Some are just good salespeople. Selling is a large part of gaining traction. I think a lot of good salespeople go out with an idea, try to sell it to potential customers, come back with feedback on what the potential customers actually need and adjust the product accordingly. Being able to get your foot in the door with a lot of potential customers is a very valuable skill. You don't need the world's greatest idea when you start.

Not sure what you mean by "professional" founders? VCs?

Maybe I used the wrong word. What I mean is this: Jobs and Wozniak started Apple because they were passionate about computers and had a vision about how they should be built. Page and Brin wrote their dissertation on PageRank and related topics before they started Google.

The people in the article seem to want to be entrepreneurs first, and think about actual business ideas after.

The author of the article and her team, I think.