The article briefly touches on that incongruence (i.e. that despite Andreessen's techno-visionary rhetoric, much of his firm's portfolio looks like fairly typical tech companies):
even as you philosophize about ushering in a new age of democracy, you also have to make money for your L.P.s. And, while the ideal startup advances both goals, most, in truth, advance neither. The V.C. Bryce Roberts told me, “It’s an ego game, where you want to believe you’re changing the world. But how can you write a check to Fab and believe that giving people discounted tchotchkes is changing the world?”
The article then changes topic and doesn't really discuss that further though.
“It’s an ego game, where you want to believe you’re changing the world. But how can you write a check to Fab and believe that giving people discounted tchotchkes is changing the world?”
I don't feel that the article succumbed too much to that rhetoric, unlike most media both closer and further from the tech industry. But in an article with supposedly real talk from VCs, Bryce's is the realest.
Should've also pushed harder against the "push a button to work" Uber-utopia.
I think the binary thinking here is quite a bit simplistic. Think of "changing the world" not as a zero or 1 proposition but as a continuum. Some companies/products change the world for the better by 0.98 and some other ones only by 0.02. That doesn't mean you shouldn't fund the 0.02s. Because a lot of 0.02 in aggregate change the world by a lot.
Eh, I think there's a point where it gets so diluted that the argument boils down to, "any human activity might be changing things by a little". I'm posting quite a bit of top-quality insight here on the HN (top 50 by karma!), so maybe my thought leadership is changing the world (by a very small amount). Should I set up an interview where my visionary themes get celebrated?
even as you philosophize about ushering in a new age of democracy, you also have to make money for your L.P.s. And, while the ideal startup advances both goals, most, in truth, advance neither. The V.C. Bryce Roberts told me, “It’s an ego game, where you want to believe you’re changing the world. But how can you write a check to Fab and believe that giving people discounted tchotchkes is changing the world?”
The article then changes topic and doesn't really discuss that further though.