Invention is not enough. [Nikola] Tesla invented the electric power we use, but he struggled to get it out to people. [You have to] combine both things . . . invention and innovation focus, plus . . . a company that can really commercialize things and get them to people.

Page contrasts pure technical creativity with the organizational and market work required to make ideas matter at scale. By invoking Tesla—often portrayed as a brilliant inventor who struggled with business, financing, and distribution—he argues that invention alone does not reliably translate into widespread public benefit. The quote frames “innovation” as the bridge between lab and life: productization, execution, and commercialization carried out by a capable company. Implicitly, it also reflects a Silicon Valley ethos in which impact is measured by adoption and deployment, not merely by patents or prototypes, and it justifies building institutions that can carry ideas through engineering, manufacturing, and delivery.