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Comment by dragonwriter | Hacker News Reader

> One of the hardest parts of doing a startup is talking with non-founders about what you do .. it's so easy to say "I work at Google" or "I'm in med school".

Is it really hard to say "I founded and run a business which does <X>"? I mean, its more words than "I work for <foo>", but its not really that much more complex of an idea, or unfamiliar to most speakers and listeners.

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Yeah actually, it's quite hard unless you have traction, revenue or investors. At least it's hard when all your friends are working at <X> BigCo or doing grad school at <Y> BigSchool. And when your parents know that your friends are doing <X> or <Y> and the path you've chosen is so vague and uncertain ..

By "hard" are you saying it causes problem with communication or a problem with a desire of the speaker to be able to present an image consistent with expectations (personal or social) of success/security?

Latter ..

I suppose it depends on what your business does and/or where you live. I co-founded matchist, a site that helps people find web and mobile developers.

Not everybody who I explain what I do to knows what a developer is.

That's not a problem with being a founder, that's a problem with the specific domain of the company. Someone who works for matchist would have the same problem compared to someone who works for Google as you do.

I agree, but I find the Internet in general (and companies surrounded around it) often seems like a magical land to people.

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