My cousin asked my friend what he did, and the response was as follows: “I have a startup in the advertising market.” Obviously this response told my cousin absolutely nothing, and so my cousin began to “pry” a bit… “can you tell me what the model is, how does it work?” Again, said entrepreneur sort of deflected the question: “I help take an offline process in the advertising market online.”
Well as the final response told the questioner nothing I'm not surprised..
I love talking about my projects - you just have to talk about it in a clear way!
There is no such thing as "founders" and "normals". The same scenario's would develop if the founder pressured the PHD Biologist about his research work! It's just social dynamics.
I agree with the concept of same thing happening in other direction...but at least "PhD" is a known vocation...easier for non PhD to classify him as "scientist, academic, Brown University, Smart, etc..."
As someone pursuing a PhD, I can tell that you that if you say "I'm doing a PhD in computer science" or "I'm doing a PhD in human geography," you still get the follow-up question, "so what exactly are you studying?" It's natural for people to want to engage you in conversation about your career, even if you both know that the minute nitty-gritty details are going to be far more involved than anyone would really want to hear about at a social gathering. I give my "elevator pitch" about my research, just like any founder would about his startup. If they are genuinely interested, then I talk about it, if not, I move on without getting hung up worrying about it. I also think that in this area at least, the "founder" vs. "normal" distinction is a bit unhelpful; many of the points you raise can be applied to most occupations.
Well as the final response told the questioner nothing I'm not surprised..
I love talking about my projects - you just have to talk about it in a clear way!
There is no such thing as "founders" and "normals". The same scenario's would develop if the founder pressured the PHD Biologist about his research work! It's just social dynamics.