Author here. I completely agree that privilege opens doors not available to others. But my intention was that it’s possible to break into Silicon Valley and succeed (to the extent you can consider going through YC success...) even without privilege.

I saw another comment saying that I went to MIT around the same time as YC. It was actually after — going through YC enabled me to apply to MIT and get in without a high school diploma. Privilege didn’t help me get into YC (persistence + timing + luck did) but afterwards the privilege of getting into YC helped me with my college applications.