I thought you meant sneakers. Again, it all depends on the maturity of the startup in question, the market and the need for highly-paid non-technical people wh

I thought you meant sneakers. Again, it all depends on the maturity of the startup in question, the market and the need for highly-paid non-technical people whose contributions can bring home the bacon. If they don't, then they're just a drain on resources or could just be there to prop up the appearance of success in the eyes of the market or investors. Did Dick Cheney actually run Halliburton or was he there to steer business to the firm? I think empirical evidence would point to the later. So when you do look around and wonder what exactly it is this person does in relation to their job title/description, there may be more than meets the eye and in personal experience nepotism has a lot to do with their presence as sometimes it's just hard to finding the candidate that's a perfect fit and you may have to just hire someone you know and hope they grow into the role. I understand that a lot of people who read HN are young and tech-focused, but there's a lot more to it than landing a job at a hot startup out of school and the more one understands about their environment and how to apply their skills appropriately, the easier it'll be for them to succeed.