> Is it literally, someone who was involved in founding a company or does it refer to a degree of commitment, risk, or other intangible asset.
There isn't really any specific moment when a company goes from un-founded to founded. Often this happens over a period of several years.
So while colloquially we say that a founder was there when the company was founded, in practice that's really a proxy for someone having done a substantial amount of work that was compensated in equity before the company was derisked. So e.g. if you own 40% of the company by the time the company raises a seed round then you're clearly a founder, regardless of whether or not your signature is on the articles of incorporation.
