A startup with that attitude won't last long. Tech companies can last quite a long time with any poisonous attitude, once the cash cow has been found.

I've experienced "work by CYA." It isn't pretty, but it has the "advantage" that nothing too bad ever happens.

usually those companies become primarily sales oriented rather than technology oriented. Take Oracle. Yeah, they have some technology... and they even develop some new stuff. But primarily they work in sales. A less radical example would be Microsoft.

The problem with the cya approach is that it minimizes the risk for any particular individual, not for the organization as a whole. They don't take the option that is least likely to fail, they take the option that is least likely to bite them personally in the ass if it does fail.