People that go out of their way to say that their startups have a higher mission make me uneasy. I don't know if they're just trying to convince others that they're running something other than for-profit businesses driven by expected returns on investment for investors, or if they truly believe it themselves. It's either borderline manipulation or delusion, and neither are something I want to hitch myself to.
Oh, no, that reads like I just turned into a Musk fanboy. Surely there's got to be some non-Musk company that I can add to that list?
Biotech startups? Develop a cure for horrible disease X (save lives, give people a few more years with their families, etc–feels good?)–and then get rich selling that cure.
I think Blue Origin's messaging is in principle similar to SpaceX (Bezos wants to save the environment by moving manufacturing to orbit, etc.) It is just that SpaceX rather obviously delivers on that message, and has grown rich delivering; Blue Origin hasn't delivered much yet, and it is hard to grow rich prior to delivery–but maybe, give them a few more years, they'll finally get their act together, and they'll become more SpaceX-like.
