[benologist]

I think if a startup has spent a bunch of time building a product without considering who should use it and how they should reach those people then they're pretty fundamentally isolated from the industry they wish to service.

Steve Blank's not saying the other 90% were good ideas.

[jwillgoesfast]

Good point, there are a lot of bad ideas out there. But, even the best ideas/products are not what they started out as, they involved pivots and market changes. Was this due to luck, or were the founders fundamentally committed to creating a business that adds value vs. simply in love with their "great idea"?

[benologist]

I like to think successful founders "got there" pivoting or otherwise, by being good at bringing a product to market and building a company around it.

Startups that need to as ef4 put it "outsource the hard stuff" are pretty much proven bad at bringing a product to market, I don't think it's likely their problems will be as simple as customer development vs. being underprepared, inexperienced or just plain unsuitable to found companies.