The Lead Up: Listen to 10 Founders Prep For Demo Day

May 8th, 2021

By Jag Singh, Managing Director of Techstars Berlin

You’ve almost definitely heard of Demo Day, which is the culmination of Techstars — usually the last day of our 12-week accelerator program. But do you know how founders think, and what they do, in the lead up to it?

I’ve been a founder several times, and I’ve now invested in over fifty startups since joining Techstars as a Managing Director. I never had a platform like Demo Day to launch my own startups all those years ago, and so I never truly appreciated the sheer amount of work that goes into a pitch until I had to prepare the founders in my own Techstars accelerator for their Demo Day. 

It’s important to remember that the pitch a founder delivers at Demo Day isn’t just meant for the people in the audience — it’s also important for the founding team itself. Ask any of the alumni from our accelerator programs, they’ll tell you that the time spent honing and refining their pitch for Demo Day served them well because it forced them to think about delivering all the important information about their company within a short period of time. When you’re the founder of an early stage company, your number one job is to position your company for success, and that usually requires articulating what you do to potential partners, employees, investors, and customers. 

The spotlight that shines on founders at their Demo Day also requires them to demonstrate progress on multiple fronts, and it’s truly inspiring to be surrounded by these driven individuals. As the founders from my 2021 Techstars Berlin Accelerator class began preparing for their Demo Day this year, I wanted to capture the magic, as it happens, and as told by founders, of how they positioned themselves and their companies in the best possible light.

I’m thrilled to announce the launch of the Lead Up podcast series. You’ll hear real insights and honest truths as our Techstars Berlin Accelerator founders share their stories, and struggles, in 10 episodes. Each episode features the founders from one of the ten companies in the accelerator, and we discuss what’s really going through their minds at each stage of building a business in an accelerator, while preparing for the big reveal to investors and the community. 

Follow Jag on Twitter @jagsingh or on LinkedIn

Listen and subscribe to The Lead Up on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, RSS, and more.

Listen To All 10 Episodes:


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About the Author

Jag Singh

Jag Singh is one of Europe's most active angel investors and the Managing Director of the Techstars Berlin Accelerator. He's founded several companies (including 2 exits & a spectacular failure), and invested in over 90 startups over the last seven years, including 3 that went through Techstars accelerators. Jag is fluent in 6 languages, and is an ad-man at heart, having spent over a decade as a political strategist advising politicians, campaigns, and corporations across the U.S. and Europe.