This is an insightful point from Steve Blanks’ The four steps to the epiphany: successful strategies for products that win
He says that a customer development process (which he explain is his book) is not needed for businesses where customer acceptance and market adoption is not an issue.
Those businesses don’t need a formal process to figure out there will be high end user demand for their solution. A company looking for a cure to cancer or researching a cheaper energy source know there is a demand for their solution. Their problem is more about providing the solution than selling it.
For those business the saying from the 90’s ‘build it and they will come’ is actually true.
For the rest, it will be wise to refer back to the book.