The combined professional network of founders and initial investors can minimize impact and effects of many factors discussed in other comments here.
"If you need to make a single cold call in the first 2-3 years, consider your network might be insufficient."
Such cold calls would include finding: co-founders, investors, customers, service providers, manufacturers, employees, etc.
Mind you-- I got this wrong in my own startup that didn't survive. Having advised founders and non-tech entrepreneurs in Seattle, SF and Vancouver and of those who heeded the advice, they succeeded where I didn't. E.g., when I had a co-founder flake on me, my network was insufficient to have another person I could trust to step in as subject matter advisor. Not that I would have expected that advisor to write code but perhaps to guide me through the principles of the niche topic such that I could then find the right contractor or employee.
Likewise, for some businesses including certain SaaS: picking your first customers carefully often requires a chain of trust in both directions; i.e., your network.
It may be worth noting that developers don't necessarily need official apps for everything. That is, github becomes an implicit app store because we can build locally and push to our own devices.
I suspect this to be the only means by which Emacs will become available on iPhoneOS, for instance. Considering the intended user base, that's acceptable as a starting place.
(To preempt certain class of questions: Use the "happy hacker"/"das keyboard" concept by implementing an unmarked keyboard underneath a partially transparent background, so you maximize text on screen while also accommodating typing without external keyboard. For Emacs in particular, just hit C-l or otherwise scroll when cursor lands beneath fingers. That's one step closer to YCRFS5...)
"If you need to make a single cold call in the first 2-3 years, consider your network might be insufficient."
Such cold calls would include finding: co-founders, investors, customers, service providers, manufacturers, employees, etc.
Mind you-- I got this wrong in my own startup that didn't survive. Having advised founders and non-tech entrepreneurs in Seattle, SF and Vancouver and of those who heeded the advice, they succeeded where I didn't. E.g., when I had a co-founder flake on me, my network was insufficient to have another person I could trust to step in as subject matter advisor. Not that I would have expected that advisor to write code but perhaps to guide me through the principles of the niche topic such that I could then find the right contractor or employee.
Likewise, for some businesses including certain SaaS: picking your first customers carefully often requires a chain of trust in both directions; i.e., your network.