[corobo]

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

[dbdriscoll]

Yep, see my comment above in reply to another comment. I hate using the title CEO, but I also knew that I needed to use it here in order to get published and then get some attention for the article. Frankly, I hoped people would see "CEO" as ironic.

As I wrote a moment ago, I just call myself "a co-founder" of a startup and, when pressed on title, will use "ceo" rather than the ALL CAPS version.

A friend put it well: "Until you I-P-O, you're just a c-e-o."

Cheers, Dan (author of the article & a reQwip co-founder)