How to Demo Your MVP to Investors

Investors don't care about features. They care about traction, market, and you. Here's how to demo your MVP without losing them.

The 5-Minute Demo Structure

• •30 seconds: The problem (make them feel the pain)
• •30 seconds: Your solution (one sentence)
• •2 minutes: Live demo of the core flow
• •1 minute: Traction and validation
• •1 minute: Why you, why now

What to Show

• •The one flow that delivers value
• •Real user data if you have it (even 5 users counts)
• •The payment flow working
• •Speed—show it's fast and responsive

What to Skip

• •Admin panels and settings
• •Edge cases and error handling
• •Features you're planning but haven't built
• •Technical architecture (unless asked)
• •Signup and onboarding (start logged in)

When Your MVP Isn't Perfect

It won't be. That's fine. Investors expect MVPs to be rough.

• •Use staging with seeded data—no empty states
• •Practice the exact path you'll demo
• •Have a backup (screenshots/video) if something breaks
• •If it breaks live, explain what should happen and move on

Questions to Prepare For

• •How did you get your first users?
• •What's your customer acquisition cost?
• •Why will this be hard to copy?
• •What's the biggest risk?
• •How will you use the funding?