This can be quite useful as Plug and Play Startups gear up for their pitches to VCs (go Krowder!). Thanks to Nathan Gold for sharing at http://democoach.com/
1. Weak opening
2. Slides abuse (don't ever use dense slides)
3. Similarity & analogy metaphors
4. Power thieves (use pauses)
5. Clickfest demo (TMI/long/deep... count the # of clicks)
6. Terrible online ettiquette
7. lack of enthusiasm
8. Cultural unawareness
9. poor Q&A
10. Toooo many slides
Many of these may sound trivial, but it's easier said than done.
Earlier this summer, I started working with the guys who started Krowder, an early stage startup that is building a community supported delivery platform revolutionizing the way packages will be picked up and delivered locally by taking advantage of the economies of crowd-sourcing.
As demo day approaches, we need to get our audience excited about what we are excited about, in a mere few minutes. We'll have to have a good story, keep it very short, show a killer demo, and close with a call-to-action that flood people our way.
One of my all time favorite quotes is "If I have to make a two-hour speech, I can prepare it in 10 minutes. If it is a 10-minute speech, then it can take me two hours." (Winston Churchill). Let the preparation begin!
