Why removing code from startup file crashes my code ?

Product         DCD     0 ;0
                EXPORT  Product

FirmwareVer     DCD     0x00000001             Version, cc = Major Version
                EXPORT  FirmwareVer

After removing above lines from my startup file(filename.s), my application doesn't even make it to main() or __main().
When I undo this change, I am running.

Please advise!