Recently I was reminded of the post on AVC titled What A CEO Does from a number of years ago. The question is simple: what does a CEO do? While there are a number of answers, I agree that there are only three things a CEO does (from the post):
- Sets the overall vision and strategy of the company and communicates it to all stakeholders.
- Recruits, hires, and retains the very best talent for the company.
- Makes sure there is always enough cash in the bank.
Entrepreneurs would do well to keep this in mind, especially when they’re scaling post product/market fit. Getting these three things right is incredibly hard, but when it happens, it’s amazing the results.
What else? Is there anything more important than these three things for a CEO?
David Cummings on Startups 
David – you nailed it – those three are pretty much the sum total of what a CEO must do. I usually express #1 as “driving alignment”. The CEO’s job is to ensure that all the stakeholders are acting in concert towards a well defined set of outcomes.