It's exactly because all these startups pretend to be "changing the world" that they become measured by these promises. And obviously most come up short.
But that doesn't need to be a bad thing. Paying lip service to "real" progress, especially when it concerns poverty/environment/democracy etc, may actually lead to actual progress down the road.
Where has this need come from for startups to feel illegitimate unless they are changing the world, giving back to the community, bringing world peace blah blah
Well, if you start pitching this to everybody and their mom too, people will start to measure you up based on this.
At first it was pretty rational to present yourself in a way that gets you that 15 minutes. Now, I don't know, but HN is full of startups trying to revolutionize something instead of incrementally "disrupting" a set of incumbents.
Interesting. I don't think there is such an explicit need. I blame Google and their "Don't be Evil" tagline.
On the other hand, two other popular startup mantras "making products that people love" or "fixing a problem that people have" are quite easy to spin to be worthy and good.
But that doesn't need to be a bad thing. Paying lip service to "real" progress, especially when it concerns poverty/environment/democracy etc, may actually lead to actual progress down the road.