I agree with the gist of this, although grellas makes a great point about shooting yourself in the foot by looking for "big" CEO qualities too soon.<p>But I can't help but note the irony here, which is thick. You manage to beat out 100 of your peers and actually start a company. Then you manage to beat out the 20 other guys who started a company and make something that will grow. You fight tooth and nail 24/7 against all odds to make this happen.<p>So what do you get? Sacked by the very people that invested in you! The guys who are basically just getting lucky by hitting <i>their</i> 1-in-20 shot are now the experts on what it takes to scale and bub, you're not in the mix.<p>I'm not saying it's not the right choice sometimes, I'm saying that life really sucks bigtime if you go through all of that and then get the axe right as it's all going to happen.<p>The more I learn about startups the more I've come to realize that it's a fool's game. If you win you lose, if you get funding it's probably for the wrong reasons, and if you manage to listen to your inner voice and deliver a vision you're more likely to be called a fool than a genius.<p>Damn I love startups.