The "we're changing the world" mentality is a bit annoying to me, as well. When I think about changing the world, I think about discoveries in medicine and science, people dedicating their lives to improving humanity, etc. To me, it's just a popular catch-phrase for 'the pitch' and relatively devoid of meaning in most cases.
It could be construed as a negative signal: is the company delusional enough to believe that another social dog-teeth-cleansing website will really change the world?
But, yes, somehow SV has found a way to promise to twentysomethings that they can fulfill their life's deepest purpose with the potential to become very wealthy. The catch? Just work really hard!
SV is a machine fueled by the optimism and naivete of the young. It's possible to do really well in it, but I feel like you need to keep your wits about you.
It usually means they have yet another CRUD app but theoretically doing something unusual with the CRUD app. Sometimes slightly more complex, like some reporting.
So the example of the consumer to consumer dog tooth brushing marketplace might be an exciting world changing marketplace, but fundamentally its pretty much a customized web CRUD interface to a dating app, being used instead of matching up dates, to match dogs with bad breath to freelance tooth brushers. Its just not that technically exciting, in which case having noobs do the work isn't all that dangerous plus or minus the usual SQL injection attacks and such.
If science and medicine has the same unregulated freedom as software development, it would happen. Connected data is just the beginning. Give it 30 years, when 3D printers can make anything you need for a lab.
