If you have a name like Stanford (or MIT, Berkeley, Harvard, etc.) behind you that's an enormous advantage and people will pay attention to you regardless of your merits. Thiel got his start in corporate law, then finance. Had he not had this background and pedigree there is no chance VCs would take a risk on paypal.

Edited to add: Just look at who Y Combinator accepts. It's not random people with good ideas and talent. It's people with strong pedigrees. Sure they're probably bright, but are they the only ones who are capable of succeeding? Of course not. It's rather unfortunate that the opportunities for the largest amount of success go to those who are already successful rather than those who never had the opportunity to succeed in the first place.