I think a lot of HN comments, though not all, offered constructive criticism to these very early company's. Most of them weren't showing the product they have now so it's not a fair comparison.

Also there are startups where the product isn't aimed at a developer and it's quite understandable they might not see the value.

I'm not a millennial and still can't see the value in Airbnb, I value the services that a hotel provides and would never use their service. That blindsided me to the fact that younger people would think differently.