Yeah this is not meant to be an excuse at all. But it used to be that code/innovation mattered more than words, PR etc. Certainly the oldest tech companies were of the "build it and they will come" type. If nowadays who you hang around with matters so much, does that mean that information tech has somehow already peaked?
Customers don't care about your cool technology, they pay you to solve a real problem they have. That has always been the case. If you see a successful company with cool technology, it's because it ALSO solved a real pain the customer had. There's plenty of startups doing "cool stuff" but it doesn't solve a problem, and therefore it doesn't go anywhere.
So I'd reframe the question: it's more about solving real problems. If you can solve it with cool new innovation/code, great. I assume the goal we're talking about here is to build a for-profit business.
Well yeah, look at all the hot startups out there. Except for a few orgs at the extreme high end of tech, a YC style startup is a marketing project with basic IT. Dropbox and a couple others might be an exception.
