(A) being a founding member of the company and accepting high amounts of risk
(B) founding and then selling a company to another company and winning the executive role that way
(C) (the standard way) grinding it out for a very long time in an internal role
(D) being recognized and promoted very soon by an illuminated management that rapidly understands they are very high potential
(E) perhaps to appease an investor, family member or some other politically driven choice to give that person some inflated title
The reason Silicon Valley imports so many Asian workers is that they are deliberately selecting for obedience, Visa / immigrant indentured servents or want mindless crank turners to do some job no one else wants (here, maintain this sharepoint server for the next ten years) and be not expected to go anywhere.
Let’s say you are a hiring manager and you have the following two choices:
(A) independent, agressive and creative employee who may argue with you, leave if you piss them off and generally do only a mixture of what you want them to do and what they feel like doing
(B) Someone who will simply do what they are told and never, ever argue or leave
Many hiring managers select for B in my experience. These are weak managers but they are very common.
This may predispose the characteristics of Asian workers imported into the valley to be the non entrepreneurial ones.
To be an executive you have to take risks, you have to take stands, you have to be agressive. A visa worker cannot do these things out of fear.