• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, December 6, 2011

On the question of how to ensure a company keeps innovating, LiveIntent's Dave Hendricks was rather blunt. "Stop being a coward and go try stuff, everyone here is too scared to try things," he said at the MediaPost Email Insider Summit. Failure is inevitable, but that's what brings ultimate progress.

Eric Didier, CEO of ividence, referenced Google allowing employees to spend a portion of their time exploring new opportunties, which he said led to the invention of Google Maps. Other companies could follow.

“That’s part of the job of somebody trying to make things better at a company ... looking at what you should do next,” he said.

Connection Engine's Eric Kirby advised testing in spurts, where results are produced in a relatively short period of time.

“Try the things that you can have an answer on and know that they work with a very small investment in a very short period of time,” he said.