I dunno. Testing their ideas by the cheapest possible procedure seems like something that every startup should. Maybe there are exceptions, but that's not obvious at all.

It's ok that sometimes the cheapest possible option is still quite expensive. That isn't reason to use anything more expensive.

It is also true that not all startups that do it will succeed, and that not all startups that don't do it will fail. But it looks like the kind of thing that will increase the chances of any startup, not just a subset of them.