[jpzeni]

I'm going to have to completely disagree with you. A very basic SEO strategy might get you ranked for your basic brand related search terms but if you are in a niche with any real level of competition that is all you'll get. If you have a deep understanding of SEO and the ability to implement complex SEO strategies you hold the key to significantly improving the quantity and quality of your traffic. Moving from position 5 to position 1 is likely to increase your traffic for that term 5-10x.

[noodle]

and for a company that has multiple employees, a finished product, and/or is actively looking for user acquisitions, that is a good thing to spend time on -- SEO, conversions, A/B testing, etc.

for a smaller startup that is still trying to develop their product and push out an MVP, their best bang for the buck is going to be hitting the effective basics until they're ready and able to spend more time on more in-depth things.