I would propose to you that those might be factual statements. I don't really see any self-indulgence in stating where one is coming from when writing a post that is a critique of organizations.

It is a pretty common thing for people giving a talk to introduce themselves to give an idea of the experience on which the information that follows is built, normally at much more length.

I don't think it is uncommon for people on HN to have led small teams or biggish orgs :)