Recent idealized cloud resolving numerical simulations of the transformation of a weak mid-level vortex over a warm ocean into a tropical cyclone suggest that there may be two distinct pathways that can occur. The first pathway proceeds by spin up of surface winds that become greater than those of the initial weak mid-level vortex until they become large enough that they reach tropical cyclone strength. Development is characterized by a gradual decrease of the radius of maximum winds at the surface. For the second pathway, a much stronger mid-level vortex develops which is followed by the sudden formation of a very small surface concentrated vortex near the center of the circulation. This vortex then grows in size and intensifies to become a small tropical cyclone. Relatively small changes to initial conditions, or model physics, can change which pathway is favored, suggesting that the solution to this initial value problem may be near a bifurcation point. Reasons for the existence of these two pathways in the numerical simulations, and whether both pathways are likely to occur in nature, are discussed.