There isn't a distinction made here between product+technical diligence (e.g. is something possible to build given the funding sought) and execution+technical diligence (e.g. is the team building it the right way).
I would argue that the former is always important.
I agree that the latter is less important, but with some caveats. The number of engineering hours put in during the first year is going to be a tiny fraction of the second year, etc, so tech evaluations will change drastically over time. The author argues that this makes them a slight waste of time.
However, I've been very successful in using rough technical diligence in the early rounds as a proxy for measuring the decision making abilities of founders. This is hard to measure, so I still find technical diligence useful. You have to know the constraints they are working under, and not hold technical debt/differences of opinion (like homebrew vs stock) against them, the purpose is different.
I would argue that the former is always important.
I agree that the latter is less important, but with some caveats. The number of engineering hours put in during the first year is going to be a tiny fraction of the second year, etc, so tech evaluations will change drastically over time. The author argues that this makes them a slight waste of time.
However, I've been very successful in using rough technical diligence in the early rounds as a proxy for measuring the decision making abilities of founders. This is hard to measure, so I still find technical diligence useful. You have to know the constraints they are working under, and not hold technical debt/differences of opinion (like homebrew vs stock) against them, the purpose is different.
Just my 2 cents.