Demo Day Playbook

Agenda

1. Objective of Demo Day

2. Presentation preparation
3. During presentation
4. Preparation for after pitch
5. At event
6. After demo day secrets

Objective of Demo Day

Objective of demo day is to get investors

interested enough to take a meeting

This is not your pitch.

Goal is to show
investors enough that
they want to meet you
and learn more. Dont
try to force it...that
never works out.

Give investors enough to want to meet you

Market and business model

Big problem/opportunity
Big solution ( and how its
differentiated from others)
$$$ (How much money do you
need and how it will be
distributed)

Get the meeting...that is it

Change your perception or demo day will

be a huge let down
It only feels like it is important
as it is a milestone
If you can say you have
already started raising your
round it is impressive
Some people have closed
round before demo day.
Demo day is a big deal but not
so much

Function DD Day (big,impact,

everything)
return big * impact * everything;
error: parameters (big,
everything) impact not defined

Your Deck

Your slides support the story YOURE

telling
Focus has to be on you you dont want
them staring at screen. Investors invest in
YOU not the deck.
Keep it simple
You should be able to do the pitch without
the deck

Key Parts
1. What (youd be surprised how many people forget..) simple sentence on
what you do We are making apple pies
2. Big vision- We have a big vision to do revolutionize apples by doing x
3. Problem- People that like fruit like me hate apples
4. Your Impact oriented solution- We are going to make apple pies
5. Market size- There are about 330 million people that like fruit and would
like to improve their apple eating experience.
6. Team- Weve done this before with broccoli
7. Traction- These are the milestones weve hit so far
8. Product/service- Our patent pending apple pie making process is best in
market.
9. Ask- We need 500k to scale apple pie operations to 10x.

Extra pointers

Social impact integrates/permeates through

your story and deserves more than one slide.
Market sizing slide should come with
references.

Simplicity is King. No animations

Most Especially for Diaspora Demo Day

Magic number

6
Minutes to pitch

Presentation Preparation

We talking about... practice

Make the complex simple
by practicing

Dont practice until

you get it right

Record yourself

Practice until you

cant get it wrong

Get people who dont like

you or are super
objective to review your
pitch

Anonymous

Accept something might and probably will go

wrong

Technology glitches
Random interruptions
Overall, be prepared
to roll with the
punches

Dont tell a story for the sake of storytelling

Storytelling is
about connecting to
other people and
helping people to
see what you see. Michael Margolis

Stories help people relate to

real issues by creating an
emotional connection to
facts.
Keep it to the point! Make
the story short but impactful.

Extra pointers
The faster I understand what youre doing, the
faster I can actually start listening to you.
Show products, service in action, or quotes
from early users. Helps to further contextualize.

Know your competitors and how you differ.

During the presentation

Words to live by during presentation

smile
Drip With
Confidence

Have a sense
of humor

Passionate
Bold
Persuasive

Tease but give a way to follow up

Preparation for after pitch

Get business cards and the attendance list

Know who would be interested in learning more

about your company and target them post
demo
Research the investors that will be in the room.
Know what theyd invest in.

Know thyself
Know your objectives and clear about where
you are.

What are you needs? Do you need an

introductions? Money? Advise?

At Event

Have an engagement strategy

Leave everyone you speak with wanting more.
Always work to get a next step with key people
you meet.
Its more than the founder talking to people...it
takes all hands on deck.

Butterfly Effect
Post demo might be more important than demo
itself. Meeting people increases your network
and allows you to further improve your chances
of capturing opportunities

After Demo Day

A.D = After Demo

Follow up with the new contacts

Send simple emails with your slide deck
Ask for feedback

Secrets

Get people excited and the rest will follow

What gets people excited?

1. People/Impact Tell the human story
2. Traction - Exponentially rising metrics
3. Revenue, sustains any organization
4. Service & distribution channel innovation
5. Cool uses of technology
6. Great Impact Business Model Design
(Greatly underestimated)

LE FIN