Let's approach this from another angle. Lets say you have two equal founders, one business guy and one tech guy. Then let's say the business guy becomes CEO. What title does the tech guy have? What are the tech guy's responsibilities? Let's say the company is successful, and now the tech guy is managing 10 engineers. What are his title and responsibilities?
Maybe the CTOs you've meet have been useless, but it's obvious you need a Cx0/techie-founder kind of position.
VP/Engineering (if you're an execution player) or VP/Product Management (if you're a vision player). Both of those titles are close to the revenue. In a small, focused startup, don't discount "lead developer with a board seat"; also a strong role.
If you're the tech founder in this scenario, the last thing you want to do is put yourself in the architecture ghetto. What will happen is that your company will then hire a VP/Eng and a VP/PM. You are in a very crappy place to compete for mindshare against Eng and PM from a CTO's desk.
Maybe the CTOs you've meet have been useless, but it's obvious you need a Cx0/techie-founder kind of position.
For another take, See Eric Ries: http://startuplessonslearned.blogspot.com/2008/09/what-does-...