About 10 years ago, I started with a startup about a month after their founding, there was only one other developer who was to be frank terrible, did a ton of sweat equity work to the point that I was working for free for a number of months, but never bothered to stake claim to a title. The company eventually sold for $500MM. I came out with a very healthy exit given the sweat equity, but don't have my name associated with it as, say, CTO, which in effect I was for about 18 months.
Now, I've become involved with a startup. I have about $100K in the seed round of $500K, am working full time as the only programmer. Since I'm not one of the guys who actually started the company, I don't feel I should call myself a founder. I was there pretty much day 1, though, and working as if I were a founder. I'd like to make sure I stake claim to a title this time, but am not sure what it would be.
Thoughts?
