Ask HN: Need an engineering analogy for my book.

Hi everyone - I'm writing a book on B2B startups. In it I describe the changing roles of leaders over time, from seed stage to IPO and beyond. So, as an example, a sales leader goes from being Davy Crockett, out on his own in the wilderness, to Braveheart, leading a small band of guerrilla fighters, to Eisenhower, administering a complex machine. I'd like to find a similarly relatable analogy for Engineering leaders. I think it relates to what they build and how they build it, but I'm open to alternatives.