To follow up, I started reading Steve Blank's book and it clears up most of the confusion. Specifically that the founders start with a product specification der

To follow up, I started reading Steve Blank's book and it clears up most of the confusion. Specifically that the founders start with a product specification derived from their vision (not focus groups). The Customer Discovery phase is designed to test the assumption that customers exist that want the product. Indeed the business model changes through the process. We've been trying to start without a product or vision, instead we've been trying to search for the product itself.