OP seems to equate Lean Startup with "build a landing page then see what happens". This is more about "wishing and hoping" method than lean. Lean advocates to

OP seems to equate Lean Startup with "build a landing page then see what happens". This is more about "wishing and hoping" method than lean. Lean advocates to design experiments to maximize learning from your target market and the problem you're aiming to solve. So, validating the problem, your solution, and talking to customers are definitely part of this process. Lean startup is no miracle way of guaranteed success, but it would be nice to see more constructed criticism of lean startup than linkbait articles that in the end don't contradict lean spirit at all.