> There is zero appetite for things that make a little bit of money relative to the cash cows of the company.

The other side of this is only new baby firms invest in that thing that makes a little bit of money. But given enough refinement, that thing starts making more and more money as it gets better and better. And soon, that new baby firm outshines the incumbent. The incumbent's wasn't incentivized to invest in the thing that started off worse but eventually became the new model. Think Kodak with film-vs-digital cameras.

This was the thesis of 1997's The Innovator's Dilemma, written by the guy who coined "Disruptive Technology".