[leetcrew]

ignorant question perhaps, but what makes the CEO of a small company so much juicier a target than a senior manager or director at a large one? both could have access to sensitive info, ability to spend a lot of money before it's noticed, etc.

[pevey]

At any given level, people in startups tend to have more actual power/authority, with fewer or no processes or procedures already in place to slow them down. This is part of why startups are effective at building/changing things, but it's also a social engineer's dream.