[calmlynarczyk]

One of the pieces of advice I received from the founder of a startup I once worked for is that you don't give out C-level titles at a young company other than what is legally required (i.e. a CEO). The reason is that when you likely get acquired there isn't a massive shock for those C-level employees since they're almost certainly not getting a C-suite position at the acquiring organization.

Instead, all of the startup execs had VP titles. When we got acquired by a large corporation, many of them went down to Senior Manager titles, a few being able to get Director titles. I suppose a cynic might argue this is actually about the ego of the startup CEO, but after seeing it in action I believe it was good advice and have used it in my own startup.