[matt4077]

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.

[hoodoof]

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

[pas]

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.

[chippy]

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.