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The basic approach toward innovation should stay constant, regardless of the business climate, Tencer says.

“Don’t launch something because times are good or bad—launch it because it is ready to be launched,” he says. “Launch it if it is new, improved, fulfills a customer need—and works.”

Despite the headlines and statistics about the Great Recession, these aren’t actually hard times for all industries, author Johnson says. The tech industry is actually in its own, isolated boom, for instance.

“The web and tech sector is totally disconnected from the rest of the country,” he says.

But isn’t the claim that the rules are different, that gravity does not apply to the Internet, the same kind of talk that inflated the last tech bubble? Partly, Johnson says. Many of the current tech successes actually have a business model that includes profits, he argues, though that doesn’t keep him from getting a tad nervous.

“It’s getting a little frothy now,” Johnson says.

His suggestion is that innovators aim a bit lower for a while. Don’t try to become the next Mark Zuckerberg . Don’t set your sights on billions. Satisfy yourself, and maybe others will want to pay for the product.

“Build a tool that actually does something you want,” Johnson says.

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