I think we see in this that Signal's success is less about tech and more about some product-driven superiority, insofar as it actually reached users and is used a lot already.

It's the old mantra that you may need a Wozniak to do it but you need a Jobs to package it into a great product and sell it. I feel like Moxie is opinionated like a product leader, even more so than as a technologist. He's polarizing. And while it rubs everyone the wrong way on occasion, it's also the story of many a great success.