>I’ve met a lot of entrepreneurs, but even the smartest are usually barely on par, intellectually/analytically/etc, with average/mediocre hedge fund analysts (just from my own personal experience). There is a reason for this; make startups more compelling for smart people to join; value human capital at its intrinsic worth, and pay accordingly; after all, that’s what the VC money is for half the time, right?
When it comes to pedigree (which is not the same thing as capability) very few startups are offering enough to get the people who have a lot of options.
Don't get me wrong: there are smart people taking low-level positions in startups, but they generally do so because they can't get into the hedge funds or quant roles. You are not going to see a Harvard CS grad taking 0.2% equity in a post-A startup with a $50,000/year salary. You might find an equally intelligent and capable state-school drop-out in such a position, but only because he has fewer options.
One of the reasons "data science" has come to the fore is that it's a job description that has become, in some companies, code word for "software engineering, but mostly the fun stuff". It's something startups are pumping because it gets them a sort of person they'd otherwise never be able to get for a non-executive engineering role.
-from his comments