I spent 14 months building a product nobody wanted because I ignored one thing [i will not promote]

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I genuinely think I spent over a year optimizing the wrong things simply because I never spent enough time understanding what was happening around me. The attraction of wantrepreneurship leading to every failure point is thinking it's all about you. Led to this conclusion by the 'fire your boss' rhetoric. Customers are sad to hear that. Competitor analysis -- without studying competitor customer gripes -- only results in a 'me too.' You will still struggle if all you are is a copy without a better understanding of the customer. Way too many simply will not cancel the project. That's the real problem. ...If twelve people fill out your online survey: Cancel. ...If your signup page isn't getting word-of-mouth: Cancel. ...If almost nobody is complaining about the competition: Cancel. ...If people claiming to have a problem never searched for a solution: Cancel. ...If those claiming to have a problem spent a grand total of zero to fixt it: Cancel. Ever wonder why fifty times more people discuss code than business here? The focus you need to code prevents looking outward. People keep mentioning all the competing products were a bloated mess. How in the hell do you think so many got that way? They never met a feature they didn't like. And the magical 'next feature' is sure to turn everything around. One guy posted nobody told him not to crap out product-after-product market-blind. Bless his heart. Frankly, the only thing I wonder when reading these posts is if anybody could ever do anything else. Launch first, ask questions later and first question is going to be how to find complete strangers you could never have developed a product for.