Kick Major Booty: The 10 commandments of being a technology and business change agent/leader

Below is my Top 10 List of rules I've learned over the 15 years building, selling, and implementing web apps.  I hope you enjoy them and learn from the many mistakes and experiences I've been lucky to have!

1. Be different.  Build the thing that's missing; that they don't have.  Don't bore people with products that are way to similar/the same as what's already out there.  Don't be boring, dare to be different!
2. Be business-minded and results-oriented.  Make sure that the thing you build connects very directly to the business context and drivers.  Be serious about business and results.  Only work on the things that pay you and for which the business will get paid incrementally.  Know value.
3. Seek to know the customer's experience.  Clearly understand the numbers and drivers behind the way that all users of the system think and make decisions.  Think about the system from their perspective.  Understand what they need and how they think. Get in their heads.  Watch them.  Interview them.  What makes things easy and exciting for them/better?  What makes them tick?  What would excite/wow them?
4. Test all assumptions ASAP.  Never assume anything but because you will have to, always build toward the things that will rapidly test your assumptions.
5. Never work for free; find a customer 'cause you're good enough.  Make sure that you get paid for what you do; don't spend too much time toiling on free projects or for a customer target who is not very well defined; find a customer and charge them for what you do.  Let them be your "seed" funding.
6. Be a data and process geek.  Map the flow and understand the business and business processes from end-to-end, in gory detail.  Know the edges and the context.  Intimately know the steps, functions, and limitations/constraints/realities.  
7. Lead it like you stole it.  Be a technology/process/business change agent by being that person who can get the right things done rapidly.  Don't feel like you have to do it all *by* yourself but do take ownership and feel like if you're not with me you're against me and I'm going to make this *f'ing* thing happen!  Delegate.
8. Baby steps.  Stay agile and be flexible in changing what you're building if you learn something new.  Don't throw your hands up or get too distracted with shiny objects.  Finish what you're currently working on so it's SOLID, and then move onto the next thing and make sure it somehow connects.  Build bridges.
9. Build strategically.  Make sure you build the feature or product that will get them excited and keep them engaged (have a sales/marketing/process/adoption angle in everything you build).  Have balls.  Don't be a wuss!  Be different!  Consult with the Kano Model to balance what you build and make sure that it's not ONLY bells and whistles!
10. Worship the customer.  Allow yourself to take direction from and fear the customer.  They're always right.  They may not always KNOW, but they're definitely always right.  It's irrefutable.  Above all else, allow yourself to be directed *by* them.  Build for them.  Worship them.  Understand the path you need to put yourself on so that you're laying that path for them so they can walk.