There's a few Steve Jobs quotes which have tanked the tech industry. The quote "If I'd ask customers what they wanted, they would've told me a faster horse." for example is absolutely horrible advice for 90% of companies. It implies you understand your customers business better than they do. For simple B2C businesses, that might be true. For complex B2B businesses, it's very likely not true. If your founder spent decades doing the job of his customers, and (s)he know a better way to do it using new tech, it JUST might be true. Rarely is that the case though.
I know it’s not your main point and you may already know this, but that’s usually attributed as a Henry Ford quote, not Steve Jobs. From context, you seemingly imply its Jobs’ quote, without specifically attributing it to him.
But in researching this, it’s all pretty ambiguous but a decently relevant HBR article came out of it:
> It implies you understand your customers business better than they do.
The quote does say "I" so there is an inherent assumption there. The problem with taking any quote and "best practice" at face value that can be applied anywhere is always incorrect.
> There's a few Steve Jobs quotes which have tanked the tech industry.
So hence it's like the hype trains an social media driven development. People need to think. Don't blame Jobs for it.
