There is nothing to be more important then a product for new projects. Coin can have a value for a while based only on community believe and without a product. But eventually, there should be real value of the project. It should solve real problems and business needs. No matter how well the project was advertised and how cool the team is, only the existence of product ensures that project has a future.
Projects which don't have a product will die and it will be rather sooner than later. Actually, we can observe it right now.