The purpose of this essay is to present a prototypical process of innovation from the initiation to development to implementation of innovations over time, and to discuss their implications in terms of some key questions and propositions for strategic management. This prototype is based on empirical research observations of how the innovations journey typically unfolds, not on prescriptions of how it should unfold. We discuss the implications of these empirically grounded observations by raising some strategic management questions and proposing some answers for future theory and practice on the process of innovation.