Moriya Kassis provides insights on creating compelling product demos to secure sales, partnerships, and funding, emphasizing the importance of tailoring the presentation to the target audience. Key strategies include clearly articulating the problem and solution, demonstrating market opportunity, and leveraging the team's expertise. Kassis warns against common pitfalls such as overestimating market capture and underestimating competition while encouraging a structured and engaging storytelling approach.

1. The father of all demos:
How to make a product demo
that stands out

2. hello!
I am Moriya Kassis
I am here because I know how to make demos that
convert to sales, partnerships and funding opportunities.
You can find me at hi@moriyakassis.com

3. What makes me the right person to teach you about this?
I co-founded a startup
and raised $$$K

4. What makes me the right person to teach you about this?
I co-founded a startup
and raised $$$K
I consulted tens of
startups in Israel and
abroad on funding issues

5. What makes me the right person to teach you about this?
I co-founded a startup
and raised $$$K
I consulted tens of
startups in Israel and
abroad on funding issues
Ex Senior Venture Associate
at UpWEst Labs

6. What makes me the right person to teach you about this?
If it was a table, let’s say that I have set in all of its 3 sides...

7. What makes me the right person to teach you about this?
If it was a table, let’s say that I have set in all of its 3 sides...

8. What are you here for?

9. What types of collaborations are optional?
Investment, design partnership, selling the product, who knows.
(Really, you can never ever know. So you better nail it*)
*I mean it: you should nail it

11. ✘ You are up against other companies
✘ And even worse, against people's phones
Make investors, the press and everyone else pay attention.
BTW: Your audience will listen to you or read the content,
but won’t do both.

12. WHO?
Who is talking? What does the group do?
Put your entire team to work.

13. CEOs will be super busy with the pitch, investors and media.
Plan ahead and have the team help the CEO.
Every founder and early team member should be able to do
the elevator pitch, look for investors, meet the press, help
sift through people and schedule meetings.

14. HOW?
Who is talking? What does the group do?
Formidable yet coachable.

15. So to prove you're worth investing in, you don't have to
prove you're going to succeed (simply because you can
not), just that you're a sufficiently good bet.
What makes a startup a sufficiently good bet?
In addition to formidable founders, you need a plausible
path to owning a big piece of a big market.

16. So here's the recipe for impressing investors when
you're not already good at seeming formidable:
✘ Make something worth investing in
✘ Understand why it's worth investing in
✘ Explain that clearly to investors

17. this slide is generally used to
give context by associating the
unknown startup with a well
known company or market. .
Slide #1:
Helpful context for the
investor, better context
for the founder

18. show the confusion or lack
of innovation through market
data, understanding of current
workflows and embarrassingly
outdated interfaces.
Slide #2:
That company or
market we just talked
about in slide #1?
Yeah, they/it sucks

19. This will be often convey by a
screenshot of the new product,
quotes from customers or a
reengineered workflow that
simplifies the mess on slide #2.
Slide #3:
We don’t suck

20. Technology? Markets? Biology?
You name it (for either the
demand or the supply side).
Just name it.
Slide #4:
Something has changed
and now it’s the perfect
timing to do our venture

21. Show that you were
custom-made for the
opportunities you are
attacking.
Slide #5:
We’re the team to do it

22. technical achievements,
milestones with customers and
partners : the theme is clear-
we’ve done in this time more than
our competitors have in 6 years.
And we’re not letting up.
Slide #6:
We are fast

23. End your presentation with
a slide filled with logos of
existing customers.
Slide #7:
We’re growing…fast

24. Sounds easy, right?

25. Sounds easy, right?
Think again.

26. Whatever you are doing, be sure to have a plan.
Have clarity on what you are trying to get out of the demo day and
focus on that:
Want to meet investors?
Review who is coming and how you will connect.
Want to generate more business? Run a special.
Want to create buzz?
Connect with the press and post on social media.
Whatever your goals are, plan ahead to make sure you hit them.

27. You’re not presenting your company or your product.
You’re presenting your story.
So you need to know what the story is and, more importantly,
how to make it compelling.
If people don’t like your story; they won’t like your company.

28. Make sure your presentation is tailored to that audience that day

29. A successful presentation should cover all of these points:
★ Problem – What is the unmet need?
★ Solution – What specific solution do you provide?
★ Go-to-market –
How will you get this solution to your customers in scale?
★ Market Opportunity –
How many targets can you reach and at what cost?
★ Team – Why is this the team to execute the idea?
What market and/or industry experience do you have?

30. Each word matters so take the time to talk slowly and
deliberately. And don’t be afraid to pause.
To make the pitch go slower, you will need to have less words.
You will need to make each sentence shorter and simpler.
It is an exercise in deleting words that don't matter.

31. Have a trick up your sleeve? A big announcement?
Big new customer? Big promotion? A great new angel investor?
Something else truly remarkable? Announce it on demo day.
This is the place and time for big news and big reveals.

32. What you say

33. What you say… and

34. What you say… and
what the investors
are hearing

35. “If we will have
only 1% of the
market share, we
will be hugh”

36. “If we will have
only 1% of the
market share, we
will be hugh”
Good luck
and
Hasta la Vista.

37. This may be the worst way to trick up your sleeve.
Capturing 1% of the market is so hard!

38. “Meet my
advisory board”

39. “Meet my
advisory board”
You see advisors?
I see people
who did
not invest in
your company.

40. All I care about is who is taking
a financial risk at the company
and whom I gonna bet on.

41. “We have
no competition.”

42. “We have
no competition.”
Chances are,
there's
no business
either.

43. If no one else is doing what you are aiming to do,
there is probably a good reason why.
If there is a competitor out there and you don’t know
about them (or mention them), please see the door.

44. “We have
financial
projections for
24 months.”

45. “We have
financial
projections for
24 months.”
Someone is here
to play with my
money

46. If you know what is going to happen in even 12 months,
go and buy a lottery ticket.
The financial projections are here to show that
you know how to think. Not that you know
how to gamble (using the investor’s money).

47. “We are going
to be viral.”

48. “We are going
to be viral.”
Any other black
magic that I
need to know
about?

49. One can’t simply aim to go viral.
One can’t even hope to get viral.
Your chances to win the lottery are higher so get back to coding.

50. “Once upon a time
… BLA BLA …
We did some
BLA BLA”

51. “Once upon a time
… BLA BLA …
We did some
BLA BLA”
I am sorry,
did you say
anything?

52. Your audience doesn’t need to know everything.
Select only the information that is relevant to your audience.
Just claim the results – “We saved these guys millions.”
– and move on. Details to follow.
You can make the point that the product works without putting the
audience to sleep.

53. THANKS!
Any questions?
You can find me at
hi@moriyakassis.com
Moriya Kassis