There are two reasons I see for doing something like that: - The person is dealing with business-to-business transactions and their position should indicate th

There are two reasons I see for doing something like that: - The person is dealing with business-to-business transactions and their position should indicate that they're able to make decisions for the company. - They were selected specifically for an executive role, rather than simply being a buddy of one of the guys starting things. At lot of startups are built that way.