I'd be interested in some examples of where this "recruiting talent by offering to call them 'CTO'" strategy --- which I know has happened! --- has worked out, and what the actual role description for those "CTO"'s was.
Recently watched a relatively young person parley a position at a small company with a VP title that resulted in a slot at a regionally well known organization as a director and then president of a much larger startup.
Over about 4 years he went from front line sales to running a sizeable company with the key step being the VP title at the small company that rocketed him up.
I also recall a former co-worker that was denied promotion and generally failing to progress in his career. He took a slot at a tiny company explicitly for the title. I think it was director. He managed to parlay that into very positive career moves.
Personally, I don't care as much about titles these days. I just don't want to work for places making terrible tech decisions and forcing me to work within that. I'm happiest making the decisions and really don't want to stop, whatever it's called.
