[tptacek]

You don't actually agree with that. You said, just downthread, that only 4 such founders actually existed.

As for horrible executive implants --- I've been the "victim" of those, scare quotes included because my victimhood was partially my own damn fault. VC firms don't "implant" executives as a way of soaking their own funds back from companies they've invested in; they do it because (a) they think those executives are going to help and (b) they are dumb. If you accept those people, or if you acknowledge the roles they're supposed to fill should exist but can't recruit your own credible candidate, you're dumb too.

Being in a sticky situation in a board meeting where you acknowledge that you need someone to lead marketing but can't yourself find a viable candidate is, yes indeed, a good reason not to seek venture capital. The VC model requires you to strap yourself to an unguided missile that everyone hopes is aimed somewhere lucrative but is just as likely going to carom off a series of brick walls. Things move fast, because that's the model.

What, exactly, does that have to do with the fairness of equity grants to executives?