Since us Indies wear many hats (we can be a programmer, artist, marketer, and accountant all in the same day), I'm curious to see what you guys put on your business cards.

Do you put "CEO" or "President" to prop up your business side? Or do you favor your developer side and put "Lead Progammer" or "Lead Designer" or something similar.

Back when I ran a videogame news/reviews website, I had two sets of business cards. :) One said "CEO", the other said "Editor in Chief". I'd use the "Editor in Chief" business card when I was dealing with game companies and developers for stories and reviews. Then I'd use my "CEO" business card when I was dealing with business matters directly related to my company.

"Founder, Principal Designer."

I had considered "Janitor," since I'm also that.

I was recently at a business class where they were discussing marketing and the subject of business cards came up. The position of the advisors was that putting "CEO" or "President" on a business card is considered a joke, especially if:

1) You aren't incorporated
2) You have no business training or degree
3) You have no employees

If you qualify under any of those three then don't use "CEO".

If the card is to network and market *yourself* then the best idea is to describe what it is you DO in order to create an income and a successful business. Pick the top one or two and go with that. For example:

JOE SMITH:
game designer - programmer
or
independent game developer
or
new media specialist (my old one ;) )

Never use more than one hyphen, though, so no "artist - programmer - kungfu fighter" type descriptions.

If the card is to network and market *your business* then consider the nature of the PRODUCT or service you sell and don't worry about what you do specifically. For example:

Joe Smith,
SUPER MEGA DOWNLOADS:
interactive entertainment
or
independent game development
or
video game development and marketing

And use professionally produced business cards, not stuff you printed out on your deskjet.

At the same time, unless you are planning to join a local networking group or hang out at trade shows there is probably very little use for business cards for the independent game developer. Certainly not from a marketing standpoint, it's better to save that money for your web based initiatives.

I hope this helped.

Yeah, that was very helpful KNau!

I always felt funny calling myself the CEO, when it was pretty much just myself and maybe one other person involved with the company. Plus it wasn't incorporated, it was a LLC. But back then during the dot-com boom, it was vogue to call yourself a CEO even if it was a one-man show. :)

Putting "CEO" or "President" if you're a one-person company is kinda silly. I agree with KNau -- if you're going to put a title, describe what you do. It's much more informative and memorable than "CEO" anyway. Personally, I just put my (nick)name, no title.

I just used up my previous batch of business cards and need to get new ones (they had the wrong address anyway ..). My primary pick is:

(From WordNet)
entrepreneur
n : someone who organizes a business venture and assumes the risk for it

I think that pretty well describes what my day to day job is .. :)

I usually refer to myself as:

Co-owner, Samu Games

Or:

Independent Software Developer

-David

I just put "game developer" because that's what I am and that's what I do :)

CEO is a little silly, but President is pretty descriptive, even for a 1 person company. It shows you're in charge and can make all the decisions, which, when passing business cards around, is important. Often people want to talk with someone who has authority or say in your company.

For example, if someone wants to license your game, would they want to talk to the "programmer" or the "president"? Often times, a programmer has no say in licensing.

My 2 cents.

Hanford lemoore
President
Monolux Game Company

I go with Head Honcho.

It doesn't make any claim as to something I'm not, yet it makes it clear I'm in charge. Most importantly though, It's silly :D

If I'm small then I'm not fooling anyone with pretentious formal sounding titles. If I get to be big, people won't care.

Originally posted by Lerc
I go with Head Honcho.

It doesn't make any claim as to something I'm not, yet it makes it clear I'm in charge. Most importantly though, It's silly :D

If I'm small then I'm not fooling anyone with pretentious formal sounding titles. If I get to be big, people won't care.

That reminds me, didn't the Yahoo founders call themselves "Chief Yahoo" or something when they first opened shop? I think the titles stuck, and they still call themselves that even though it's a big company. :)

I use "President" on my Biz card (but then again, we are incorporated, I do have employees, so I don't fall under any of the "that's silly" categories..) BTW, there are MANY Presidents and CEOs of MAJOR companies who have no Business Degree, so I am of the opinion that it isn't a requirement..

Anecdotally, I have found that the "Big Publishers" (i.e. the ones that most indies don't care about) respond only to "President" and not "Lead Developer" or "Technical Director" or "Lead Designer" (each of which were on my Biz card at some point, but not at the same time..)

So, I guess i'd have to agree with Hanford_lemoore - it's useful to put "President" or "CEO" on your biz card if you want other people to know that you have decision making capability for your company..

My .02

Chaster

Hello.
This is what I do:
* on emails I write something like: Petru Soroaga, software developer engineer (that's what my califications are).
* on any written contract/agreement I write and sign as:
Petru Soroaga - author. (assume here that's a contract to sell a game, and you are the author of that)

Pet.

What about "founder"?

With large corporations, the title might not mean as much, but it definitely indicates you started the company. With small companies, 8 times out 10, it means you do have a large influence with major business decisions.

Do you guys think "founder" is more or less appropriate/useful than "president" for a 1-2 person company?

"Founder" is good, but for pure unadulterated egomania it's hard to beat "Supreme Allied Commander."

- Roulette

Is "King" or "Emperor" a legitimate business title? Or will I have to settle for more mundane titles like "Hero" or "Chief?"

Do you guys think "founder" is more or less appropriate/useful than "president" for a 1-2 person company?Founder may be more appropriate, but it doesn't necessarily indicate authority. In some organisations the Founder can be very high profile people, but they have little to no input on the day to day operations. Almost like a figurehead. I'd tend more towards President for that reason, you want people to know you have ultimate authority for making decisions.

While Proprietor may be appropriate, it doesn't seem to get much respect... I guess because it's so easy to become a proprietor.