You make a good point but it is flawed. The startups that have been successful without a revenue model are an itty bitty little minority. Compare to those that have failed without it and you can see that the pattern is clear. You need to design with profits in mind. You don't open a pizzeria and give away pizza. You give samples once or tsice but you charge for pizza from the start.

But I'm not blaming or shaming you. Your project got further than most. It was very good learning experience which has give you a lot of tools you did not have before. Tools that will help you on uour future endeavors. Just make sure to starting charging from the start next time.