A reporter asked me this week what my title is for the article she’s writing which started me thinking back to when I started my company on September 25, 1999. When I started, it was in the middle of the dot.com boom and entrepreneurs were springing up everywhere – irreverently managing their businesses and choosing titles.  Some wanted their titles to be upfront and center – so they chose the basic “CEO”. Some wanted to be opaque or look bigger, so they went with with a “Director” or “VP” title, implying someone was higher up the food chain.  Some come up with cute ones like “Manager of Mopping and Mainframes” to illustrate their sass.

My title? CXO – Chief “X” Officer – the “X” is like the variable in an equation – some days I’m tech support, some days I’m programmer, some days I’m finance. Some days I’m the lazy employee that calls in sick on Mondays. It’s kind of like mad libs for my job of the day.