[MisterKent]

That's not pareto. That's just finding a niche of people who would prefer more focused products.

Tax prep software for simple returns only is an entire product. Adding support for the other 20% would lose your initial base's interest.

Tax software that aims to solve all problems whose MVP is it handles 80% of people's tax returns is the pareto the author is talking about. But the real complexity is the other 20%.

Pareto as a minimalism process for focused product development is not engineering (good or bad).

Forgetting pareto and believing (or lying) that you are truly 80% of the way there is a big problem in engineering and funding. The author is correct in that.