This is a good point, and one that I should have thought of in my original comment: an alternate strategy is to keep the company alive by retreating to a defensible position, a niche that you own in some way that makes you a compelling alternative for customers in that niche, and then focus all your energies on owning the shit out of that niche. It's less ambitious, and the upside is smaller, but the risk of total failure is smaller too.
That's essentially what Jobs did with Apple -- we think of Apple as a huge success under his leadership, but that didn't really happen until they entered a different market with the iPod. Before then he kept them alive by giving up their ambitions to compete with Microsoft for the PC business in general and focusing their business on a few strong, high-margin products distinguished by classy design. They weren't enough to make Apple dominant again, but they were enough to keep the company afloat.
That's essentially what Jobs did with Apple -- we think of Apple as a huge success under his leadership, but that didn't really happen until they entered a different market with the iPod. Before then he kept them alive by giving up their ambitions to compete with Microsoft for the PC business in general and focusing their business on a few strong, high-margin products distinguished by classy design. They weren't enough to make Apple dominant again, but they were enough to keep the company afloat.