Nah, I think you're asking a good question! I think your interpretation is correct - a good sign for a platform is if it has a small base of passionate users who love the product.
I see a lot of statements like this (also here in the comments), but is there actual any evidence behind those? Any research results, which has been replicated?
If yes, it would be nice to see it together with such statements, to back them, because I have the feeling most of this is just anecdotical or ideas introduced by some kind of start-up gurus...
Yeah, I agree that these statements are not awfully scientific. I wish I had studies or references to back them up, but I’m not aware of something like that.
However, as others have pointed out, this was originally observed by pg and has become a staple of YC’s advice since then. I think it would be uncharitable to say this is just a hypothetical invented by startup gurus. YC has had a lot of startups pass through their doors, and more experience than almost anyone seeing why people succeed or fail. Their findings may not exactly be science, but I think their advice is as close as we can get right now.
For some more context, the How to Start a Startup course is pretty good -- here is the lecture I think is most relevant: http://startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec06/
Any statement like this isn't going to apply in all cases, and you bring up some good examples. But it's a good general principle.