This is a false dichotomy. Good code creates good products. >No one has ever made a purchasing decision based on how good your code is. Disagree. Users tend t

This is a false dichotomy. Good code creates good products. >No one has ever made a purchasing decision based on how good your code is. Disagree. Users tend to be very sensitive to quality, in software more than anything else. (Of course there isn't always perfect transmission from "user" to "purchaser" but most likely for an upstart product, your user will be your customer. You're not Oracle or Microsoft yet.) In fact, quality matters now especially more than before because the barrier to entry has reduced. If you have a great idea, but executed it poorly, it attracts second movers like a magnet. Quality is intimidating. Quality is moat. Good software engineers (your camp 2) can anticipate the ways in which bad code results in a poor quality product, or one that is difficult to debug and evolve. That is the crux of good code. Good code is not craftsmanship in the same sense as making a beautiful painting or making colorful notes.