How to demo your start-up (redux)
Having just come off a huge press tour which involved many, many demonstrations of how Qik works, I can only join hundreds of other bloggers in agreeing with Jason Calacanis. His how to demo your start-up guide is a must-read for any entrepreneur. (By the way, our press tour resulted in over 50 articles and blog posts covering Qik’s beta launch, including major articles by the New York Times, Time magazine, Newsweek, the Financial Times, Nikkei, l’Expansion, Scientific American, CNET and dozens of other notable publications.)
While Jason’s advice is primarily geared toward those who are pitching investors, it applies just as much to meeting editors, journalists, and industry analysts. I would add a few more points:
1) If at all possible, meet with the investor/journo/analyst in person. I don’t care how good technology is (and telecommunications technology still leaves a LOT to be desired), teleconferences are a very poor substitute for meeting face to face.
2) No matter how awesome your product is, assume that the person you’re meeting will be totally unimpressed with your offering. I felt so lucky during our press tour that Qik is so exceptional, and so easy to understand within a matter of seconds. Most offerings - yes, even remarkable ones - aren’t going to wow people quite as quickly. There are also a number of people who are determined to be unimpressed no matter what, for whatever personal reasons they have (I could speculate here, but won’t). You can’t get deflated by such a non-response - or even a hostile response. But the worst thing you could do would be to swan into a meeting with the expectation that the person you’re pitching is going to fall in love with your product immediately.
3) Have fun! First of all, I really don’t see the point in doing work that isn’t fun. But more practically, if you’re having the time of your life working on your product, that says a lot about it and about your team. Bhaskar and I were run ragged by the end of our press tour, but we also had a blast. (”I can’t believe I get paid to do this!” is a common refrain heard from me, and I mean it.)
Did I miss anything?
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