Interesting article, as usual. But a rule like "you shouldn't have a marketing budget" seems too one-size-fits-all. If you're building consumer apps, sure, it makes sense to rely on it being viral, but there's a whole universe of other stuff out there to build where it can be a lot harder to reach the customers.

And even if it is a viral consumer app, don't you want to be able to put the pedal down and accelerate growth at some point?

We launched at techcrunch, but it still cost money to get out there, get material ready for the demo, etc. Isn't that marketing (to investors, but still)? Seems like you're spending time/money on marketing even if it doesn't have a dedicated budget line item.