The intention of the title is to say your main problem. The problem separating you from $PROFIT$:
1. Idea
2. ???
3. Profit
edit to add: So for people working on professional software teams, the discussion is how a hyper-increase in raw code production affects everything down stream. There are many moving parts to building stuff and selling it to people. So there's not a 1:1 line to more code = better outcome from the system level view. It's not clear, at least.
> But for startups, side-hustles, VC-pitches and the inner-workings of companies and so on (HN crowd) coding was never the problem.
I'd say you're 180° wrong. Getting to an MVP fast is the most immediate problem when you've started a startup. Iterating on ideas fast is the most immediate problem once you've released your MVP. You need an MVP to get users, and you need to to iterate to find product-market fit. Perfectly crafted code is a luxury problem you can't afford in the early stages.
This isn't in defense of perfectly crafted code. It's about NO CODE. Do not write (ai-moar) code! It's not the code that is the problem.
I understand the need for MVP to bring an idea into reality. It's the feedback that's valuable not the code. This is not about the code. So why is the argument "write more code"?
In any case, I have yet to create a product on my own that has done well financially. So what the hell do I know. If you have, then I should probably listen to you. But I have worked on teams for successful companies and in my career, the best advice I can give to an engineer is that your code matters, do a good job and care about what you make; also it's not about the code.
> So why is the argument "write more code"?
It isn't, that's what you injected. The argument was "write [the same amount of] code faster". And that is undoubtedly a good thing, because execution speed can make or break your startup.
I agree with that.