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“I’d like you to invest in my product…… want to see a demo?”

“I’m looking for an investor. Let me show you my demo?”

Demo, Demo, Demo.

Look I know you’ve spent a ton of time, studying the market, understanding your competition, gathering user input, coding, and building the perfect system.  But you know what? Take a memo….. I don’t give a crap about your demo!

I don’t want to be your subject matter expert. I don’t want to be down in your weeds. I have weeds of my own.

The time to show me a demo is when I say, “Hey, you know what? I’d like to see a friggin demonstration!”  Otherwise, I’m really not interested.  It’s a waste of our time.

I am not in your market, I don’t know your users. I’m not a coder. I’m a business guy.  When I invested in startups (something I haven’t done in a decade and won’t be doing again soon, so forget about asking), I invest in entrepreneurs and business cases.  I’m a business strategy coach. Sometimes it’s appropriate to look under the hood. When I’m ready for you to prove that you have a product that works, when I want to see your engine, I’ll let you know.

Now there are times that a demo is important. There is a time when seeing is believing. Put on your headphones and look at this video.

Not Just Surround, but 3D sound rendered on standard headphones.

Did you hear that? That’s a demo where the image and sound speak louder than words. I guarantee your product ain’t that good. Won’t blow my socks off like this. So let’s put the demo aside. Let’s put away our toys and talk business. Oh, and I never invested in this either, because the technology is better than the business.

Here’s what counts, when you’re looking for an investor or an advisor.

  1. Why do people need your product? What problem does it solve?
  2. How many people have this problem?
  3. Why will they buy what you’re selling?
  4. How will you sell it?
  5. How much will it cost to acquire a customer?
  6. How much do you make per customer?
  7. Why should anyone trust that you can pull this off? Who’s the team?

….. and then, maybe then, I’ll want to see your demo.