Preface Somewhere between AI copilots, startup boilerplates, scalable cloud stacks, and “move faster” engineering culture, product development became heavier than the products themselves. What used to begin with a simple idea now begins with: stack comparisons, framework debates, AI-generated assumptions, and architecture decisions designed for problems that do not exist yet. The modern startup has more tools than ever. Yet somehow, less clarity. Because building a product was never just about technology. It was about understanding what people actually need — then solving it before attention disappears. And attention disappears fast. What There is a strange shift happening across the technology industry. Startups are spending more time preparing to build than actually validating what they are building.…