Yes, I wanted to write something similar. There needs to be someone with a vision of the 'whole thing'. The guy who steps in and tells the marketing guys that no, they can't add one more feature, or the hackers that no, they don't really need to implement their own database system, or whatever other things people get 'tunnel vision' about when not thinking about the company as a whole. Sure, in a good startup, everyone does keep that vision in mind, but it's good to have someone to adjudicate conflicts in a more or less impartial way, and set the general direction.