> 1. Business model / strategy is as important as the > technology. Way too many people believe that all they need > to do is build a great product (by all accounts it seems > RethinkDB did) and the rest will take care of itself. > Enterprise software is a very difficult business and at the > moment going through tremendous change and while there is > good opportunity it takes much more than good tech.

Amen to this!

When I was CTO of my previous company, I always thought of the "product" as the technology we were building.

As CEO of my current one, the "product" is really the business model we are nurturing/shaping. Even when we are creating amazing technology, the business model is the thing that requires the most care and the main driver of whether we succeed or fail - the real product.