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

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.