I don't want to be nit picky, but YC is not an incubator or accelerator. In fact, I think this is the #1 thing that copy cats get dead wrong.

To me it's a practical replacement for college, with a similar atmosphere. Steve dropped out, so maybe this would have appealed to him more.

"Ferociously independent" might be a more accurate characterization than "control freak." And you're right, I don't see Jobs submitting himself to being led around by mentors.

On the other hand, he didn't have to deal with the much more complicated legal environment that we have now, which includes patent suits left and right whenever there's big stakes involved. But on the other other hand, perhaps there's no good way to navigate these new problems anyway.