Most successful VCs are not so willing to risk their investment by putting incompetent people into executive positions. Yes and no. I obviously exaggerate the

Most successful VCs are not so willing to risk their investment by putting incompetent people into executive positions. Yes and no. I obviously exaggerate the incompetence of such implants. However, let's look at this way. Let's say that I'm an 8/10 for the role (9/10 is where I'm headed, 10/10 is best in the world). No VC is going to risk his investment on a 3/10; that's a 5-point drop. But a 7? A 6 whom he owes a really big favor? A 5 who he seems to think is a 9 because of the 5's superior social skills? Quite likely, yes. The VC would rather have a personal friend at 7-level competence than me at 8. And while 8's and 9's are really rare, 6's and 7's aren't uncommon, and the VC has plenty of 5+ in his network. I know that I'm really solid at a lot of things. I also know that, while my level of talent may be rare and high, "close enough" is not rare for most purposes. I can't afford to kid myself and underestimate the competition. And to be frank about it, there are a lot of roles in which a 6 and an 8 are interchangeable. The fact is that often the lead developer who builds the first version of a product does not have the skills and experience to be the CTO as the company grows. The first salesperson may well not be ready to build a sales team. The accountant might not have the breadth to be a CFO. I'm sure that's true, taking a pragmatic approach, but I also think that's often used as an excuse to throw people under the bus. Often, the short-term compromises and stress levels cause a situation where good people end up ineligible for the top roles. The guy who pissed off 2/5 of the team by pushing what turned out to be the right decision has too many enemies to be CTO, and the person who built the original system under extreme time pressure is ineligible for VP/Eng because the system is starting to strain. That happens, and some of it's inevitable, but if someone's going to be hired above me, I want it to be with my consent and voluntary abdication. I'll gladly step down if it's the right thing to do; but I prefer having a say in how it happens. Otherwise, you might as well just fire me.