I read the above quote by Sarah Prevette in a post about how failures in startups serves to make founders stronger (and enable them to potentially move on to bigger & better projects). I've read a lot of different opinions about monetization online and whilst most arguments make sense, the one above really resonated with me.
These days when I evaluate a new idea, I'm always focused on at least getting a rough idea of the potential business model. I don't necessarily believe that it is important to charge from day one, but I do believe that you need a proper plan - with alternatives - in place prior to launch. I do think it's important to be flexible, to potentially pivot the whole idea, but at least setting yourself targets in terms of your overall strategy & revenue model, reduces the risk of failure greatly.
Ideas are just a multiplier of execution though and part of executing on an idea is to monetize it. So surely when you set out to pursue a new startup idea, you need to know how you plan on monetizing it. If you can't find a revenue model before launch (even if it is just a theoretical model), then the chances are that you're unlikely to find on down-the-line.
Surely in that scenario it would be better to go with a less cool idea, but one with a firm business & revenue model? Maybe it's just me, but that's the approach that I'd take & the one I'd recommend to any founders / startups that I work with in future.