>> where [industry] can be something as banal as t-shirt printing or pizza delivery? If you don't believe me, here are some examples from the jobs board:
Maybe I am misreading your post, but not a single one of the YC companies is solving a problem as easily mocked as "pizza delivery" (which, in reality, is really simplifying food acquisition to reallocate those hours to something more productive than waiting in line).
Healthcare and farming are two hugely important sectors. Home services are a major productivity win.
You're right. Compared to some other job ads I've seen, those at least focus on important industries.
I suppose I'm most skeptical about the claim that they are changing the world somehow. I can't believe that every startup is transforming an industry, or even trying to do so. Imagine some idealistic young hacker gung ho about disrupting farming, completely changing the way people grow food forever. And then on their first day, they realize they're job amounts to maintaining a mediocre iPhone app.
Now I don't doubt an iPhone app could make farmers' lives better. But how much are you gonna change farming? Maybe software can make farming a tad more data-driven or a tad more organized. But the way we grow food won't change because some YC startup wrote an app for it.
Yet clearly, startups want job candidates to believe they will change the world, or else they wouldn't put it in their ads. So what motivation could they have?
1. Like someone else mentioned, perhaps "changing the world" is code for "making lots of money." Could be.
2. My hypothesis: Startups use their "change the world" mission to justify low pay, long hours working conditions. People won't work under those conditions unless they believe they're working for a higher purpose.
3. Maybe delusional founders say "change the world" because they actually think their mobile/web-app/cloud crap will disrupt an industry. Sometimes that happens, but nobody should be foolish enough to think they know what it takes.
Maybe I am misreading your post, but not a single one of the YC companies is solving a problem as easily mocked as "pizza delivery" (which, in reality, is really simplifying food acquisition to reallocate those hours to something more productive than waiting in line).
Healthcare and farming are two hugely important sectors. Home services are a major productivity win.