There are plenty of meaningful ways to contribute to the body of open source software that don't require strokes of genius. Bug fixes and refactoring come to mind.

I just picked this thread as a starting point Uber may have a legit need for a particular framework.

My main point is there is no need to make frameworks for frameworking's sake. Purposeful OSS collaboration is just as good, if not a better way to gain influence than a PR splash.

Of course that assumes that the goal is to make cool things, which seems loosely connect with wooing investors at best. (Again in general, not picking on Uber.)