I'm mixed.. I think there are some teams that could thrive even without an idea, as long as they are committed to working with eachother when things go rough (which they will).
idea's are a dime a dozen right? with the right team/talent within that team, execution on whatever idea you choose is what's going to matter in the end to your business and to potential investors. Great idea's have still failed and i can guarantee the multiple factors that brought that on happened because of the wrong team and incorrect assessment of product market fit
I think I would disagree. I think there are plenty of really bad ideas that people are pursuing in one way or another. I think there is at least some value to the idea to start with. It is, after all, the building block upon which a startup gets going.
I think there's a difference between a "bad" or "average" idea that everyone on the team agrees on making and literally "no idea" (which is my own personal experience).
In terms of talent, I don't think (in all humility) that there were many teams in our batch THAT much more talented (at least on paper we were very very solid). In terms of personality there were mismatches that only came out later when tested by conflict.