Would it kill these guys to have one original idea.
80% of all mainstream projects in each "hyped niche" (like blockchain, nfts, AI with LLMs) are just rehashing the exact same idea with a 1% change from the previous attempts, if even that.
Judging by the funded startups by Ycombinator and alike, original ideas is not what they're funding or out after at all.
For original ideas I think you have to start sucking up knowledge from research papers and associated conferences instead, seems to be the best way to get better understanding of the frontier, rather than looking at VC funded startups.