Comments on: [Entrepreneur] What do you call yourself?

Question: [Entrepreneur] What do you call yourself?

dcbarker — Thu, 03 May 2007 12:33:32 -0800

You're an entrepreneur. You're the owner and head of your own business. You're a completely new start-up with no (or very few) employees. What do you call yourself? CEO? Managing Director? Development Manager?

So I'm considering starting my own business (in the UK). The specifics are non-existent at the moment and I'm no-where near writing a business plan but some friends and I got into a debate about titles.

Some entrepreneurs call themselves CEO or MD. Personally I find this unnatural when they are the only employee (or there are only a couple of people involved). I know lots of people find this really pretentious and a bit of an ego-inflater. "Partner" doesn't sound too bad but there need to be at least two people.

Google are well known for their zany titles, but less established businesses may find it more difficult to get away with this.

I know a title isn't all that important but for the sake of things like domain registration, bank accounts, business cards, contact details for suppliers, etc, it would come in handy. Many other businesses require your title in communications.

So to all the entrepreneurs out there - what do you call yourself and why?

By: zeoslap

zeoslap — Thu, 03 May 2007 12:39:23 -0800

I used Founder, but prefer Principal.

By: chrismear

chrismear — Thu, 03 May 2007 12:40:58 -0800

For formal things, forms, and so forth, I just call myself a director (as in the general 'company director' sense), since that's my only official role in the business from an administrative point of view. In the UK most other business people will be familiar with the term in that sense..

It's not uncommon for the heads of web/design agencies to call themselves 'principals'. This carries many of the same connotations as 'partner', but without the implication that there's two or more of you in that position.

By: ThePinkSuperhero

ThePinkSuperhero — Thu, 03 May 2007 12:44:29 -0800

President and Founder.

By: These Premises Are Alarmed

These Premises Are Alarmed — Thu, 03 May 2007 12:48:28 -0800

I've wondered about this more than once.

I know of a few people who started businesses (in Infosec, fwiw): one calls himself a principal, one calls himself Founder/CTO, and one used to be a CTO and "promoted" himself to president.

I've seen founders of tech firms call themselves CTO pretty frequently. I guess there's some "conventional wisdom" that you shouldn't call yourself President, because customers won't take you seriously -or to make your company seem larger.

Personally, as someone who's bought and sold to small and large companies, I don't like that line of reasoning, and I'd like someone to be up-front and proud of their ownership position.

I hope more perspectives come up in this thread.

By: Tacos Are Pretty Great

Tacos Are Pretty Great — Thu, 03 May 2007 12:55:36 -0800

I vote for calling yourself whatever you legally are.

In the US, a person in that position is almost always, legally speaking, the President.

If they want to specify President and Founder, that'd be fine as well.

Or you could just leave the title off of your business cards/signatures.

By: alms

alms — Thu, 03 May 2007 12:56:31 -0800

Founder and CEO.

By: Tacos Are Pretty Great

Tacos Are Pretty Great — Thu, 03 May 2007 13:01:40 -0800

CTO strikes me as an exceptionally odd thing to call yourself, since it's an internal position, that basically consists of taking high-level guidance from the CIO, and then turning that into specific technical issues.

By: notyou

notyou — Thu, 03 May 2007 13:02:40 -0800

Proprietor.

By: Mick

Mick — Thu, 03 May 2007 13:04:01 -0800

I don't have a title on my cards. If one is required for a form I just put "owner."

By: L. Fitzgerald Sjoberg

L. Fitzgerald Sjoberg — Thu, 03 May 2007 13:18:58 -0800

I've always used "Co-owner," so presumably if I wasn't co-owner I'd be the owner. I kind of like the sound of "Proprietor," though.

By: kdar

kdar — Thu, 03 May 2007 13:21:51 -0800

Tacos are Pretty Great, that depends upon your perspective. There are lots of companies out there with a CTO but no CIO. (There's also that new-fangled CKO -- Chief Knowledge Officer -- floating around out there.)

Definitely President or Founder. I associate CEO with an entity that requires a Board of Directors, and a sole-proprietorship would probably not require that.

By: zeoslap

zeoslap — Thu, 03 May 2007 13:22:53 -0800

Proprietor sounds like you should have on a brown overcoat and be polishing fruit or something.

By: hollisimo

hollisimo — Thu, 03 May 2007 13:26:09 -0800

Managing Partner.

By: briank

briank — Thu, 03 May 2007 13:31:17 -0800

Owner or proprietor

By: jdroth

jdroth — Thu, 03 May 2007 13:35:35 -0800

Owner

Because that's what I am. And because it lets people know a lot about me.

By: Iron Rat

Iron Rat — Thu, 03 May 2007 13:50:42 -0800

I just say I am the owner.
I also claim to be a "legitimate businessman" while straightening the knot on my tie.

By: craven_morhead

craven_morhead — Thu, 03 May 2007 13:51:39 -0800

Dictator for life

By: teststrip

teststrip — Thu, 03 May 2007 14:09:14 -0800

I don't have anything on my business card... just my name. It's only me and sometimes my title needs to change depending on the situation. Generally, it's not in my style to be a hierarchical beast.

By: tkchrist

tkchrist — Thu, 03 May 2007 14:21:42 -0800

Over worked.

Then "owner."

By: acoutu

acoutu — Thu, 03 May 2007 14:32:45 -0800

Director or consultant, depending on my company.

By: sid

sid — Thu, 03 May 2007 14:33:04 -0800

If the firm will provide professional services, the custom is to call yourself the 'principal'

By: disclaimer

disclaimer — Thu, 03 May 2007 14:35:28 -0800

It's an LLC so officially I am "Member".

My business cards don't have a title, but when asked I say "owner".

By: dcbarker

dcbarker — Thu, 03 May 2007 15:00:39 -0800

Great, thanks a lot MeFites.

*really* useful information from everyone (hence no "best answer"). It's interesting to see the spread of opinions out there folks.

The hive prevails again :)

By: croutonsupafreak

croutonsupafreak — Thu, 03 May 2007 15:02:17 -0800

Owner or president.

By: blue_beetle

blue_beetle — Thu, 03 May 2007 15:18:48 -0800

When someone asks what my job title is, I just say "whatever you want it to be." and then wink at them.

At other times when I don't have something witty to say I've used variously: owner, director, partner, consultant, founder, etc.

By: Ookseer

Ookseer — Thu, 03 May 2007 15:38:41 -0800

Not like it hasn't been answered yet, but...

For me "Owner" or an occasional "founder" if I'm being pompous.

I only used "President" or "CEO" if I actually am a president or CEO of the corporation. If it's not a corporation you don't have those positions.

I've also gone by "Partner" in a partnership, but in San Francisco that term gets confusing.

By: chrismear

chrismear — Thu, 03 May 2007 15:42:04 -0800

For what it's worth, I've never seen 'President' as a business title in the UK. I think it's a bit of an Americanism.

By: SpecialK

SpecialK — Thu, 03 May 2007 17:13:54 -0800

I used President.

Some people I know use 'entrepreneur' ... one of them is usually working on many projects at once, so he carries a sharpie with him, and writes in the company name. It's kind of a cool gig if you're 'cool' enough... and he's really, really a '2.0' kind of guy.

By: Exchequer

Exchequer — Thu, 03 May 2007 17:14:47 -0800

Seems like it would depend on what you expect the structure to be in the future, so I'd imagine giving some thought to that would be helpful.

I'd vote for "Principal." It denotes ownership without projecting a CxO culture.

By: recurve

recurve — Thu, 03 May 2007 18:44:08 -0800

Owner.

By: debit

debit — Thu, 03 May 2007 18:44:19 -0800

It might vary a bit depending on the type of entity. Some positions might make sense for certain organizations, but not for others.

For a corporation, I would go by President/CEO/Director

For a partnership: Partner, Managing Partner, Shareholder

For a proprietorship: Proprietor, Owner, Founder

You could also use: Manager, Team Leader, etc.

By: Tacos Are Pretty Great

Tacos Are Pretty Great — Thu, 03 May 2007 20:59:41 -0800

For what it's worth, I've never seen 'President' as a business title in the UK. I think it's a bit of an Americanism.

I believe that MD is your equivalent title, legally speaking, but I've never owned/ran a UK-based business, so I'm not sure.

By: pineapple

pineapple — Thu, 03 May 2007 21:56:14 -0800

Another strong vote for principal.

I don't mind founder.

In the US, I think president or CXO is pretentious, and owner doesn't necessarily convey the appropriate level of leadership/management.

By: wordwhiz

wordwhiz — Fri, 04 May 2007 14:26:03 -0800

Supreme Potentate?