Liked the link to the talk. He's very straight forward, but I'm torn. I recognize that finding your ideal customers and their pain points first is generally the best approach, but if you have domain knowledge or insights, and have an idea for a product that you know you'd use yourself and that you're passionate about, that's just as valid as going off solving someone else's problem. Obviously there needs to be a market for it and people that'd pay for it besides yourself, but it's a good start.
It might still be safer to find a problem you're disconnected from emotionally and that has a higher chance of success (and really don't care about much). That might work well for business majors, but that's not why I want to start a business. Maybe I'll rethink that after my first business fails though...