Your point is a good one, but, in the case of Adora, you may be missing some of the facts. She was an accomplished programmer and had worked for Max Levchin at Slide, where he was so impressed with her that he agreed to be one of her first investors later on. (I don't believe she had any particular connections that got her the job at Slide.) She applied to YC (2x in fact) and we had never met her before. I remember being extremely impressed with her and Aaron during the interview and the idea seemed quite plausible at the time (even though it later failed). I also remember personally being really excited about the sister/brother team.

During the time Adora was at YC, we got to know her well and were even more impressed, which is why Paul invested personally when she said she had no money left.

Startups are hard. Most people quit and that's nothing to feel guilty about, of course. I guess I'd just hate for Adora's talent, effectiveness and level of determination to be misinterpreted as merely having connections.

I'm not saying all this to disagree with you, but to encourage you. Getting a job at a company at Slide or getting into YC are hard, but not impossible.