Startups just make a few people very, very rich at the expense of their customers by selling them mostly crap they don't need or want. This is laughably false

Startups just make a few people very, very rich at the expense of their customers by selling them mostly crap they don't need or want. This is laughably false for at least two of the examples (Amazon, Google) you've mentioned in your own post. Millions of people use these services everyday to make their lives better. Thousands of employees work for good pay at these companies. Is it all scam? Of course not.