In the past, I failed as a manager to protect the good-hearted and passionate people in my teams. The upper management were abusing them at every chance. And their competence and dedication only made them less likely to be promoted because it would take multiple people to do their job. The typical lifecycle is the CEO/CTO/Mids burn the good ones to the point they quit (and then they might offer doubling their salaries or something). This happens both in startups and large orgs. It seems like an unwritten rule in tech management.
I'm no longer a tech manager.