"Yes, when developing a product...., there is a point at which you must stop spending money on R&D and begin production for consumer sale...." --Wheelbender.
You've reminded me of a piece of automotive history that illustrates pretty well just how hard it can be to strike the right balance between product prep and getting it to market. I only learned of this story within the last couple of years. And I don't remember my source. Though it was likely Wikipedia.
Before Henry Ford founded the Ford Motor Company, he'd founded (1903, I think) an earlier company. The name was the Henry Ford Motorcar Co, or something pretty similar. He was only with them for about a half year or so. Because he couldn't get along with the investors. And I understand that the source of trouble between them was that the investors wanted to get something in production and sale in order to start generating some revenues. (It's not an invalid stance, really. Unless they went into it with the understanding that that would take a while and then changed their minds about just what they wanted. That would've been foolish.)
Henry, on the other hand, wanted to perfect a product first. He wanted their car to be 'right' before offering it for sale. When it became clear that they weren't going to get along, I guess, Henry said, "Go to heck!' and went on his way. The remaining investors changed the company's name to Cadillac and proceeded on their way. That's the birth of the company that we know as Cadillac. I'd been aware that they went back a long way. I hadn't been aware that Henry Ford had anything to do with the founding, though.
But think a moment about Henry's insistence on getting a good product built before selling it. Sounds a bit like the Model T, doesn't it? That car went into production in 1908. So it seems fair to suppose that Henry had something like it in mind at this time.
This bit of history doesn't really tell us much about striking the balance between product perfection and sale ASAP, since both companies did actually succeed.
But isn't it strange to think that had Ford and his investors managed to get along better and produce something like the Model T, then the company that we know as Cadillac would have been, in effect, the company that we know as Ford?
The one thing that I've been left wondering about in all of this is; How is it that these people, Ford on the one hand and his investors on the other, entered into an agreement without covering basics such as "How soon do we see a return on investment"? Seems like a lack of due diligence.
Of course Henry, though, is known to have been a genius who was entirely capable of being an oddball and difficult to get along with.