Wasnt aware of the fees aspect. Good to know that side of the equation.
My point is that a VPE has to be good a managing/politics/delegation and also be technical. The cost of developing software has gone down a lot = smaller teams, more technical folks. Recruiters havent realized this. A company like WhatsApp has ~50 people and was valued at $ 19 billion.
At a personal level, I have been a big company manager with many years experience managing people. I have been introduced to startup founders. What I dont like is people (read recruiters) who have never shipped a product pretending to add value by injecting themselves into the process and decided who I should talk to.