What Nobody Tells You About Titles at Startups
Here's something I wish someone had told me earlier in my career. The rules around titles at startups are basically made up. And if you don't know that going in, it can really work against you.
I don't mean that in a cynical way. I mean it in a this is actually useful information kind of way. Because once you understand how title decisions actually get made and more importantly, why, you stop playing a game you didn't even know you were losing.
The room has rules. They're just not written down.
When you join a startup coming from a bigger company, it's easy to assume the same logic applies. Put in the time, check the boxes, get promoted. But that's not really how it works, right?
At an early-stage company, titles are often less about your performance and more about where the company is in its growth. A seed-stage startup might hand out a Director title pretty freely, not because they're being generous, but because they're moving fast and they need people to feel invested. Then a year later, when they've raised a Series B and need to bring in seasoned leadership, suddenly that title creates a whole awkward situation for everyone.
The unwritten rule here is that titles are fluid and they're deeply tied to the company's stage, not just yours.
Founder alignment is the currency nobody talks about
If you're working closely with founders, you have more leverage than you probably realize. Not in a political way but in a trust way. When a founder trusts you, they'll advocate for you when it's not the right time, let you take on big projects and sometimes even let you write your own job description. That's not nothing.
But that kind of alignment has to be earned and it doesn't happen fast. It's one of those things that can completely change your experience at a startup and yet nobody puts it in the job description or the onboarding docs.
Before you push for the title, ask yourself why
This is the part that I think gets glossed over the most. A lot of people I talk to are frustrated about their title without having really thought through what they actually want from it. Is it because you feel like your voice isn't being heard in the room? Is it about marketability for your next move? Is it genuinely about recognition for work you've already been doing?
None of those answers are wrong, by the way. But they lead to really different conversations with your manager. And if you can't articulate your why clearly, it's a lot harder for someone to go to bat for you.
Here's something worth knowing: for a manager, advocating for a title change is actually one of the easier asks, easier than a big comp increase or a bonus, in a lot of cases. But the ask still has to make sense organizationally. That means your manager is thinking about how it affects your peers, how it fits into the team six months from now, and what HR is going to say. It's not just about you, even when it really feels like it should be.
The comparison trap is real, and it'll mess with your head
I've had this conversation so many times. Someone comes to me frustrated because their former colleague at another company is already a VP, or their friend from college has a fancier title and they have more experience. And I get it, it's hard not to compare.
But title inflation is everywhere, especially in tech. Some of those VP titles are at 15-person companies. Some of those "Director" roles have zero reports. Chasing someone else's title without understanding the context behind it is how you end up in a role that looks great on LinkedIn and feels terrible to actually do.
The best time to negotiate is before you sign
If there's one tactical thing to take from all of this: your leverage is highest at the offer stage. That's true for title, comp, equity but also for things like coaching, professional development, or flexibility. Once you're nine months in and you've already proven you'll do the work regardless, the negotiation gets a lot harder.
Think about what you need to be set up for success before you accept. Not just what sounds good now, but what's going to matter in six or twelve months.
So here's what I keep coming back to. Titles carry more emotional weight than most of us want to admit and the rules around them change depending on the company, the stage, the founder and honestly, the week. But understanding what's actually going on behind the scenes is how you stop feeling like things are happening to you and start making decisions that actually move your career forward.
Oh and one last thing, if you're a podcast person, we get into all of this and more with Sam Melnick on the latest episode of Non-Founder Crew.
Tune in to the entire episode