Aug 2, 2016

Demo Day Presentation - 7 Mistakes that will hurt you

Demo Days provide your startup an excellent opportunity to face a large gathering and share your business idea with the world. You have gone through the grid, prepared and are now facing investors and peers as you pitch. For many startups, their demo day presentation is often the first time they give a formal pitch on a stage. The tension is palpable and mistakes do happen.




I have attended various demo day presentations and the recent one was as soon as 3 days back. Let me point out 7 mistakes startups make on their demo day presentation.


Not communicating what they actually do

This mistake, though surprising, is very commonplace. While mentoring startups I come across so many pitches where the business itself is not clear. You have 5 to 7 minutes to present and you get so occupied about telling everything that you forget to share what you actually do. Seasoned investor Vinod Khosla once remarked about investor pitches, "80% of the presentations… you don’t even know what the problem is till 15 minutes into the presentation."

How to avoid this trap? Always start your presentation with a one-liner which describes what you really do and for whom. Do you sell software for schools? Have you made a mobile app which allows students to prepare for XYZ test? Spend the first 30 seconds explaining what you do before you jump onto your problem statement or story.

Speaking too fast

Given that a typical demo day presentation lasts for 5 to 7 minutes, you as a startup founder is going to be under tremendous pressure to share more and more. You have done so much work and have so much to say.

Inadvertently, founders end up speaking fast. That's because they want to cover more topics. This becomes a problem for the investors who are hearing your startup pitch for the first time on this demo day. The faster you speak, the lesser they understand. Slow down. Present to a group of friends and seek feedback before you go live on your demo day.

Not prepared for questions

Your judges and investors will have questions for you once you end. After your pitch, you will be allotted 3 to 5 minutes of Q&A time. You will be posed 3 to 5 questions at max and you need to be ready to answer these.

But startups often do not give a very convincing answer or answer some other question (which was not even asked). Once you have prepared your pitch, write down everything your audience can ask based on everything you are telling them (and not telling them) in your pitch. You might end up with a list of 20 questions. That's fine. Now prepare a small answer to each of these.

Not understanding the question before answering it

I have seen this happen quite often. The investor asks a question. The startup begins answering even before the question is complete. After the answer is over, the investor asks the question again.

Listen to the question and take your time. Think for a while and then begin to answer. If you are not clear on the question, seek clarification. The investor need not have asked a simple question and it is important for you to understand the question properly.

Going on talking about your product

As a startup founder you are extremely passionate about your product. After all you have built it with a lot of pain. Now here's the gap. Your audience has seen your product for the first time at this demo day and they do not care about it at all. Why should they?

While you might be fascinated about the 15 cool features your product has, which no other competitor can boast of - guess what? your audience does not care. All they are thinking is, "What's in it for me? Why should I pay attention to this?" Talk about the benefits more than features and move on quickly.

Sharing nothing which is exciting and worth remembering

Demo day presentations are busy affairs. Lots of startups are given the opportunity to deliver a presentation on the demo day. You are not the only one.

After sitting through 10 demo day presentations, the audience barely remembers anything you said and does not even remember your and your startup's name. That's the reality. What can you do about this? How do you ensure you register strongly into their minds. Because if you don't, you are not going to win.

The trick is in sharing two or three extremely exciting things about your startup. It could be a DID YOU KNOW fact or your traction or a story. Make your message exciting by speaking with passion, providing supporting facts, screenshots, demo or sharing a story.

Looking at slides and not rehearsing enough

This one is the most common among first timers. Unless you practice your demo day presentation 10 times before you take the stage, you will forget something and keep looking back at the slides.

There are three ways to avoid this. First, practice well so that you know your content very well. You know what's coming next. Second, have a laptop in front of you. Most organizers place a small screen in front of you where you can have a look at the slide. You can take a look once in a while. Never look back. Third, have very less words on the slide. There is nothing to read and no need to look back. Use your slides as an aid to amplify or clarify your message. There should not be much to be read because your audience won't reading more than a few words. Use a large image or a few words or a big and bold number.

29 comments :

  1. Can you please suggest how to improve the modulation techniques while presenting a topic . I always end up in a monotonous tone and it becomes hard for me to overcome it.Please help.

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    Replies
    1. To improve modulation, add a bit of drama. Talk with a lot of passion. Imagine you are talking to a bunch of friends or to a potential hire. You will be dramatic, not dull. Let your real character come out.

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  2. Please help in what ways can we combat speaking fast while presenting . I tend to speak fast even after rehearsing. Everytime I find it difficult to make my content short to avoid fast paced speech. Please suggest some solution to combat this.
    Thanks

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    Replies
    1. Record yourself. See how fast you are speaking. While presenting, make a conscious effort to slow down. Give a lot of pauses. You can also cut down your content. For a 10 minute presentation, prepare content which lasts only 7. This way you will not be under time pressure to finish in time. This will help you go slow.

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  3. I came across an old blog about "Bulletproofing your presentations", so supposing myself as a startup CEO and am getting ready for a startup pitch, should I focus on being precise( What you mentioned having less word on slides) by using bullets or should I remove bullets and give focus on little images and other visual attracting contents.

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    Replies
    1. Ideally, try to avoid bullet points. You can replace bullets with icons. Having said that, let me also say that if you have a deck of 10 slides and on 1 slide you have 3 bullets, that's fine. The point is - make visual slides and have very less words on each slide.

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    2. i would like to know how can i use body gesture effectively during presentations? Usually i start up with good movements but to the end it seems boring was commented by the audience.

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  4. i would like to know how to use body gestures effectively during presentations? Usually i start up with good gestures and to the end it seems boring.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Talking while moving around is good. Moving your hands while talking is also good. What's not good is - too much of it. Too much movement and too many fast hand movements are not good.

      To know how to use gestures, watch a few TED talks.

      Coming to the comment by the audience. If the audience has called it boring - ask yourself "Are they right?" and "How many people told you this?". Record yourself and see if you like what you see.

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  5. Can you please give me some tips to over come fear of public speaking? I am usually good while presenting in small groups, but while speaking to a large group I become anxious and wouldn't know whom to look at while presenting.

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    1. Fear of public speaking is normal. Everyone has it. Mark Twain once remarked, there are only two kinds of speakers - one, the nervous and two, the liars.

      The only way to reduce this fear is to practice. Practice 10 times before you go on the stage. Knowing your content will reduce your fear. Do not cram. Just know your content really well.

      Another way to start strong is to cram (mug up) the first few lines of the speech. This usually gets you going and builds momentum. After that you will improvise.

      As far as eye contact, assuming you are in a theater style, look in the center and on the sides. 3 points. Not into anyone's eyes. Just look in three different directions once in a while. When speaking to a large audience you need not make direct eye contact with too many individuals.

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    2. Thank you Vivek that was really helpful.

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  6. I wish to know, what all things should be included in my presentation to make my product catch the attention of the audience?

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    1. Hi Salmanul. To make your product catch attention, focus on the need of the product first. Sell the problem. Convince your audience that the customer has a problem. Now talk about the alternative solutions or whatever the customer is doing right now to solve the same problem. This alternative has to be inefficient. You can now introduce your product.

      You started by selling the problem. Now sell the benefits, not features.

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  7. How can I be sure that my textual slides are as efficient and high-impact as possible?

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    1. Dear Salmanul. Slides with lots of text are never efficient and never have high impact. The only textual slides that work are - 1) Slides with few words or 2) Slides with one or two sentences of text maximum.

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  8. I am unable to start my presentation with an attractive flow, but able to finish it with a nice tone. But listeners tend to be more attractive only in the beginning phase. Please give me suggestion how to overcome it.

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    1. Here are a few ways to start well.

      1. Tell a story or share an anecdote.
      2. Share a shocking statistic. A number which has shock value. Can excite people.
      3. Start with a question. Ask this and challenge your audience.
      4. Start with telling the audience something that they believe about the topic but is actually false.

      Always attempt to start strong and capture the attention of your audience.

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    2. Thank you sir for your valuable suggestions

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  9. Can you suggest a best way to reach all my audience effectively during presentation.

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    1. Hi Afsal. I am not clear on what do you mean by 'reach'. Please clarify. Thanks.

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  10. I mean,how to attract the attention of AUDIENCE?

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Here are some ways to attract attention.

      Here are a few ways to start well.

      1. Tell a story.
      2. Share a shocking statistic. A number which has shock value. Can excite people.
      3. Start with a question. Ask this and challenge your audience.
      4. Start with telling the audience something that they believe about the topic but is actually false.
      5. Share something they do not know. If everything you are telling me, is already known to me - why should I care and listen to you. I will lose interest.

      Everyone pays attention at the start so do not waste time on generic things and jump into the main aspects of the presentation.

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  11. How can i effectively convey my presentation without deviating from the topic? I do start well,but during the process i have a tendency to deviate from the topic. so can you suggest any effective measure in order to avoid this?

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    1. You need to prepare Afsal. That's why experts recommend we rehearse 10 times before giving any presentation. Once you have prepared well you will not deviate.

      While preparing just remember not to mug up (cram) the dialogue. You are not there to talk like a parrot.

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