Typically it's a temporary, an intermediate step, or politics. I managed several teams, and during that time I inherited a new team with 2 headcount, plans to

Typically it's a temporary, an intermediate step, or politics. I managed several teams, and during that time I inherited a new team with 2 headcount, plans to increase headcount, and company initiative to grow that product. I didn't have bandwidth to manage that team myself, so I turned one of those headcounts into a manager position. In the world of startups, the first hire is often an engineer, who normally reports to the tech-cofounder.