I haven't gone through Techstars, but I've done YC. I wouldn't consider myself an expert on YC (only reasonably knowledgeable about the session I went through), but I will say that the training and experience I gained has been invaluable in my efforts to focus on product, communicate about our vision, talk to investors (or ignore them), and much more. These things I learned from doing them, not reading about them. Does participating in YC make me an expert in building a company? No, building a company does that.
To that point, getting a Harvard MBA doesn't make you much of an expert of anything besides going through Harvard. I have interviewed plenty of marketing MBA's at my old job (not Harvard, but hear me out), and when it comes to online marketing, they don't know the basics. The modern business world, particularly online, moves so fast that it's near impossible for Universities to keep up. Regardless of how good your in-class education might be, you aren't an expert at running a business until you've done it.
I would argue that, after 1.5 years of running my own business, I am more of an expert than any fresh-out-of-Harvard-MBA, and I still don't know shit. Until you've felt the pain of firing someone, worrying about payroll, killing a partnership you've invested in, and more, you aren't an expert in business. Neither Techstars/YC nor Harvard make you an expert in anything, and the choice really comes down to what you want to do, and how long you want to spend preparing vs. actually doing something.
You pretty much spelled out your won counterargument.
I congratulate you on your experiences, I truly do, but last time I checked, HBS wasn't accepting recent grads, part-time students or the occasional dropouts looking for a career change, nor those with little experience. Never mind people looking for the name cache. It wouldn't hold true for 100% of the cases, of course, because Harvard is a business after all, not a bastion of ethics. Some rich kids are going to slip in, but the vast majority are qualified to attend ~ same holds true for any incubator program.
HBS grads have on average four to six years of solid work experience, national service or administrative experience prior to being considered for admission, not to mention recommendations from employers, civic leaders and the like, a history of competitive grades, extended education, community service, upstanding morality and all that. You can check it out here: http://www.hbs.edu/mba/faq/
Not exactly a bunch of lightweights.
I'm not sure where the MBA are coming from on your end, but I can say without a doubt that a grunt with 1.5 years experience doesn't scale up to someone being admitted into the top B-Schools in the U.S. And once graduated with that fresh diploma, well, they'd give you the headlight stare if you tried to compare your TS/YC experience against theirs. They're on a whole 'nother level than someone jerking SEO. Personally, I don't like the twats and usually won't work with them, but I don't like MIT engineering peeps either, my personal preference, but I would be remiss if I didn't point out that as a whole, on average they're hard-working, intelligent strivers and given the choice, I'd go work with a recent Harvard MBA over a TS/YC grad with X years experience, and not just because I know the doors to opportunity will open faster, but also because more often than not, these people have been there before and know how to act.
In two years you should apply to Harvard, Stern, Wharton, Tuck, Stanford or Sloan. Let me know what the admissions committees think of you or if your outlook has changed.
Nobody is slamming HBS or MBA's, or questioning the quality of people going in, or coming out. You said that people attending Techstars (and YC, I assume) would not be experts in anything except their respective programs, while implying that an HBS MBA would be an expert in so much more. Simply put, I've been working in my field for 13 years, 5 of which I was managing an organization responsible for up to $60M in revenue. I had 4 years of good job experience and glowing recommendations when most of the people you're talking about were just getting their Bachelor's degree. Now, I just wrapped up YC. It didn't make me an expert in running a business, and yet it was extremely educational, even for someone who has run a decent organization before, and had been running their own startup for a year - all of which is a lot more experience than the average HBS entrant or graduate has in actual business management.
I'm sure HBS is amazing. I wouldn't kid myself about getting in. But just as going through Techstars and YC doesn't make you an expert at running a business, neither does a degree, no matter what school you get it from.
This wasn't intended to tear down the credentials of a HBS MBA. It was simply to clarify that, while you're right about TS and YC not making you an expert of anything, you may have overstated things by implying that being an HBS grad would.
As I've stated before, these incubator programs are a great primer if you've never done it before and you're seeking funding from investors. It's a very good tradeoff for ninety days. I don't have any numbers on the average age or experience level of TS/YC grads but after six years in the industry and five years of college it had no appeal to me then and it still doesn't, but for someone who's never done that before in such a focused manner, I think it's great. As a primer. I commend you on you being accepted and completing your program, but rest assured, nobody outside outside of TS/YC alum/friends is going to rank you along with Harvard MBA's. Especially not the investors. Even Eli Portnoy can tell you that.
And, almost certainly, the amount of VC money raised by startup founders coming out of YC and that of founders coming out of Harvard cannot possibly be in favor of HBS.
i think all programs/institutions etc are what you make of them
there are students who go to Ivy Leagues and soak it up and there are others who f* it up
likewise, there are startups who learn a ton and excel in an accelerator and there are others who flounder
I cannot say the same thing for a person attending a two-year program, being exposed to both intensive and non-intensive graduate-level studies and acquiring knowledge through study and experience that an incubator cannot.
I'd recommend an incubator like Techstars to a [well-rounded] person with an undergraduate degree looking for a great start in this particular industry, but never in lieu of a Harvard MBA. Wouldn't even consider it.