Well, take heart that just being from Stanford isn't a guarantee. If anything the middle-of-the-road job you have now is more of an ironclad guarantee than any VC-funded startup. Plus, you got to do what you wanted after college instead of flailing around and getting burned out.

On the other hand, a Stanford degree is a signal, and will still serve you well for quite a few years yet. My name-brand diploma is decades old but I'm pretty sure it still gets me second looks and interviews more often than I'd care to admit.

Why does this make you kick yourself? This is a guy writing an internet rant about how frustrated he is with the life you choose not to live.

I think the implication is that as a Stanford grad he had a pedigree that would have increased his chances of getting funded... but he didn't have any ideas, so now he's using his name-brand degree to do the type of work that a degree from any school would have been fine for.

If he or she does have some good ideas later, that real-world industry experience might come in handy.