And of course they did have marketing, even early on, but they were driven by their products.
Those are rare exceptions to the general rule. Apple had great marketing from the beginning. So did Google. All successful businesses have marketing. Most depend on it.
It saddens me that this is true, but it is; I’ve seen it proven many times:
Almost always, mediocre product with great marketing defeats great product with mediocre marketing.
Dammit.
On the other hand, are those the only options? Great product with good marketing, maybe?