Demo Day Recap + Perfecting Your Pitch

Step 1 (optional): Review the videos (see credits below).

Step 2: Listen to or read the key points and advisor’s take below.

Step 3: Complete the accompanying worksheet as a team.

Step 4: Reflect then let’s talk!

Step 5: Read the Demo Day recap below.

Key Points:

Ultimately a good pitch starts with knowing your audience: Tailor your pitch to what the listener cares about. Investors want to know how you'll make them money. Don't try to close a deal on the spot but instead focus on capturing attention and making a lasting impression.

Structure your pitch effectively. Break it into four sections: Intro, demo, business and landing. The intro is crucial. Make it interesting, establish credibility, highlight the problem you solve and explain why investors should care. Show don't tell. Use the demo to visually demonstrate your product and its features, hinting at business model and growth potential without explicitly stating it. The business section addresses risk and opportunity. Communicate market size, business model, differentiation, team, timeline and traction to show investors the potential for return while minimizing risk. End strong. Leave a lasting impression with key takeaways and a call to action.

Practice makes perfect. Work on delivery and refine your pitch. And what doesn’t work? Too many flashy visuals, generic buzzwords and anything that comes across dishonest.

Advisor’s Take:

Having sat through a lot of pitches there’s a feeling you get from a great pitch that stands out. You feel the founder is doing something you personally care about or believe in. The more they talk the more you want to participate (an important test!). By the end you feel like you might miss out on something big. Not because their idea is too big to fail (you’re probably too late to make much money on these). But because they’ll find a way to win.

2024 Demo Day recap:

I watched 20 pitches at the Bronco Ventures Demo Day yesterday and wanted to share a summary of the best hits. Each and every founder showed a ton of guts getting up in front of hundreds of investors to pitch. A few of the things that really differentiated the great pitches: The founder connected with the audience (asking a question or landing a joke). They made it personal (sharing personal motivation for their mission). And they adapted on the fly (relying on expertise when they forgot the prepared remarks or the AV failed). There was so much traction and innovation but here are a few things that stood out. First we are in the age of AnythingOps. AIOps, LegalOps, PeopleOps, SecOps. Some of the founders talked about a move to agentic AI. I think this trend is part of what’s driving better orchestration of operational roles that are currently fragmented. Another nice surprise was the number of low-tech ventures. Pet adoption, forest waste and even gummies. Founders reminded investors that sometimes the best tool to cut through a complex problem is a sharper razor.

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