Thinking About Thinking

This post is for all of you out there who are both founder and CEO of your company.  My simple question is this: which “title” resonates most with you – founder, CEO, or entrepreneur?  Clearly, they’re all true, but let’s set aside the option to say all three.  I am asking the unfair question of which one title best represents you and are you the most proud of being called?  I’m also not asking which title should be on your business card, rather I’m asking how you view yourself.  Which title best represents you?

Let’s look at these three statements:

• I am a founder.
• I am a CEO.
• I am an entrepreneur.

If you could introduce yourself as only one, which one would you choose and why?  And, if there’s one that is better than these three, I’m all ears.

[UPDATE: I happened to be talking to a friend today who was the founder and CEO of a prior company – so I mentioned this post.  He thought about it and talked about the experience of bringing in a CEO to run his company.  He said he had no problems giving up the CEO role.  But, the CEO had requested to also be titled one of the co-founders of the company.  And, that he found violently objectionable.  Maybe that’s another way to look at the question.]