I agree with everything you have said. But the implication that people should be called a "co-founder" just because they're important to the growth of the busi

I agree with everything you have said. But the implication that people should be called a "co-founder" just because they're important to the growth of the business makes no sense. You should absolitely hand out VP of X, CxO, etc, titles (and decent slabs of equity) as deserved, but "founder" has a meaning, and if you're not actually there at the founding, calling yourself or your coworkers one is basically misleading.