The reality the tech industry is facing at the moment is this, however -- there are three things people are building these days:
1. Businesses.
2. Products.
3. Features.
You're absolutely right. If your goal is to build a business - you should be focused on making money and keeping the business viable. Long term, businesses can and will be self-sustaining.
Products, however, don't need to be. Lots of people are building products these days and making a boatload of money selling them to businesses. There's nothing wrong with it - it seems, at times, to be a very good way of making money.
What makes you (and me) sick is when people mix up what's what.
So we should amend..."Time spent on early revenue is a distraction"...if your goal is to build a great product.
(Features are what you think they are - just products with too narrow a focus to stand by themselves.)
I agree 100% with this when your user is your customer. And I especially agree there are lot of people who confuse products and businesses.
But there are companies where the user is the product. In that case, early monetization can substantially harm your goal of creating a valuable asset. All of the companies I listed are good examples of that.
Unfortunately, their popularity makes entrepreneurs think their products can also be businesses. The obvious failure is people who just don't think about revenue.
The subtle failure is people who say, "Oh, we'll run ads!" without every understanding what that means. I know people who have built ad-supported businesses, and at this point it's an extremely challenging space.
The reality the tech industry is facing at the moment is this, however -- there are three things people are building these days:
1. Businesses.
2. Products.
3. Features.
You're absolutely right. If your goal is to build a business - you should be focused on making money and keeping the business viable. Long term, businesses can and will be self-sustaining.
Products, however, don't need to be. Lots of people are building products these days and making a boatload of money selling them to businesses. There's nothing wrong with it - it seems, at times, to be a very good way of making money.
What makes you (and me) sick is when people mix up what's what.
So we should amend..."Time spent on early revenue is a distraction"...if your goal is to build a great product.
(Features are what you think they are - just products with too narrow a focus to stand by themselves.)