Why You Should Refuse to Build a Startup on Content

I agree with this but I also think if you build a startup, you should rely on some content in the initial stages to get the ball rolling.

I also think the dirty little secrets of most web companies is that > 80% of their daily traffic comes from search engines. And you need content to rank in those. Pinterest and Facebook are just exceptions to that rule. That's why it's hard for newcomers to breakthrough - everyone else has a 5-10 year head start establishing themselves in Search engines, and building millions of pages of content. People these days don't like to be "pushed" a website (they're more likely to not trust it too) - they want to find it themselves, either through friends, or search engines, or forums.