"So perhaps before you try to be better than your competitor as a startup, you might try being just as good--because just as good can mean revenues and next gen can sometimes mean too early. What you'll likely find is that a focused startup's attempt to be just as good actually results in a much better product that people might even be willing to pay for."

I took this advice and it worked for me. Do things that people will pay for today. Choose something that makes money and try to scale it. The challenge and excitement is in scaling a proven business idea better than the competition. Google did not invent AdWords, but they did execute better than Overture. There will be plenty of time to be original in retirement.