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I can totally relate to your story. After reading your experience I am pretty sure there are many more like us. I played a key role in the growth of the company and was called a founding member on many occasions, but without a formal "co-founder" or CXO tag, it gets difficult to get an executive role in slightly larger companies. I guess starting a company is the most obvious option (assuming there are no other constraints)

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From what I can tell even with the title it doesn’t matter. I had CTO label and had our companies PMs reporting into me as well. Folks at bigger co’s just don’t seem to care and don’t put value in the experience gained from “leadership” positions in startups.

From what I can tell you can still greatly increase your career velocity as an IC by doing a startup for a few years. It quickly falls away for management roles unless your company hits a big win AND you had a very publicly facing role, in which case the career boost isn’t very needed due to the big win part.

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