If you start out knowing that you are writing something that will be trashed, why would you invest yourself in it? It's hard to tell someone to build something that will be thrown away; to trade the time they can never get back for something that will most likely fail. That will almost certainly _not_ get their best work - which means your odds of success go down; perhaps drastically. And if the first version DOES happen to work, you still have to throw it away at some point and start over (or else live in pain for the life of the product). Either way; you loose.
Now think about the approach where you take the time to think through your ideas. Where you expect the best from your people right from the start because you're all building to last. When you earnestly expect the best of people, they generally give you that (or close to it, at least). You get a better result. So then the first version doesn't work. But you've learned a lot, because the thought process you went through taught you things; things you took the time to learn. Things you can leverage in your next venture; things that will speed it up, make it stronger, get it quicker. But what if it worked? Now you're not fettered with the task of rebuilding what you've just built because what you have is solid. It can be built on. So that momentum you have as the first version works can be leveraged into the second, third and fourth versions. And momentum means something; it means happier employees and - ultimately - better returns.
The former (get it quick) is (for the most part) the world of today. The latter (get it right) was the world the author remembers - and pines for.