Historically that may have been true (if you consider making a product usable and finding users for it distinct from the task of making a product good), but the trend is very much in the opposite direction.
These days the difficulty in building a great product vastly outweighs the difficulty in finding an audience to validate it. Both skills can - and must - be learned, but these days, someone who is able to learn how to build a great product will find it comparatively easy to learn how to find an early-adopter audience for it.
This is what YC is talking about with their motto "make something people want".
These days the difficulty in building a great product vastly outweighs the difficulty in finding an audience to validate it. Both skills can - and must - be learned, but these days, someone who is able to learn how to build a great product will find it comparatively easy to learn how to find an early-adopter audience for it.
This is what YC is talking about with their motto "make something people want".