How to Successfully Demo Your Product

Unfortunately, the founders of a startup are not always the right people to deliver a presentation. We, the founders, are so immersed in the technical part of the product that we find it really hard to expose our project in a simple way highlighting just 2 or 3 essential items and not a thousand reasons for which our startup is unique and great. However, there’s just one justification for which I believe the founders of their own startup must be the ones responsible for presenting their idea. The reason is that nobody will be more enthusiastic about their own project than their own creators.
Based on my personal experience over these last nine years as an entrepreneur and after being present for thousands of presentations as an angel investor, I would like to share in this article the key points to help those founders who want to deliver an excellent presentation of their product.
In Less than a Minute and Simplicity
This first item is essential. In order to get our audience’s attention, we only have 1 minute of their time to explain exactly what we do.
We must understand that simplicity is the right path which will lead us to a successful presentation. Nobody wants to listen to endless theories about how we got to our final result (how we started, what obstacles we had along the way, etc.). We don’t want 15 minutes of explanations prior to showing our project.
Let’s first explain exactly what our service offers, the results it brings, and why we should use it. After this, if we consider it necessary, we’ll be able to tell how our idea was born, which stage of development the project is at, and what perspectives we have as a future startup.
What our audience wants to know from the beginning are the advantages and benefits that they can have when using, investing, or writing a press note about our project.
Indeed, the iPhone presentation from Steve Jobs that changed the world is described in one sentence: absolute simplicity.
Let’s Not Tell, Let’s Show
Totally aligned with the previous item, our presentation must not only be simple and explained in less than a minute, but we should also show our product.
What do I mean when I say we should show our product? What I mean is that if, for example, our startup developed an app to order fast food in any restaurant in the world, we should take our cellphone out of our pocket and show the app running in real time to the audience. Let’s effectively make the complete process until ordering the food (from the beginning to the end), step by step, from installing the app, to selecting the restaurant, choosing the food, and materializing the delivery.
I’ve been present in many presentations where the product is never shown running. In my opinion, this is a sign that the app is not good enough for all of us to watch it running.
If you had an excellent product such as DropBox, Basecamp, or WhatsApp, wouldn’t you be anxious to show it to the whole world?
If we really have a great product, we must show it. In this way, people will immediately reconcile with it, which will result in new clients, perhaps generating new investors who want to contribute to and support our new project.
Real and Concrete Examples
Once we have already explained what our startup does and they have effectively seen the app running with their own eyes, it’s the right moment to give an example of use with name and surname.
Giving real examples makes users, journalists, and investors reason and see themselves identified with what we do.
Every time I listen to an entrepreneur say that their app will work for everyone and that does everything, what I understand as an investor is exactly this: that tool won’t do anything for anybody.
But on the other hand, if I’m shown a concrete example of how an app such as Hotel Tonight helped Pedro from Colombia who was on vacations in Los Angeles then there I am familiarizing with the project, which is the final goal of every presentation.
From another point of view, if our startup offers solutions to companies, if we can give a concrete example of how our software is currently used by, for example, Nike or Amazon, then we should take advantage of this factor and describe exactly what service we offer (results, statistics, etc.) and why they decided to choose us (or in other words, explaining why the audience should also choose us.)
Working with a Designer
Lastly, if it’s within our reach because he works in our startup team, then it’s an excellent idea to ask a designer for help. Otherwise, I recommend using tools such as Prezzi that are really helpful.
In the first place, every time I deliver a presentation, I personally work with a designer so that what I’m trying to communicate transmits professionalism and elegance.
Unfortunately in the current world, no matter how important the message is, if our presentation material doesn’t have an excellent quality, the one observing might underestimate its importance and it’s very difficult after that to get their attention again. The quality of the design is getting more important every time.
On the other hand, and even more relevant, I use a designer for cases in which the product isn’t totally finished. He can help me shape what we have at that moment in order to be able to show it to the audience as an example for the future, reflecting where our startup is heading.
Even so, if our product is currently running on Android, but it’s still not available for the operating system of Apple (iOS) or even Google Glass, then I ask the designer to make a preview of how our project would look like in those channels. In this way, we are able to attract the audience’s interest for the future. This has brought me great results, especially with investors.