The boss, the VC or the customer is ultimately people you have commitments to. You can always decide not to comply to their request and see what happens. If your product is great, the customer might frown but will stay, and you'll be fine. The same thing with your boss, if you're a stellar employee, your boss won't be pleased but your job will probably be safe. In any case, you measure and take risks. The main difference in my opinion is you see your boss almost everyday, she gives you guidance and tells you if things go bad. With customers, you have to proactively get the feedback, or anticipate their needs.

Actually you can fire your boss, that's called quitting. And if you're a tech worker, you really have the freedom to do it because it's easy to find something else if you're decently competent.

> Actually you can fire your boss, that's called quitting.

Quitting is (to the extent the metaphor works at all) firing your employer, not your boss; these can sometimes be the same, but often your boss is, like you, an employee of your employer, not someone with whom you engage in a direct exchange that you can terminate.

If a line supervisor isn't given permission to terminate his subordinates' employment (because, e.g., that's reserved for a higher-level manager), but can quit, it would be wrong to say he can fire his employees. Likewise, it is wrong to say you can fire your boss unless you can terminate the boss's employment.