The title is strong, yes (on purpose). I'm not certain how you came to the conclusion that I was far from the first hire at Crowdtilt. Your statement is simply false.
Author here. Admittedly, the title is a bit strong (though mismatch in titles was by a mod) but I was hired simultaneously with our lead dev and focused on ops/automation, as well as, product development in the early days. More accurately, my point is that it's extremely important to have _someone_ focusing on these issues from day one.