4 Ways To Stand Out On Demo Day
There have been lots of changes to how we work since WFH became the norm last year. Personally, something I’ve enjoyed being able to do more is attending events. There’s no travel invovled, the time committment is reduced, and if you realise it’s not for you you can log out.
That means I’ve been able to see much more of the tech/start-up ecosystem around the world than I was able to do in the years prior to lockdown. One of the types of event I’ve been increasingly attending is pitch and demo days. I really enjoying hearing about fresh ideas, and seeing businesses at the earliest stages of their life. Last week, I attended the Leicester Startups demo day, eight businesses all with passionate founders and the foundations of a great business.
Demo days are part of the start-up experience, but they’re tough. With investors in the room you’ll be fighting for attention. You need to stand out from the crowd, stand up to critical questions and use it as another step along the road to success.
Over the past year I’ve gleaned four areas I think are key to hooking in potential investors, mentors or partners in order to give yourself the best chance of success following a demo day.
Something to hook them in…
You need to quickly get the audience up to speed with the market context, vital stats and how your ideas fits within that. That gets them hooked into the idea that there’s a market opportunity to exploit and a demand for your business that will give them that all important return on.
Something to give them confidence…
Your business idea is brilliant, but why are you the right founding team to take it into the marketplace? Who on your team has the technical expertise and business know-how to make it a success. Who is backing you, what connections and experience do you lack that they make up for?
Something to demonstrate potential…
Precisely and clearly explain your business model — what do you actually do, who actually buys it and how are you going to make money? Cover off the areas that mater, how your technology works, what your supply chain relies on, and what factors are key to your
Something to remember you by…
Even before Zoom fatigue set in, our attention spans were declining. With a million off-screen distractions winning and then holding someone’s thought is as big a challenge as convincing them that you have a winning idea. Rethink how you present, how you engage and what you’ll do that makes you the presentation they’ll remember.
