Converting passion to profits

Many bubble-era companies serve a niche of passionate users very well, but scale very slowly

One of the more interesting results of the late 90's euphoria is a series of surviving companies that inspire passion but not widespread adoption. This is a direct outgrowth of the late 90's preference for changing the world all at once.

Prior to the bubble, companies needed more than a brilliant idea; they needed a good incremental way to get people to adopt that idea. The light bulb does not exist in the absence of an electrical grid. No matter how brilliant the invention, the market needs to be ready to adopt it.

An excerpt from an interesting article on the pains and virtues of the old incrementalism.

Though the discussion in this article focuses on high-tech markets, dealing with tradeoffs between passion and profits occurs in every area of the economy. Here's a winery that balances passion with making a profit because giving in totally to either would likely mean their extinction (either in body on the one hand or soul on the other).