bullshit products most of which die, and real work gets done by passionate people that have their feet on the ground, project and management of little to do with it. The only thing that is needed in a project is the cash to develop something.

Same with individuals and small companies: you only do go work when you believe in what you do. And individual know more closely than large companies what works: because they are end users they know their needs. They don't need market studies, they are the market. Layers of hierarchy is an hindrance.

So for R&D tasks, hire normally talented and widely passionate people, they do the real stuff. You'll get much more from them than from people who work for money - and they are in much greater availability than highly talented ones. Work is about money only when you have no interest in what you do, otherwise you could do it for free.

Give R&D staff cash an freedom, and they'll do great stuff. Better invest 1 million in 8 yp than in 1 preventive patent.

Climbing the hierarchy ladder gives you more money, but also there it is mainly for the pleasure of being in command (to say the least) that drives people. That's why CEO guys for whom work is a passion can not understand regular employees for whom work is a hassle.

Anyway, the more money you pay an employee, the less life looks like a script and the more life looks like a game where you have the upper hand over it, therefore the more enjoying it is, and an happy employee is a productive one. So raise the salaries to raise the profits.