The Profit Prophet

While I was working in product marketing, I always heard people talking about “ time-to-market ,” and how important it was to get products to market as quickly as possible. Instinctively, this sounds good, but in reality what is important is “ timeliness to marke t.” What that means is that you need to get your product to the market just before the market starts to develop. I am reminded of a parable that was told to me by a great mentor while I was at Texas Instruments concerning timing. It was called Unfolding a Rose . A young student, whose wife had just bore him a baby girl, was walking with his wise Teacher in a garden, explaining his loss at understanding life, his daughter's purpose, and how was he, who knew nothing, expected to shape a new life. The old man simply plucked a rose bud from a large, very old vine. "Here, open this without tearing or damaging any petals." He tried as the Teacher had bid him; yet, but he could not unfold the rose wit