Such an amazing response to this thread! Thanks everyone. Rik (the author) made the original article into an ebook as a result of all this great conversation. It's on Product Hunt books also now, should you wish to check it out: https://www.producthunt.com/posts/how-to-start-a-startup-wit... :)

Absolutely! Couldn't agree more with this. Most often thing I see is teams holding onto a solution to a problem that 1) no-one has, or 2) a few people have but no-one cares about. Sometimes they also over engineer the early iterations to a level of complexity that even prospective users won't "get it". Starting small, doing the research & interview legwork to define the problem, then design the smallest version of one possible product solution to it, iterate, review continuously...

Yeah, Rik's totally right. As a technical person you control the proverbial board. Go out, meet (great, non-crazy) people...talk about your ideas. Have in mind the type or skill set of the co-founder you want though, early stage everyone needs to bring hard skills, IMHO.