• “I don’t understand 50-year old executives who want to play Golf all day.” Pierre Lamond, Sequoia Capital.
• “You know, when a man is successful, has made money, what he is looking for is his Legacy.” Jim Hogan, Telos Venture Partners

With all the brouhaha around new start-ups and opening up of the funding spigot, Sramana Mitra wonders where are Silicon Valley’s A-Team. Most of the executives who have made their bones in previous lives are staying out of the game for now, patiently waiting for the next big idea, a “legacy defining moment.”

The bulk of the opportunities out there, however, are, for example, a CEO job at one of 600+ Security companies, where the best exit one can hope for is becoming a feature in the larger offering of a Symantec or a McAfee. Not terribly inspiring, is it? Even though, there is a bit of money to be made, it certainly doesn’t qualify as a Legacy-building opportunity.And with these little businesses, the CEO is effectively a glorified VP of Sales, another uninspiring little detail.

I agree with Mitra to a large extent. I think most of the current class of start-ups are niche companies and one cannot really blame for successful CEOs for improving their handicap.