I was a US Army Officer for 8 years, worked in heavy armored units commanding tanks, and I upvoted this. I understand exactly what you're saying. This may be an

I was a US Army Officer for 8 years, worked in heavy armored units commanding tanks, and I upvoted this. I understand exactly what you're saying. This may be an "idealized" view of the military, but it's accurate in the broad details. You don't get to choose your team, you don't get to choose your mission, you can't quit, and you get no financial reward for excellence. It's very different from running a startup. That said, the writer of this article does seem to recognize this, and I think his aphorisms are correct. Form a team that all trust each other, one way or another, have well-defined duties but be prepared to do each other's jobs when necessary, be ready for a quick change of mission and focus. I think the analogy falls down in that you really need technical specialists in business. I don't think the Army way of taking someone broadly trained and experienced in "leadership" and putting them in charge whether they know the domain or not is your best bet. We do that in the Army because we don't have a choice and we have a ton of auxiliary staff in the form of senior NCOs and warrant officers and even civilian contractors who are technical experts and can help you with all that. If you have the runway to splurge on that kind of technical support staff to your senior leadership at a startup (and they'll actually listen and not get hurt egos), go for it, but I don't think most do and the founders need to understand the domain they're trying to work in.