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> For entrepreneurs who don’t pitch well — or who don’t fit investors’ mental image of a successful entrepreneur — Demo Days may hurt more than they help. How
by seppin 10y ago
> For entrepreneurs who don’t pitch well — or who don’t fit investors’ mental image of a successful entrepreneur — Demo Days may hurt more than they help.
How does this prepare founders for the eventuality of needing to sell their protect in a similar way that they are pitching their demo?
- monkmartinez 10y agoIt doesn't and it doesn't matter. I doubt good business will sink or swim based on "demo day" type expositions and vice versa for a bad business. Eventually the "market" will figure it out... It may take some time for that to happen however.
- stagbeetle 10y ago> the market will figure out Unfortunately, start-ups don't function like normal businesses. If they can't get their name out there sufficiently, they'll die before the market takes its sweet time "figuring it out." Demo-day results are suggestive, just like SAT scores. It's a measure of the founder's ability to sell (which is arguably the most important task for a CEO). It doesn't matter if it's a great product. Amazing products have been created and destroyed when the founders couldn't market it to an audience.
- reneherse 10y agoCould you provide some examples of companies that died because of the CEO's inability to "sell"?
- stagbeetle 10y agoUnlikely, but that's not the point I'm arguing.
- rhizome 10y agoneeding to sell their protect in a similar way Much like your inclusion of this typo, maybe it's the criteria for the "eventuality" that is problematic. Does the VC industry have a means by which to take imperfect people seriously? Before they're a CEO with $10B in funding, that is.