Rather than getting defensive in response to this article let's actually try and understand what the author is trying to say. It's nothing to do with "nobody t

Rather than getting defensive in response to this article let's actually try and understand what the author is trying to say. It's nothing to do with "nobody thought that x would take off until it did!" AirBnB and Dropbox were solving big problems in innovative ways. > For example, take one of the stars of the show, SpoonRocket, an organic food delivery service that charges only $6 a meal and was described exuberantly as "fast food 2.0" and the "the Uber of food." While it's a great idea -- the service cooks only one meat and vegetarian meal a day in bulk and delivers with heater-equipped trucks -- the presentation was an almost comical display of Valley startup priorities. What the author is trying to say is that the startups that sell are the ones that can compare themselves to other, successful companies and talk about money rather than pointing out how great a product is and what good it's doing for people. The startups he's praising are addressing problems which will not only make the founders some money but also are creating some social good. > But what was once a springboard for major players in now-colossal markets like shared services and consumer cloud storage has of late been consumed by the mundane, overdone, or just outright indulgent. This year was no exception: there were not one, but two food delivery services; a laundry delivery company; a flower delivery company; another supposed email killer; and a company that hopes to replace physical restaurant menus with digital versions on your tablet. You can hold your applause. Here, he's despairing at all the copycat companies which are taking models of existing businesses and modifying them slightly. These companies are adding value in places where, arguably, no value needs to added. They're not changing the world, they're just making the lives of people who already have fairly easy lives easier, because it's easy to replicate and is already tested. He may not have put his point across very well but I can see why he's upset. What we expect from YC companies is game-changing innovation, really big thinking and super cool, new tech. What we often get is the same businesses copied-and-pasted a few times masquerading as an innovative, <whatever> 2.0 business. That doesn't mean they shouldn't exist or succeed; hopefully they will. It's just not very interesting or exciting.