I’m reminded of the old interview classic of asking what your weaknesses are. Bill Gates was a talented leader and coder, but not a business type — so he brought in Ballmer to handle that side. Steve Jobs was great at ideas and product positioning, but not down to wiring up the individual chips to make a circuit — enter Woz.

Maybe that CEO does “never” make mistakes or have any weaknesses — in which case, either (a) he’s a better businessman than Gates or Jobs, (b) he never takes any risks in case they end badly, or (c) he makes mistakes but never admits them. Of course, only two of those are remotely plausible, and they aren’t good attributes…

I seem to remember hearing of Valley VCs who will only invest once someone has a failure behind them — it means they’ve learned the hard way already! Probably a sensible approach.