I believe that the #1 job as a CEO is to own the goals (the reasons for existence) of the company, doing whatever it takes to achieve the goals.

If that requires raising money or hiring/firing, those get prioritized high. Some startups don't require funding (just read a great post about GitHub), and others can be better staffed by a team of experienced mercenaries than a bunch of novice citizens.

And sometimes, the CEO has to be the cheerleader that prevents the founders from giving up...