And when the banker asked me what my title was he continued with "CEO, President, etc." and I remember thinking at that point I had a decision to make, I could be the kind of pretentious owner that has "employees" or the kind of hard working example setting owner that has "co-workers" and makes them want to strive and be better so I opted for the latter.
I looked back at the Banker and said well you know Ross when everyone leaves at night and I'm sweeping the floor I usually consider myself the Janitor, so why don't we just go with that.
He chose not to use that title for paperwork purposes but my point in telling that story is that if you're a young and growing company and you're worried about whether or not your title should be "CEO" or "President" the title you are likely to end up having is "Unemployed".
Work your ass off and work with your employees don't let them work for you. If nothing else is to be done pick up a broom, help a co-worker or just find a way to be productive and lead by example. If you do that there's a chance lots of people will be knocking down your door to interview the "CEO" of "X" the next successful company with humble beginnings.
My point here is basically that if and when the time comes to be labeled a CEO chances are someone else will do it for you. Thats what happened to me a few years later when i sold that same company. and until they do you're probably better off just being the janitor :)
A better title would've been "Isn't it silly to cal yourself CEO when you've 0 employees?"
But I completely agree with what you've said.
I suppose that is not entirely helpful as that still does not answer where that distinction is.
Don't really think its silly but I find that most people don't call themselves a CEO unless you specifically ask for a title in those situations. It's more common for me to hear people say they're working on a new startup (as opposed to really saying they're exploring an idea).
Titles are meaningless in most cases in startups. We made it a point not to even include titles in our business cards on my last startup. It just doesn't matter.
The sole proprietor of a one-person company should call himself CEO without hesitation if it helps him get what he wants. The person in charge of a thousand-person company should reject the CEO title when it gets in the way of his goals.
At the last small (~5 employee) startup I ran, I used the CEO title when dealing with media companies and large organizations and the co-founder title when doing marketing to developers. Worked out fine.
If someone's used the CEO title in front of you and you've thought they were foolish, they've either misunderstood the context or you've come across something you're just not the primary audience for.
I prefer 'Director'.
edit: as per https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Executive_Dir...
Sometimes I use "co-owner" for non-startup people, since "founder" is a somewhat startupy term.
But titles are free, so if they make you feel better and make you more productive, might as well give yourself one
