I’m not a college sport expert, but it seems like the most obvious difference is that it’s much more unlikely that skipping college will lead to a successful pro outcome.
I think the unsaid part is the downside of failing in the HS->College->Pro sports pipeline is worse than in the VC backed startup pipeline.
If your startup fails, you probably have technical skills to either try again (and again and again) or take a good paying SWE job somewhere else.
If you fail in the sports pipeline, you kind of have one shot (you can't play college ball at 25), you may end up with some non-transferable skills (throwing a ball) and may end without a good education to get a good job.
That is - the downside of your first startup failing is not working at McDonalds, but failing as a ball player can be.
It depends on the sport. Baseball you can go straight into the minor leagues, golf you can go pro right away, tennis you can go pro right away. Football/basketball you have about zero chance to skip college now.
