That's a sensible position to have for an established company that has a lot of cash in the bank, doesn't pay its engineers very much and has a long-term view.

That's a sensible position to have for an established company that has a lot of cash in the bank, doesn't pay its engineers very much and has a long-term view. However, if you're established but don't have cash, have low margins and expensive personnel, you're not in a very good position to start doing heavy R&D. Apple doesn't reflect the state of tech startups. Lessons learned from Jobs should be taken into context. If you don't have cash, get some by cutting everything you don't need. Build up a reserve and invest in long-term projects. Preferably ones that tie into a strategy of supplying services that other companies need but are currently supplied by companies that are going bust. Also, be pessimistic on your revenue projections. And don't take random advice on forums as your guideline.