you get to call yourself CTO for a time, alongside the CEO/Founder and COO, working out of your friend’s garage, but the startup goes belly up. You apply for jobs at mid-sized companies but nobody takes your “CTO” experience seriously, and rightfully so.
Yes, if you are president/director/CEO at your own company or at an organization that was founded by you and your friends, I’m not going to take your title very seriously. Most likely, the title doesn’t mean anything because you gave yourself that title. Or it doesn’t mean much because you didn’t have to go through the standard path of earning it.
Alternatively, if you have a moderately impressive title at an organization I’ve never heard of before, then it depends on what the organization does, how large it is, and what your role was. Being the manager of a 4 person team at a 25 person company (and the company has survived/lasted for several years by being as least somewhat profitable, rather than constantly burning investor money) is fine. It isn’t as impressive as being a manager as Pepsi or 3M or Volkswagen, but it is fine. Depending on how much effort I spend to understand the your role at your previous organization, I’ll discount (or increase) my estimate accordingly.
All else held equal, I’d be much more interested in interviewing someone who was project manager at a company I’ve never heard of than someone who was CEO/founder/director/president at a company I’ve never heard of that they helped to found. (EDIT: what I mean is that I’d prefer an modest title that is earned than a very impressive title that is easily obtained.)
I’ll make two different points:
Yes, if you are president/director/CEO at your own company or at an organization that was founded by you and your friends, I’m not going to take your title very seriously. Most likely, the title doesn’t mean anything because you gave yourself that title. Or it doesn’t mean much because you didn’t have to go through the standard path of earning it.
Alternatively, if you have a moderately impressive title at an organization I’ve never heard of before, then it depends on what the organization does, how large it is, and what your role was. Being the manager of a 4 person team at a 25 person company (and the company has survived/lasted for several years by being as least somewhat profitable, rather than constantly burning investor money) is fine. It isn’t as impressive as being a manager as Pepsi or 3M or Volkswagen, but it is fine. Depending on how much effort I spend to understand the your role at your previous organization, I’ll discount (or increase) my estimate accordingly.
All else held equal, I’d be much more interested in interviewing someone who was project manager at a company I’ve never heard of than someone who was CEO/founder/director/president at a company I’ve never heard of that they helped to found. (EDIT: what I mean is that I’d prefer an modest title that is earned than a very impressive title that is easily obtained.)