Week 8: Recap of The Demo
Call it a pitch if you want... this week focused on the intangible things that go into convincing people to invest in you.
This week was about pitching but in the context of demonstrating you are the person, you have the team, and you understand your customer. That means that if you focus on the customer story and show people your product you will likely come across as confident and competent.
Keep focused on what you can achieve now. The best way to demonstrate what you can achieve is by showing you understand the customer. For hard tech, it’s a little different in that you need to demonstrate that when you are about 50% into spending that investor money you will look attractive to the next investor stage because you de-risked some important things.
Remember to embrace:
Your passion for what you are doing is why you are here.
The path you are on will have a lot of wasted effort involved. It’s ok.
Find ways to build confidence - customer referrals, demonstrated following, etc (read Blitzscaling)
Lunch speaker: Popy
It was fantastic to have Popy round out the workshop series with her experience building a default-alive company over 10 years. I am certain those in the room could sense the confidence that Popy has developed by learning how to sell to her customers.
I do end up talking a lot about venture path companies. We tend to always look at them as examples. But. Popy’s company is just as impressive in that she is building towards something at the pace that works for the market she is in.
Housekeeping: Feedback, stay in touch
Feedback form. Please fill it out. There are now 56 people on this list and only 9 have filled out the form. I know a bunch of you did not attend (70% of you read this email) but if you can please just indicate that it would be much appreciated.
A wrap-up email will go out next week.
I will also be adding everyone here to the Monday Club newsletter. We focus on demos and creating an opportunity to connect to early-stage founders. I am working on a quick and easy podcast that will give early founders a chance to share what they are working on. We are starting to record it this Monday.
There is also the Startupbarn newsletter. That is 1200+ folks in the community and where the podcast will be shared.