[acjohnson55]

Becoming a CTO isn't that hard. There are tons of startups out there that are dying for a technical cofounder. The vast majority of them are not going to launch a revenue-generating product, let alone survive. Maybe it's a decent option if you can afford to go without money to build experience. But given the long odds, the opportunity cost is no joke. And if you've chosen your team poorly, you're in for a bumpy, frustrating ride.

Becoming a CTO of a company that can afford to actually pay you a salary, is tougher. Now, you probably need a solid track record of achievement, because they can afford to be choosy. Maybe even choosy enough to just make you "SVP of Engineering" instead of CTO. They'll want you to have shipped products you played a leading role in building from the ground up, to be able to build and lead an engineering organization, and to have very strong business sense. But now you've got the financial security of a salary and the tremendous upside of a founder's equity stake.

Becoming a CTO of a company that's actually growing is even harder, because you actually have to be competent enough to have led that company from some venture crazy enough to take a chance on you to real traction (at least on the investment front) and success. This really is the hard part, and I think that's what makes the author's perspective really valuable.