Yup. I don't know how many times we've shoe-horned in a feature because it is a "must-have" for some prospective customer, and they either don't end up purchasing, or they purchase, but the must-have feature never gets used. It lingers on, forever, in ratty old functions and crufted-up database tables, and cognitive load.
I've been at a few companies that have failed because they were letting customers design their product. As in sales reps would meet with customers who would buy the product if we added x, y and z which they found absolutely critical.
Customers don't have to consider things like applicability to other customers, stability, performance or maintenance.
1. BizDev and/or Sales identify a feature set that would enable a deal or broaden the market suitability.
2. Dev team tasked with adding feature XYZ.
3. Designer brought in to figure out how to add the feature to the UI with minimal effort.
4. Repeat.
I think this version is much more common in enterprise software and less so in mass consumer stuff. As we all know, enterprise software is unsexy and not worthy of YC/Startup culture. High touch sales also favors fewer deals with more customer leverage and really fat commissions for sales people.