Re:Village Capital is ditching Demo Days
by monkmartinez on Thursday March 09, 2017 @02:35PM
(#13832514)
It doesn't and it doesn't matter. I doubt good business will sink or swim based on "demo day" type expositions and vice versa for a bad business. Eventually the "market" will figure it out... It may take some time for that to happen however.
Re:Village Capital is ditching Demo Days
by stagbeetle on Thursday March 09, 2017 @06:07PM
(#13834701)
> the market will figure out
Unfortunately, start-ups don't function like normal businesses. If they can't get their name out there sufficiently, they'll die before the market takes its sweet time "figuring it out."
Demo-day results are suggestive, just like SAT scores. It's a measure of the founder's ability to sell (which is arguably the most important task for a CEO).
It doesn't matter if it's a great product. Amazing products have been created and destroyed when the founders couldn't market it to an audience.
Re:Village Capital is ditching Demo Days
by reneherse on Thursday March 09, 2017 @08:54PM
(#13835692)
Could you provide some examples of companies that died because of the CEO's inability to "sell"?
Re:Village Capital is ditching Demo Days
by stagbeetle on Thursday March 09, 2017 @10:55PM
(#13836238)
Unlikely, but that's not the point I'm arguing.
needing to sell their protect in a similar way
Much like your inclusion of this typo, maybe it's the criteria for the "eventuality" that is problematic. Does the VC industry have a means by which to take imperfect people seriously? Before they're a CEO with $10B in funding, that is.
How does this prepare founders for the eventuality of needing to sell their protect in a similar way that they are pitching their demo?