One of the brilliant things about start-ups is that it allows you to step directly into the CEO shoes, and I'm amazed by and extremely grateful for the willingn

One of the brilliant things about start-ups is that it allows you to step directly into the CEO shoes, and I'm amazed by and extremely grateful for the willingness of investors to allow first time founders to learn on the fly. There is a hurdle though, that being a CEO of a startup is a full time job. A consequence is that if you happen to be a strong engineer with relevant skills in a cash strapped environment, you will come under strong pressure to be an engineer and perform poorly as a CEO unless you can raise the funds to hire a top-tier engineer. Now I get to insert yet another gripe against Europe and its horrible environment for fundraising. I believe that the lack of technical CEOs is likely due to the lack of resources (both at startups and large companies) to develop them.