"what happened was that they didn't have anyone [internally] who disagreed, who thought differently."
I suppose that someone on the team could have "known" that the product wouldn't succeed with customers before it shipped, but the strategy of knowing what will work with customers in advance is considered a bit outdated, especially in software which is now relatively cheap to prototype and get out in front of customers.
I suppose that someone on the team could have "known" that the product wouldn't succeed with customers before it shipped, but the strategy of knowing what will work with customers in advance is considered a bit outdated, especially in software which is now relatively cheap to prototype and get out in front of customers.
"Teamicide" is also a big reason for startup failures. (For an entertaining read with an overview of teamicide see: http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2009/01/are-you-creating-mi...)