A business model is the ONLY way to insure you're not focusing your time on things that won't pay off financially

Yeah, I get it. It's fun to work on projects and try to invent new things giving them away for free and whatnot. But a business model is the only way to ensure you're actually in business - not in a hobby or doing something with false hope.

I'm trying to balance between inventing awesome things I give away for free like: ceofyi.com and cashmycondo.com AND running a company with a strong business model - e.g. a revenue chart that goes up and to the right. But I think too often, the avoidance of business models in tech is simply an excuse to be lazy. Oh, "we have users, we'll monetize them one day". What if they're low commitment users, and will be gone if you decide to charge them a single penny?