I think talent, at least in engineering, has very little to do with the success of startups. The "Absolutely" and "Absolutely not" engineers are the same. There are good ones and bad ones everywhere. It's hardly ever the fault of engineers that the company they are working at doesn't make it. Likewise, very few companies make it because of engineering talent.
Talent does not exclusively create success - there's still some elements of luck and market in there. It's still a huge part of success. Look at the absolutely insane amounts of effort companies are putting in to attract talent.
The companies put a lot of effort into finding people who are 1) sufficiently competent and 2) cheap. That's quite a bit different than trying to find the best of the best although it can be plenty hard if you're not willing to pay the market clearing rate.
