The core problem is that you can't solve a problem you don't understand. I imagine that a large number of the twenty-somethings lured into the Valley to build

The core problem is that you can't solve a problem you don't understand. I imagine that a large number of the twenty-somethings lured into the Valley to build the next wave of YC startups have just finished or dropped out of college. Very few of them will have worked at large companies with real sales revenue. Of the ones who have, most of their "real company" experience is still in the tech sector. That's why there is this growing sense of cloneliness: you build an area that attracts people of roughly the same demographic, who have been exposed to roughly the same kinds of life experiences, and you whip them into a frenzy to be entrepreneurial. The hypersocial tech scene breeds a monoculture whose key mantras include "do something now/fail fast/pivot-pivot-pivot". Is it any wonder there are so many photo/social/messaging-oriented startups? Every person in every company in every industry in the entire world needs better tech, software and hardware. I'd wager that many of the bright-eyed, bushy tailed entrepreneurs in the Valley are not even aware of the existence of 99% of those people, to say nothing of their domain problems. Stop monetizing eyeballs to get a bigger valuation. Start solving real problems and adding real value.