He also said: > Value judgements require a value system.

When he talks about research, he's valuing a certain kind of research: laboratory, explorative research that may or may not reach a market.

Startups are, from a certain point of view, research in that they try to discover ways to fulfill customer needs, whether customers know they have them or not.

A few examples just from YC: Airbnb, Twitch, Dropbox. In particular, Airbnb discovered a need that people really had. Is this not research? I think it is, depending on your value system.