As an entrepreneur, though, the market makes the final decision on whether you make money, whether it's "right" or "wrong." If you're "right" when the market is "wrong" as an entrepreneur, you lose—you're "ahead of your time" or some other pleasantry meaning "you weren't giving the market what it wanted."
If you want to sell something to the market, then if the market is irrationally exuberant, you have to be irrationally exuberant too.
Secondly, if the market is wrong and you dance to that tune, eventually when reality catches up the market will realise it’s mistake. Trust me, the market can sell out of your company faster than you can pivot your entire business model.
But sure, it is possible to make money following trends. But it’s not the only way. It’s not an immutable law of capitalism, and there’s plenty of money to be made providing actual, sustainable value.
Yes, but it is risky. If you don't follow trends/buzzwords you have two threats: 1) You bet that many people (the market) are wrong and you are right. Possible, but unlikely. 2) You bet that after these many people (the market) come to senses and realize that they were wrong (remember: nobody likes to admit that they were wrong), they acknowledge that you are right and buy your product. As the funny saying goes: "the market can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent".
But in a way, being a market leader gives a lot of adoption and a big ecosystem of tools produced by other developers - which in this space means a lot, because a blockchain's usability increases with adoption, even somewhat exponentially.