I have mixed feels. The first two quotes I'm fine with, and I am inclined to agree with you on the second two, but he was talking about TechStars applicants, no

I have mixed feels. The first two quotes I'm fine with, and I am inclined to agree with you on the second two, but he was talking about TechStars applicants, not just any potentially successful business. Framed another way: Let's assume plenty of applicants have very solid ways of actually building the business. How else can TechStars filter applicants? By filtering out those who don't appear to want/need to be in the program as badly. And a test for that is how the entrepreneurs have connected with the TechStars team. I am tempted to give TechStars the benefit of the doubt that the mentors and entrepreneurs are thinking about how to build viable businesses and that's assumed by everyone. What's discussed in the article are the steps following that assumption, which is how to get into the program and gather the resources needed to fulfill the viable business's vision.