Honestly, no. Not here in Italy, at least. "once you’re 10 years into your startup career, as he is, you have access to all the same incredible resources" - what is going to give you those "incredible resources" you're talking about? Time?

I've seen too much to believe that you can be a successful startupper without some kind of external help. And that external help, at least here, it's not something you can gain - it's something you're born with. It's your family, it's the friends of your family, it's the connections your family has, it's the connection you were able to build because you went to an expensive school, paid by your rich family.

Again, I'm not saying that in the US things work the same way. In Italy they certainly do - Startup Chile is/was kind of a failure for the same exact reasons. The commenter has its rights to complain about those guys who had a huge headstart if they act like they didn't.