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The title is misleading. The 17 month period is an extension you qualify for ONLY if you have already filed for an H-1B. This means you must already have gotten enough funding to prove that your cash inflow can sustain your salary.

You can stay after the one year period even now provided you file for an H-1B and get it.

This 17 month period is primarily to do away with the period between your OPT expiration and start of your H-1B.

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My take on the new rules is that anyone with a pending H-1B gets the 17 month extension automatically, but that anyone else in the OPT period on an F-1 with a science / technology / engineering / math degree working for a company that required skills related to the degree could file for the 17 month extension even if they don't have a pending H-1B.

Can anyone verify / refute this?

Another side issue (not challenging your comment) is that it's very difficult to get an H-1B to work at a company that the applicant owns a big chunk of. So a founder wouldn't be able to get an H-1B at their own startup. However, they can be on the payroll at a company they own during their OPT, and it's conceivable to be acquired within the new 29 month period.

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