If you're poor but also have tech skills and are in the bay area, I would recommend working at a public tech company for a while first - then you're no longer poor and can afford to work at a risky startup.

That's all I could think about when reading this post.

edit: Maybe the point of the post was not losing touch with reality or becoming an ass to people when you start making money (which I can agree with), but they also came off a bit self-righteous to me.