A startup CEO drives for Uber • Hacker News Board

Re: A startup CEO drives for Uber

#21

Post by frostmatthew » Sun, Oct 26, 2014, 2:11 PM UTC

patio11 wrote: post #17

andrea_s wrote: post #6

I'm always torn when I hear about the "CEO" of such a small company (or, in more extreme cases, the CEO of a one man band) - from one side, I see that it gives a clear impression of how the tasks are distributed within the company, but it still sounds a bit weird. What do you think?

Is social status policing a high priority for you? If so, that complaint makes a lot of sense. If not, it is a silly thing to worry about. Note that if social status policing is a high priority, you should probably start working on rules for who is and is not allowed to call themselves a Founder, because as of late that title is receiving attention. (No lie: I once got told in the Valley that having Founder on my bus…

PG tweeted[1] about this yesterday:

I have misgivings about the tendency to make "founder" a title rather than a reference to a historical fact.

[1] https://twitter.com/paulg/status/526207483920932865

Re: A startup CEO drives for Uber

#22

Post by obviouslygreen » Sun, Oct 26, 2014, 2:15 PM UTC

peterjancelis wrote: post #9

> "the myriad expenses that we startup founders incur (from coffee shop tabs to gas costs to cross-country flights for meetings with investors)" I fundamentally disagree that these are non-avoidable expenses.

It's not about avoidability. This is what happens when someone is more concerned with looking like a startup founder than founding a startup.

Re: A startup CEO drives for Uber

#23

Post by pdpi » Sun, Oct 26, 2014, 2:16 PM UTC

patio11 wrote: post #17

andrea_s wrote: post #6

I'm always torn when I hear about the "CEO" of such a small company (or, in more extreme cases, the CEO of a one man band) - from one side, I see that it gives a clear impression of how the tasks are distributed within the company, but it still sounds a bit weird. What do you think?

Is social status policing a high priority for you? If so, that complaint makes a lot of sense. If not, it is a silly thing to worry about. Note that if social status policing is a high priority, you should probably start working on rules for who is and is not allowed to call themselves a Founder, because as of late that title is receiving attention. (No lie: I once got told in the Valley that having Founder on my bus…

I'm not sure it's about policing social status. To me, calling yourself "CEO" of a tiny startup reeks of self-aggrandizement, which is the sort of attitude that rubs me the wrong way.

Re: A startup CEO drives for Uber

#24

Post by cjf4 » Sun, Oct 26, 2014, 2:18 PM UTC

hnnewguy wrote: post #14

andrea_s wrote: post #6

I'm always torn when I hear about the "CEO" of such a small company (or, in more extreme cases, the CEO of a one man band) - from one side, I see that it gives a clear impression of how the tasks are distributed within the company, but it still sounds a bit weird. What do you think?

> What do you think? It bothers me as well. I attended a social gaming conference during the height of the Facebook game fad, and every company had a "CEO", even if the company had one or two employees. It's ridiculous, and only seems to be prevalent in the tech scene; when the plumbing proprietor shows up at your house, he isn't referring to himself as the CEO.

Small companies don't need "Officers."

Re: A startup CEO drives for Uber

#25

Post by frostmatthew » Sun, Oct 26, 2014, 2:19 PM UTC

hnnewguy wrote: post #14

andrea_s wrote: post #6

I'm always torn when I hear about the "CEO" of such a small company (or, in more extreme cases, the CEO of a one man band) - from one side, I see that it gives a clear impression of how the tasks are distributed within the company, but it still sounds a bit weird. What do you think?

> What do you think? It bothers me as well. I attended a social gaming conference during the height of the Facebook game fad, and every company had a "CEO", even if the company had one or two employees. It's ridiculous, and only seems to be prevalent in the tech scene; when the plumbing proprietor shows up at your house, he isn't referring to himself as the CEO.

> when the plumbing proprietor shows up at your house, he isn't referring to himself as the CEO

What does he refer to himself as?

Probably plumber - but what's the equivalent for a CEO? Head of Sales? Lead Developer? General Manager? The CEO's duties (at a startup) will vary from startup to startup. [I'm not disagreeing with you - I'm just not sure there's a better option]

Re: A startup CEO drives for Uber

#26

Post by corobo » Sun, Oct 26, 2014, 2:36 PM UTC

andrea_s wrote: post #6

I'm always torn when I hear about the "CEO" of such a small company (or, in more extreme cases, the CEO of a one man band) - from one side, I see that it gives a clear impression of how the tasks are distributed within the company, but it still sounds a bit weird. What do you think?

People understand that you mean the top dog when you say CEO in an article. If they said "Manager of a startup" or "Guy who runs a startup" it doesn't sound as interesting

It's a bit clickbait, a bit common denominator - not necessarily bad things, it makes for easier reading

Re: A startup CEO drives for Uber

#27

Post by tptacek » Sun, Oct 26, 2014, 2:37 PM UTC

pdpi wrote: post #23

patio11 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is social status policing a high priority for you? If so, that complaint makes a lot of sense. If not, it is a silly thing to worry about. Note that if social status policing is a high priority, you should probably start working on rules for who is and is not allowed to call themselves a Founder, because as of late that title is receiving attention. (No lie: I once got told in the Valley that having Founder on my bus…

I'm not sure it's about policing social status. To me, calling yourself "CEO" of a tiny startup reeks of self-aggrandizement, which is the sort of attitude that rubs me the wrong way.

You might not be connecting the dots here. The concern or even attention to "self-aggrandizement" is itself a form of social status policing. That's literally what the term means.

Re: A startup CEO drives for Uber

#28

Post by austenallred » Sun, Oct 26, 2014, 2:38 PM UTC

Before your startup is in an accelerator or has raised your seed round driving Uber to remain afloat is downright scrappy.

After you've raised your seed round, it raises huge red flags for me. Your seed round should enable you to not have to worry about money. That's pretty much the point. Uber should just be a distraction at that point, and one that should be squashed quickly. The fact that the "CEO" is putting all of his money into getting coffee and flying around says to me that this person is "playing house."

But then again, I don't know the exact circumstances, maybe he's figured out a way to turn every dollar spent on Adwords into two. I doubt it, but who knows.

Re: A startup CEO drives for Uber

#29

Post by andrea_s » Sun, Oct 26, 2014, 2:38 PM UTC

patio11 wrote: post #17

andrea_s wrote: post #6

I'm always torn when I hear about the "CEO" of such a small company (or, in more extreme cases, the CEO of a one man band) - from one side, I see that it gives a clear impression of how the tasks are distributed within the company, but it still sounds a bit weird. What do you think?

Is social status policing a high priority for you? If so, that complaint makes a lot of sense. If not, it is a silly thing to worry about. Note that if social status policing is a high priority, you should probably start working on rules for who is and is not allowed to call themselves a Founder, because as of late that title is receiving attention. (No lie: I once got told in the Valley that having Founder on my bus…

Actually it bothers me because I am the "CTO" of a 3-people company - when we started, I'd have preferred less glamorous titles, but my partners saw an advantage in using standard terminology to clearly separate our roles...

So no social policing - it just stirred some latent doubts about my current title :)

Of course in the end it matters little - this kind of silly discussion is good for a working Sunday afternoon. It's not like we can do anything to stop people from bandwagoning on the cool titles of this week...

Cordially, Ninja Pirate Space Robot Guru Software Proactive Artist Manager

Re: A startup CEO drives for Uber

#30

Post by wglb » Sun, Oct 26, 2014, 2:38 PM UTC

cjf4 wrote: post #24

hnnewguy wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What do you think? It bothers me as well. I attended a social gaming conference during the height of the Facebook game fad, and every company had a "CEO", even if the company had one or two employees. It's ridiculous, and only seems to be prevalent in the tech scene; when the plumbing proprietor shows up at your house, he isn't referring to himself as the CEO.

Small companies don't need "Officers."

Any corporation needs to report a certain standard set of officers in their incorporation papers: President, Secretary are often the minimum. Many think of President as roughly equivalent to CEO.