Totally incorrect, at least in a business context. If it were the case, you would build that useful and valuable product and then give it to your customer for free. But you would never, ever, do that (unless it was specifically as a loss leader for other products) because making money is the goal.

Business context is not the whole reality, only a part of it and it's losing it's purpose.

That’s not true because giving it away would mean you wouldn’t be able to produce the product.

I'll have to disagree with this one, that's what that point is about. Great things can be achieved by focusing on UX and providing real value, but these are means to an end, and the business' end goal is still making money. Most of the time [1].

Can you whip up a quick & dirty feature that might generate more revenue if released tomorrow? You can bet it will be done. At this moment the engineers who know when/where to compromise stand out.

[1] companies with a strong ethos or social mission do exist. If you find one that makes you happy, hold onto it :)

The successful startups hardly ever do that.

This is incorrect. Without money you won't get salaries. And people will need to find another job (at a place that does value money).

Money is just the middleman pretending to be the boss.

That's how it should be, but our society has embraced the sociopathic interpretation instead.

There is so much packed into the phrase "the goal."

- Is it the business owner's goal? Depends on the business owner.

- Would the CEO have a better company if they focused on building something great rather than extracting money? Depends on the industry (the premise of capitalism is yes, but unfair markets are a thing)

- Is it (betterment of society through engineering) a valid personal goal to have on a strictly moral or ethical level, with no need of evidence or efficacy? Sure, absolutely

- Are people who focus on "extracting money" sheisty MBA types who lie through their teeth and exaggerate every number and kill the company in the process of trying to self-promote any random thing they can control? Sounds like a leading question...

These are all worthy distinctions imo.

The only reason anyone can and does make a valuable product or service is for some wealth. If not money, kudos, power, ...

I don't buy the altruistic motives.

Only if the problem is pervasive and people are paying money for it. Providing value just increases the probability that you will make money. You can have a very valuable service/product and fail miserably because you have no idea how to run a business and lack the know how and fuel to power awareness activities like marketing and sales.