Missionary CEO's v. Mercenary CEO's

I love this article and if you have not read "the monk and the riddle" please please do so. It should have a great impact on you.

I felt like I had become a mercenary CEO in a missionary CEO's clothing at my last startup. That's when I left. I was passionate about being passionate. Money is always a factor, but it's a common denominator. Create a company with value and customers that youre on a crusade for, and odds are money will come out of it.

I have to respectfully disagree with Doerr on one point: "You should be working on something even if no one paid you anything for it". This is laughable. It's been said before, but i'll say it again: it's easy to say things like "don't worry about money"... if you're already rich.

Great article. I had heard missionary and mercenary CEO's mentioned, but hadn't seen anything about it yet.

In the video he says (paraphrased), "if you can't see yourself doing this your whole life, don't do it", if you're a missionary CEO. So the thought that came to my mind is - what if you're on a mission and your start-up solidly aligns with it, but one start-up might not handle your entire mission? If a start-up is a launching pad, are you a missionary, mercenary, or combination of the two?