Cornstalks Demo Night photos & takeaways - recaps coming next week
Ben Sinclair presents Uppward at Cornstalks Demo Night. Photo by Danny Schreiber.
Last night's Cornstalks Demo Night was a success. Why? Because CornFinger's Cody Butler tweeted: "One of my goals for 2011 is to have something of value and scalability to present at #prairiedemo nite."
As I mentioned in our Demo Night announcement post last week, we're fairly certain that this is the first demo event Omaha has seen in recent years. These events, which are common in more established tech hubs, serve as a platform for startups to launch a new product, show off an iteration of a product or release the latest version or feature. Last night, those who attended and watched the live stream saw startups in each of those categories. In addition, and maybe more importantly, those who attended were able to discuss the demos with others and, if they had the chance, discuss the demo with its presenter.
Butler's tweet quoted above illustrates one of the important outcomes of the event. The primary focus of a demo is on the product and the attendees reaction to it – Is the product interesting? Does it solve a problem? Is it easy to use? The secondary focus is on the attendees, themselves. Do they experience an "Oh, I could do that" moment? In Butler's case, yes. This is a very important outcome and if executed, a measure of success for events such as these.
Now, we'll need to wait another 364 days for the next Demo Night or hope that Tom Chapman of the Omaha Chamber finds time to organize another one soon (or, of course, another company or organization will step up and hold one). With that in mind, I want to publicly thank Chapman for wrangling up 10 startups, a suitable event space and spreading the word to bring out more than 50 individuals to watch the demos.
Looking ahead to Pitch Night II, here are three good things that happened at Pitch Night I and three items that need improvement:
Good Things
- Actual working products - Echoing my thoughts above, I've heard some of the ideas presented tonight at their earliest stage. It's awesome to see the execution has taken place.
- "Woah, that was made in Omaha?" moments - I heard this more than once and the answer is "Yes, there are cool startups launching or operating in Omaha."
- "Hey, I think I could help you with that" moments - I also heard this more than once and it will be interesting to see if these conversations lead to any business developments.
Need Improvement
- Only live products, no slides (intro slides are tolerable) - Andy Peters put it succinctly on Twitter: "@AndyPeters: Next demo night requirement: NO POWERPOINTS! ONLY SOME WORKING SOFTWARE OF SOME TYPE. It's not presentation night. #prairiedemo"
- Eight-minute hard cutoff - With this being the first demo night, I think Chapman gave a cushion of 2-3 minutes to presenters. Going forward a hard cutoff is needed to keep the pace up and give all startups an equal platform.
- Feedback forum - The format followed tonight with 10 startup presenting didn't have room for a Q&A or a judges panel feedback (although judges were not present tonight), but there needs to be some place to write down feedback for startups. Whether that's a simple sheet of paper to turn in after the presentation or an online form that presenters receive the results after their demo, there needs to be an easy opportunity for attendees to share their feedback with presenters (not counting one-on-one interactions).
Below are a few more photos I took during the event. (Note: I missed taking photos of the networking receptions before and after the demos took place.) Also, check out the Twitter chatter from the night by searching for the hashtag #prairiedemo.
To learn more about the Demo Night, see our post: "Cornstalks ‘Demo Night’ happening next Thursday, March 31." Stay tuned next week for videos and recaps of the demos.
A view of the audience with part of the Silicon Prairie News team, Michael Stacy (left) and Brittany Mascio (right), sitting up front.
A view from the back of the room during intermission.
A view of the networking of attendees just before the night ended.
ARCHIVED COMMENTS
Thanks for the insight SPN. Three responses. First, great feedback. I love the positives and I respect the negatives. We can do a better job next time in the execution. Second, I thought the companies were great. I particularly appreciated the companies from Des Moines coming down for the event. That was both kind and a really great flavor for the event. I hope that at the next event we will have a company or 2 from Lincoln, Des Moines or another surrounding city so that the whole region is represented. What's exciting for me is that I can probably find 10 more companies today in a similar stage who would be ready to demo. The region's tech community is really growing and I think that is really exciting. Third, we will be doing another demonstration event in late July or early August. In trying to get companies engaged for this event, I received a consistent stream of - can't this time but I'd like to do the next one. So, I expect another ten company event in about three or four months. Thanks again for all that you do and did for the event.
Thanks for the opportunity to present Kaimi. Kimo and I were really impressed by the quality of some of the demos. I'd put up what's going on in the Silicon Prairie in terms of quality of ideas, execution and enthusiasm with anywhere in the country. Good show!
Agree with suggested improvements, especially the "no slide" rule. Also, shorten it (maybe fewer demos)... 4+ hours on a week night is too long.
Already looking forward to the next demo night!
I told Tom when contacted about the demo night that I thought traditional judging would be a bit of a mistake.
I see "competitions" with companies misguided. How do you compare and judge this kind of thing? By best presentation? Best company? Best product? Most profitable? It's odd and loses the focus of everyone being excited about everyone presenting and really building a community of demo'able products. I don't want to see it being a competition for prizes. Last night everyone, presenters and attendees won. It would be a detriment if people left feeling like SuperProduct1 wasn't as "good" as SuperProduct2 or whatever.
I do like the idea of general feedback of the presentation. "Too long", "Too Short", "Not enough detail", "Not enough demo", etc would be great feedback from a panel to assist the presenter to hone their skills for the next time around.
Thanks to everyone who came last night, or tuned in to see all of us do our thing. It was a fun night!
Awesome to experience demo night for the first time. I do like the idea of no slides. Had I fully understood (my fault not anyone else's) what I was doing before hand I would have concentrated on 2-3 features to show it off as best I could, and been done.
Thanks for the opportunity to be a part of this. Awesome to see these things coming together.
I'd also add a timer that the presenter can see with a buzzer. So whose up for doing one in DSM :) ?
I'd vote... Against voting. This isn't about one company winning. It's about building, connecting, growing, and developing as a community. We all improve and everyone wins.