Reminds me of a case (an HBS case, in fact) we read in b school.

"Johnny has just graduated from Harvard with not one but three job offers from top-tier Venture capital firms. What ever should he do?"

Sometimes they just get a little silly, those Harvard guys.

Don't sell yourself short. But I agree, how many people are really having to make a choice between the two opportunities?

I kind've hate when people say this type of thing. It reminds of high-schoolers getting annoyed when another student was disappointed with getting a B. People have different standards of success. It's true- not a ton of people will have this choice, but for the people who do this blog post could be very interesting/useful.

Gulfstream, obviously.

When I saw the headlines I was thinking the same thing. Should I eat lobster tonight or filet mignon? Louis Vuitton or Gucci... the choices are driving me crazy!

Why do you say you'll never be able to access these? Because you don't get things done and lack the reasoning abilities necessary to get said things done? Sure, there are people who just aren't capable of performing at the level necessary for either a Harvard MBA or Techstars, but I bet you've just convinced yourself that you aren't of that caliber. Have you actually taken on complexity and found that you just don't have it? Or are you complaining because you've been conditioned to think you can't do it?

Remember this is an international site. Coming from a poor eastern europe or african country, his chances of ever getting in reach of one of those programs are near inexistant.

That said i am from germany, and without parents that have the funds and passion to guide you in that direction... its not much prettier...

I think it is important to remember that there are many of us on HN that are not very good developers (i.e. inexperienced), but we do have connections in the US (and business experience). I know that I, personally, would be able to mutually help people with talent in situations you describe.

Slightly off-topic sidenote: I live in Boulder, and would give up a room in my house for free for the right person involved in Techstars, if that would help. The trade-off would be help me learn to be a better programmer.

Or just a visa.