That is shocking. I'm glad Steve said it clearly in those words, because I've certainly been believing the exact opposite.
And with that, I'm now more confused than ever by the whole customer development and lean startup way of doing things.
A startup think through all the business model will run rings around those who simply think it's about features.
Tell me you understand your entire business model and that you thought through the rest of the canvas.
We (Fogbeam Labs) are certainly trying to get to this level. I've read (most of) TFSTTE four or five times now, and feel like I understand the process a little bit more each time through. Additionally, the more we talk to customers, the more we understand.
Probably my biggest "epiphany" lately though, involves "traditional" market research. Our first round of "friendly first contacts" interviews were very scattershot and unfocused... it was almost literally "interview anybody who will talk to you." Now, I've learned a lot more about how to research various industry segments, and learn about the statistical and demographic stuff (using Census data, Hoovers, etc.) and now we're starting to actually formulate real elements of our market hypothesis (eg, "manufacturing firms in NC with > 500 employees have problem X and our product solves problem X for them" or whatever) that we can go out and specifically try to disprove.
Developing the product in parallel with doing CustDev, with a very small team, has meant that we probably made our fair share of "typical engineer mistakes" (like building features that we don't actually know there is demand for), but altogether, I think we're on a good path.
If we ever make it big, we'll definitely owe @sgblank a tremendous debt of gratitude. Reading TFSTTE was such an eye opener for me, I don't even know how to describe it. :-)
I like the idea of there being an "order of operations" in what to consider changing, and I like it being based on "what brings money in" and "what keeps us from spending unnecessarily". Definitely something I'll put in my notebook!
But even with a business model, the product needs to evolve based on customer engagement and feedback, which sometimes takes us to a place we would have never imagined in our vision.
I don't think I understand your stance on when to put your visionary foot down and when to listen to customers.