These &quot;facts&quot; do not apply to startups that actually succeed. Understanding customer demands and tracking business intelligence related to customer behaviors are two incredibly useful strategies for developing great products. I&#x27;ve seen startups do it all the time.<p>I worked with the startup Streamable.com for a short time, and Armen, the CEO, once told me something really insightful. He said to me, &quot;There are no &#x27;product&#x27; people - successful web products are designed by listening to your users and designing appropriately.&quot; As the CEO, he was the one listening to users and communicating with them. I thought this was a novel approach, and given how great Streamable is, I think Armen was on to something.