I see this was written 4 years ago - cloud API today is totally about tearing down barriers.

I would place a caveat on the statement:

'The ability to write and deploy code is no longer a core value driver'

The number of people who write great software is O(number of people who ascended physically to heaven).

The world of stackoverflow and github is a huge blessing. The downside is a retreat in our e ability to figure things out ourselves.

If you look at the world of ML engineers - the gap is even bigger because the industry skipped over the discipline of software engineering. No problem - pull out a library from scikit or tensorflow and glue it with Python scripts and you have a train-wreck waiting to happen.

So - I think the ability to write robust, great and reliable and fast code is still a core value that VC's should look at in a startup.