

5 Reasons Founders Hate the Question “So What Do You Do?” - jordancooper
http://jordancooper.wordpress.com/2010/02/16/5-reasons-founders-hate-the-question-so-what-do-you-do/

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sumeetjain
Two things that have helped me answer this question:

1\. _Smile._ It's amazing how many people have a half or full frown when they
answer this question. Keeping a positive expression on your face helps send
the message that 1) you're interested in your work, 2) you don't begrudge the
asker for her question. The result will be less pressure on both you and the
asker, because you eliminate the assumption that an inconvenient conversation
is about to happen.

2\. _Be direct. If you're smiling, it comes across as charming._ I might ask,
"How much time have you got?" or "How much would you like to know?" Neither
question is a masterstroke (and some of you might even be thinking the
questions are lame), but with the right attitude, you'll be entering a warm
conversation where neither party is unprepared. I usually begin my explanation
with a brief summary of my product's most interesting user story.

One additional note: If you work at a company with a good deal of
access/transparency, ask your CEO or Founder how they answer when people ask
them what their company is about. They get asked this question more than
anyone, and they'll have several good options to share with you. It will help
you model your own response.

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HeyLaughingBoy
Am I the only person who hates this imagined dichotomy between "founders" and
"normals?" It assumes that non-founders are somehow lesser beings. And perhaps
that's where the reluctance to talk about your business comes from: why
discuss it with someone you've already assumed won't care or understand?

Look, if you're starting a business, discusss it with _everyone_ who asks. If
nothing else, it gives you practice explaining it and just maybe, that bored
guy may turn out to be an expert in the field or a valuable contact. If you
can't explain it, the problem is most likely _you_ not them. Find a way to
simplify the explanation without being condescending.

Honestly, I don't see how this is any harder than explaining what you do to a
non-programmer.

~~~
mhartl
I agree that entrepreneurs tend to be a bit self- (or at least startup-)
absorbed, but I'd bet most normal people don't mind being called "normal".

In any case, the dichotomy is real, though the "non-normal" side is not
restricted to startup founders. I've heard the term "real person" used as a
near-synonym for "normal"; a "real person" has a job, probably has a mortgage,
and is either married with children or well on the way. In other words, a
"real person" is _conventional_. Unconventional people tend to think of
"conventional" as an insult, but it's simply not the case; by definition, most
people are conventional, and most of them are perfectly happy that way.

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jasonlbaptiste
I hate having this conversation with family members and normal people. It's
just excruciating and everyone likes to play devil's advocate. The best is
the: "oh yeah but isn't that like [insert well known company here]".

They'd rather hear something like: "yeah, im a junior analyst at Goldman
Sachs." or "yeah, im in law school". They can comprehend that stuff a lot
easier.

It's great practice, but it just gets really annoying. It's caused me to be a
very defensive person at times.

~~~
randombit
This is why when asked I just tell people I'm a hobo. Usually shuts down any
followup questions.

~~~
mmt
Although I'm not (yet) a founder, explaining the breadth of all possible
things a sysadmin does is comparably tedious.

I'll say "I do computers," and, in the Bay Area, I'll add "I'm a system
administrator."

Thankfully, this has the same effect as claiming to be a hobo, except in those
who are truly interested.

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ErrantX
_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.

~~~
jordancooper
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..."

~~~
ErrantX
Well... "I run a company" then. That is an understandable concept.

Or "I am a programmer, I have my own company working in X field"

The key is in the communication.

~~~
jordancooper
yea, i hear you...would be interesting to hear some non-founder accounts of
their experience w this question...

~~~
batty
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.

~~~
jordancooper
thanks for this...maybe you're right re: founder v normal...maybe its more
just distance btwn your and the other party's worlds

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rue
Hm, this is an interesting peek into your world view for me.

To me, it does not make sense to describe yourself as a "founder", "startup
builder" or even "entrepeneur." That is not what you _do_. You are a founder
_of something_ , and that is what I am interested in if I ask that question.

I have no idea whether people actually say something like that, but I can
certainly understand someone asking for more information if the answer to
"what do you do?" is "I am a founder" or "I work at a startup" instead of "I
work for Goldman Sachs." I would!

So, anyway, perhaps part of why you seem to get into the types of
conversations described is the way you initially respond.

~~~
jordancooper
totally agree...it's just there aren't any crystal clear one line answers...

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mseebach
_we’re faced with this choice of the elevator pitch which tends to draw a
bunch of shoulder shrugs and “sounds cool(s).” Or a half an hour explanation
of the supply chain in our market and where we fit into it._

BS. If you can make an elevator pitch for investors, you can make one for
friends and family. If you can't explain to mortals what you do in 30 seconds,
I'd say that's a bit of a red flag.

"I run/work for a small company. We're developing software that helps people
in business XX do YY smarter. It's a really exciting project, next month we're
going to unveil a new feature we think is going to change the way people in
business XX think about their work."

 _.. there is no brand equity attached to our companies. (...) all you have to
say is “I work at Goldman Sachs” and you have satisfied this human desire to
be perceived as successful ..._

I've met someone who works at Goldman Sachs. I know that to be a sign of
successfulness, but I have no idea what he does there. He told me, and I still
don't know. If his goal is to be an interesting conversation partner, he'd
need as much of a pitch as the guy working for "Blippy".

 _Sometimes at the end of a long day, the last thing we want to do in our
“socializing time” is run through another pitch._

Bleh. Socializing is about who you are. If you spend 10 hours a day working on
a start-up, that work is part of who you are. Otherwise, you're just a guy
with a 10-hours black hole in his day.

~~~
jordancooper
i like the sentiment of all your comments...i just tried to articulate
challenges, not at all justifying them...

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jazzychad
_Watching that interaction, I realized something that I have found to be true
in my entrepreneurial endeavors: founders don’t like talking about their
companies with ... "normals."_

If that is the case for you, then you know what? Too bad for you! You should
take advantage of every opportunity where somebody shows an interest in
learning about what you are doing, if only at the introductory level. I have
learned this lesson over the last 9 months after venturing out on my own.

When friends or family would ask what I was doing, initially I would get
annoyed because I didn't think they would understand or care, so I would try
to side-step the question and move on. This backfires because later on when
you are ready to launch or announce something, they have no idea what it is
and they are less inclined to be excited about it.

Then, when asked the question, I started to give long-winded speeches trying
to explain everything. This turns out to be overkill for most people and they
glaze over. After quickly realizing this, I started giving a paired-down
version (I even did some verbal A/B testing to see which explanations got the
most reaction/understanding).

After being asked this question by dozens of people and having lots of
experience explaining it, when it finally came time to give my pitches in
front of "people that actually matter" I was very comfortable and adept at it.
Practice makes perfect.

Also, as pointed out by HeyLaugingBoy, you never know who the other people
know ("oh, my uncle works in the blah blah industry. you should talk!"). The
other big lesson I have learned: it really is a small world.

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wheels
I think the point of said question has been missed. Very rarely do people
actually care about the answer being given; it's just so that you provide
enough context for (a) small-talk and (b) so that you can be pigeon-holed.

In non-business settings (i.e. not including startup mixers and the like) I
give as simple an answer as possible: "internet stuff", usually. If people
care, they'll ask.

The worst is when someone starts into a 10 minute monolog, oblivious to the
fact that the other person is looking for an excuse to walk away.

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platshaw
Nice post, so true. I'm going to leave a comment over on your blog too. I was
just thinking about this last night and wrote a post about it:

[http://www.petelatshaw.com/post/392030379/your-startup-
idea-...](http://www.petelatshaw.com/post/392030379/your-startup-idea-sounds-
neat)

I think maybe the "normals", who don't read Hacker News every day and aren't
immersed in startup culture, just aren't used to visualizing products. It's
not second nature for them to consider the usefulness of a product to a market
they are not personally a part of.

That said-- I agree with your conclusion... you never know when someone can
share an insight or help, so don't hold back!

Pete

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abalashov
I's the "elevator pitch" issue above all else.

There aren't too many things out there sophisticated and ambitious enough to
actually be worth doing (or describing) that can also be summed up in a pithy
10-second haiku to appease a frat boy making smalltalk.

For obvious reasons, the laboriousness of such an exercise relative to the
level of genuine interest in the details from the audience makes it
unappealing.

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psycandrew
I get what Jordan is trying to say. It's similar to when someone asks a band
"what's your music like." The description is often far from adequate. I've
found that it works really well if you give them a "demo" or say "ever see
XYZ? It's similar to that." People just need to find a connection to something
they are already familiar with. You can solidify your presence within their
mind that way.

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charlesju
I can understand this sentiment.

But I actually love to talk about what I do. The problem is that most
"normals" just ask about the tip of the iceberg without really having a
genuine interest. That always offends me because of how passionate I am about
what I do.

I am usually teased into excitement to talk about something I love only to
have the conversation changed.

~~~
pavel_lishin
As someone who isn't likely to be an enterpreneur, I only want to know about
the tip of the iceberg at first because I don't know if the rest of the
iceberg is interesting or not.

If you're designing a series of games for the iPhone, that's kind of cool, and
I can relate to that. If your startup is writing accounting software to
analyze discrepancies in employee lunch spending when away from the office, my
eyes might start glazing over after 45 seconds.

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junklight
The main reason I hate this question when I'm away from work and work related
contexts is that my company is _all_ I talk about and think about for 99% of
my time. And sometimes its really nice to have a small break from it. Also I
know that once I start enthusing about it peoples eyes will be glazing over.

I certainly hate the idea of "normals" too - and I can easily explain what we
do and am more than happy to if you are really interested. Just be sure you
are because you might get quite a detailed and passionate answer.

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brlewis
This excludes founders interested in learning what aspects of their startup
pique the interest of normal people. Even if the other person changes the
subject, you've learned something.

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F_J_H
Interesting. Although not the point of the article, it led me to think that if
the "normals" don't understand your business, maybe that should tell you
something...

~~~
jordancooper
i think that depends on whether you're building a consumer application or an
enterprise application...

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Super_Jambo
TLDR: When asked your options are a 30 min conversation describing it to the
'normal' (yawn) or shrugging it off (looks aloof). Answer: Do both! shrug it
off and extend an offer to talk about it later.

Comment: Thats a really useful article, I was expecting basically a bitch fest
for the problems he describes. But it's actually quite sensitive to both the
asker and asked AND solves the problem.

A+++ would buy from again!

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jordancooper
right...i think this is super common...very strange dynamic...

