Business Owner Titles: Choosing Your Title as a Business Owner

If you run a small business, you likely handle multiple roles and responsibilities that fall under different titles. You might serve as marketing manager, product owner, web developer, and customer service representative. But choosing the right title for yourself as a business owner is more than just a formality. It can also help avoid confusion when communicating with potential clients and define your role in your company.

Business owner titles impact legal documents, business structures, and the way employees perceive the managerial structure of your company. Here are some of the most common business owner titles that entrepreneurs can choose from, as well as some best practices for choosing the right title for yourself.

Common business owner titles

• Founder
• Managing partner
• Owner
• Chief executive officer
• Creative director
• Managing member
• President
• Sole proprietor

Here are some popular business owner titles to consider using:

Founder

“Founder” is a title for an individual who created a particular company or organization. Someone who started a company with other people can use the title “cofounder.” Founders and cofounders perform tasks like developing business plans, raising capital, hiring the initial team, and overseeing the launch of products or services. 

Founders who are active in the companies they started can supplement the “founder” title with other owner titles to cover the entire scope of their responsibilities in a growing business, like “founder and chief executive officer (CEO),” or “founder and president.” 

Managing partner

“Managing partner” is a title for an individual with an ownership stake in a partnership and is also responsible for day-to-day operations. Acting as both partners and managers, managing partners set overall objectives for their companies and design strategies to accomplish those goals. 

For example, a group of business partners running an ecommerce business could determine that they need to update their website, and the managing partner would oversee in-house employees or freelancers as they design and implement the update.

A managing partner differs from a managing director in that the title denotes ownership in the company. Managing directors, by contrast, perform daily tasks similar to those of managing partners, but are typically high-level employees hired by owners. Managing partner titles are most suitable for companies structured as partnerships—with two or more people sharing ownership, profits, and liability with a formal business partnership agreement.

Owner

“Owner” is a title for individuals who own their companies outright, making it a good option for entrepreneurs running a small business that they launched themselves without investors or partners. For example, an ecommerce entrepreneur could call themselves the owner of their business for simplicity and clarity when speaking with raw material suppliers or potential customers. 

The title “owner” can act as a standalone title, or owners can supplement it with another title for clarity, like “owner and creative director,” or “owner and founder.” Similar to the “founder” title, owners who share ownership with other individuals can use the term co-owner. 

“Owner” is an appropriate title for sole proprietorships and limited liability companies (LLCs), although it might not work as well for larger companies with highly organized corporate structures, where the titles CEO or president make more sense.

Chief executive officer

A chief executive officer (CEO) is an individual who holds the highest-ranking executive position in a corporation. A CEO handles high-level business decisions about their company’s overall vision, long-term goals, growth strategy, and investment opportunities.

The title “CEO” is a typical title in a large company with a structured executive team and a board of directors. A CEO manages the internal executive team, including positions like chief operating officer (COO), chief creative officer (CCO), and chief marketing officer (CMO). A CEO must also communicate detailed updates to their company’s board of directors and ensure that the decisions of the board are executed properly.

Creative director

Creative directors oversee the creative vision of a company’s products, services, and overall brand identity. Business owners can add the “creative director” title to their founder title to communicate to customers, clients, and business partners that their role also covers creative tasks like innovating new products or services, managing the design of those offerings, and marketing them in a creative way. 

The title “creative director” is particularly appropriate for business owners of companies that sell creative products or services, like marketing agencies, fashion brands, publishing houses, and software companies producing creative assets like games or apps.

Managing member

“Managing member” is a business owner title for an individual who is in charge of a company’s daily operations while also being a member of an LLC. LLCs offer liability protection for LLC owners (called members) as well as certain tax advantages when compared to simpler structures like sole proprietorships.

For a single-member LLC, that individual will act as the managing member. By contrast, if there are several LLC members, then they will typically select one person to act as the managing member—meaning that particular owner will take responsibility for creating business strategies (like product development and marketing campaigns), delegating tasks to different employees or departments, and ensuring that projects progress within a set deadline and budget.

President

The president of a company is actively involved in the daily responsibilities of that business, managing employees and departments to execute the strategic visions of the company. This formal title is typically used in a corporate structure with other executives in a hierarchy, including vice presidents, directors, managers, and supervisors.

If a corporation includes both a CEO and a president, the president typically reports to the CEO. However, an owner actively managing business operations can opt for either the “CEO” or “president” title, depending on the managerial structure of the company. In a corporation, the board of directors typically elects the president of the business.

Sole proprietor

A sole proprietor is another title available to business owners, specifically solopreneurs running companies without any full-time employees and no intention to hire new employees. 

A sole proprietorship is a business owned and operated by a single individual, with no legal distinction between the owner and the business. Sole proprietors are responsible for every aspect of their businesses, and can choose from a range of other business owner titles, including “founder,” “owner,” or “creative director.”

A sole proprietorship can offer a few potential advantages for a small business owner running their own one-person entity—including full control over equity, no corporate income taxes, and less paperwork than more complicated business structures. Unlike members of an LLC, sole proprietors do not benefit from liability protections since their personal assets are exposed to business risks (like debt or lawsuits).

Tips for choosing business owner titles

• Assess the legal framework of your business
• List out your business owner responsibilities
• Evaluate your company’s size and structure
• Consider your business growth strategy

Here are some best practices to consider when narrowing down the right title for you as a business owner:

Assess the legal framework of your business

Choose a business owner title consistent with how you structured your company as a legal entity. For example, if you establish a corporate business structure with a board of directors, “CEO” or “president” are both appropriate titles. A sole proprietor or single-member LLC owner could opt for a range of job titles based on their specific business, including “owner,” “founder,” and “creative director.”

List out your business owner responsibilities

When choosing a business owner title, write down all of the responsibilities that you handle for your business. Include any high-level responsibilities, like writing a vision or mission statement or choosing which product ideas to develop into prototypes, as well as more detail-oriented tasks like optimizing product pages or managing pay-per-click (PPC) ad campaigns. 

As a solopreneur or the owner of a small ecommerce business, your responsibilities could range from sales and marketing tasks to order fulfillment and customer service duties. Once you’ve listed all of your responsibilities, choose the title or combination of titles that best communicates the scope of your role. For example, a “president” or “CEO” title is better suited for a role focused on strategic planning and decision-making around business operations within a corporation with several executives and employees. 

Evaluate your company’s culture and structure

Choose a business owner title that fits your company’s structure. For example, a partnership between three entrepreneurs who share a variety of responsibilities could use a simpler title structure by choosing between “cofounder,” “partner,” “managing partner,” and “co-owner.” 

You can opt for a more creative title like innovator or curator based on your specific industry and company culture. However, a professional title like “managing partner,” “creative director,” or “CEO” gives you more credibility when interacting with potential customers, clients, business partners like suppliers, and employees like web developers or marketing managers.

Consider your business growth strategy

Give yourself an owner title that allows your business to grow without needing to change your title in the near future. Write a detailed growth strategy that outlines how you plan to expand your business. Once you understand your long-term goals, choose a title that fits with those goals. 

For example, if your long-term goal is to grow sales for your solo dropshipping company without any plans to hire employees, then the “owner” or “sole proprietor” title can work well. Similarly, a freelancer running a graphic design studio could use the title “creative director” to communicate their role and responsibilities, and keep that title even as the business grows.