pitch

Hey Panos, here’s how your keynote could have been better

I’m not a baller, so there’s going to be a bit of “who does this guy think he is?” and I acknowledge that. Nevertheless I’ve always been pretty good at presentations and have a view on how Panos Panay, chief of Surface for Microsoft, could have done better in his Surface Pro 3 unveiling.  So I’m going to share that view.

If you look at people’s comments on tech websites and forums, quite a few thought Panos did a great job. And he did do a good job. He did a lot of things right, chiefly:

  • Positioning the Surface as a tablet that can replace the laptop — there’s finally a sentence people can point to and say, that’s what the Surface is
  • Identifying the MacBook Air as the most direct competition
  • Comparing the Surface size and screen ratio to a legal notepad
  • Demoing with the new Photoshop, crossword puzzle and movie scripting
  • Emphasizing pride and passion in the work they’ve done

But he could have done a lot better.  2000 words’ worth of suggestions better.

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Vurb wins TC Disrupt NY, yet their mobile app will probably fail

The winner of this year’s TechCrunch Disrupt New York is Vurb. First, please watch the start-up’s finalist pitch. Done? Impressed?

I can see Vurb working on the web, though I’d be more comfortable saying that if I can try the service first. Unfortunately, Vurb is still in closed beta.

Like Vurb, feecha is an aggregator, so there are insights I can share. They will inevitably face some of the same problems we faced.

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Why Stanford > Harvard

So TechCrunch Disrupt is going on right now in New York. One of the six finalists of the event’s competition is Mink, founded by a Harvard Business School graduate. I love her idea — DIY cosmetics from a printer — and if I had money to invest, I’d write her a cheque.

But. She had an epic fail in her presentation that would have been embarrassing for any person, much less a Harvard Business School alumnus.

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