There's definitely been negativity around forever (infamously, the Dropbox announcement post), but it subjectively feels worse now. Not sure if that's real or just nostalgia.
Regardless, it's still disheartening. There's a strain of thought that correctly notes that every success story has some luck involved and then incorrectly applies that lesson to believe that it's a 100% lottery. You can, in fact, still learn from people who have succeeded.
I think it has at least something to do with the startup/VC shift from “building” $thing to “exploiting” $thing. It used to be that the huge tech companies made something of value. Lately it just feels like they’re extracting value from the system. Uber exploits “contractor” loopholes, AirBnb exploits hotel/housing regulations, Facebook exploits our privacy and democracy. That is pretty grim.
If that’s the way to “succeed” with a startup these days then I do think startups are pretty grim. I can’t speak for others but I don’t really want any part of creating a company like that.
If for you life before and after Uber/Airbnb are the same except with different middlemen taking a cut, we live in such different realities I'm not sure how we'd ever have a productive conversation. Airbnb has made a huge difference in my life, by letting me use a short-term rental to decide if I wanted to move to a different city. They built something real, and I'm ecstatic they did.
Most people have lost the tech amazement and are looking critically at these companies, and their effects in the real world. We have been seeing for a few years already the other side of the coin, and the story of "the entrepeneurs and their big piles of money" isolated of the rest of the world is not enough anymore.
Regardless, it's still disheartening. There's a strain of thought that correctly notes that every success story has some luck involved and then incorrectly applies that lesson to believe that it's a 100% lottery. You can, in fact, still learn from people who have succeeded.