Been reading a lot about “innovation and the lack thereof”. Lytro is one innovative company and it started by a Stanford CS PhD student (Ren) who asked a simple question for his thesis: “how do you take the work of 100 cameras and put it into 1?” The result was a camera that took 2D photos unlike conventional photos. I am not going to go into the details here (I won’t do them justice) but check them out. The innovation came from a simple question, the risk and the patience of pursuing the answer to his question. The initial impetus was not for $ but with the cool technology, he ultimately began his startup. Yes, not all startups will start like this, but my point is that the US still fosters innovation! So if you’re looking for that big disruptive innovative idea and want to break the endless cycle of startup rehashes, let’s all take a page out of Lytro: think outside the box, ask questions that no one else asks, take risks, and have patience and persevere.