"... This article comes off as being written by someone who, while incredibly credentialed, just seems like an outsider. It seems like an article my parents would write and they don`t necessarily have a great grasp on the way business is evolving. ..."

I'm a long time sceptic of HBS business case studies and a fan of watching & re-watching Startup.com.

    "... GovWorks's failure is a textbook example 
    of the perils of grandiosity. Smart entrepreneurs 
    recognize that start-ups cannot afford to pass 
    on any opportunity, no matter how small. ..."

But when I read points like the above quote I think the author is right on the nail. There are a lot of things GovWorks got wrong [0] but this observation strikes pretty much to the heart of it. To not even entertain the idea, meant saying no to any potential cash-flow. Lack of cash-flow caused the eventual sell-off.

[0] Lets see growing big, fast with other peoples money, letting non-tech staff dictate the development & having a co-founder who wanted to call the company "come on to Caesar dot com"