Understanding when Entrepreneurs step down as CEO

Valleywag has a post today about Reid Hoffman's stepping down as CEO. They believe it is just spin when people are "kicked upstairs".

The truth is that most Entrepreneurs make crappy managers. They have the ideas, and the passion and energy needed to start something from scratch and get things moving.

Most entrepreneurs not only suck at taking the company beyond that, they HATE having the responsibilities of running a growing organization too. Most entrepreneurs like things small, when they can have an idea and have it implented by the end of the day.

As far as I know from discussions with Reid, I imagine Reid is quite happy about being "kicked upstairs". Valleywag speculated in the past that Philip Kaplan (PUD) was kicked out of the CEO spot at Adbrite.. But I know for a fact that Philip was all for it, and super excited to bring his CEO on board.

My point: Many if not most entrepreneurs dream of the day when they can drop their CEO responsibilities and let someone else have it. At that point, they can get back to the environment that they thrive in.. one where they have nothing to lose and can just have fun again building new things (even if from within the same company). The tough part is finding a CEO that you believe is the right person to replace yourself and take care of your baby.