If you study this story carefully, you'll notice that it wasn't a case of "new CFO was an idiot". The ENTIRE BOARD, including some experienced VCs, agreed that

If you study this story carefully, you'll notice that it wasn't a case of "new CFO was an idiot". The ENTIRE BOARD, including some experienced VCs, agreed that they were "too big for that now". My analysis: What does "too big for that now" mean? Does it mean that they can't afford it? I doubt it. They were still going to sell the soda "cheap" (presumably 25-50% of the normal soda cost). So what was it? My theory is "big" ISN'T a synonym for "large-scale" here, but instead is a synonym for "professional". Why is free soda a negative indicator of professionalism? And to whom? I think that once you reach a certain level (non-startup or series-Z-startup), investors expect you to be extremely bean-countery. So the ultimate source of this problem is mega-scale investors which want to see a tight ship. The board was likely feeling pressure from them before the CFO was ever hired.