This is a title I’ve never really been comfortable with. To me, a CEO was Jack Welch of GE or Ken Chenault of my alma mater American Express. They ran huge organizations, had big offices and were as the initials imply – executive officers. They did executive’y things.

And so I always found it funny when someone who was just 1 person or one person plus a buddy who introduced themselves as CEO of their startup. They were in the truest sense I suppose, but it just seemed like false advertising or perhaps grade inflation to me. But I’m skeptical by nature or just maybe a dick or a bit of both.

When we were 3 or 10 or 20 people, I always preferred co-founder. It felt a little less grandiose and also more of an accurate picture of what I was. We were still figuring it all out so finding and founding seemed like an apt description.

As we are growing this year to 40-50 folks (we are hiring, I’ve thought more about this. I suppose I suffer from a mild case of impostor syndrome which is a function of a giant chip on my shoulder, but as I think more about culture and hiring and having a more than a 2 level org chart or about organizational processes, I’m realizing I need to shake my issue with being called a CEO.