We’ve hosted 3 startup showcases since November 2019, including JIFF, and you can find our complete schedule at d-tech.fund
After each startup showcase I publish an article on JustMyNewYork about what I learned.
Here’s what I took away from JIFF’s startup showcase.
#1 How to deliver a killer presentation (in lights).
Alex was the first to arrive on the day of his startup showcase, with his photographer (and brilliant + charming partner).
I still wasn’t ready for the showcase yet.
In fact, I was ending a work call, and just shy of putting the finishing touches on setting up for JIFF’s startup showcase when they buzzed our apartment.
As an upgrade to our typical setup, I had a projector I’d been waiting patiently to use for just this moment, but I couldn’t figure out how to connect all of my devices to it so that Alex and I could scroll through our phones to show his app on the main projector screen for our guests’ enjoyment.
I thought I had it covered (I didn’t) with a multi-purpose adapter that looked like a small floppy disk, but I forgot how I accomplished this last time, and multi-tasking wasn’t working for me.
As I googled how to connect our iPhones to my computer, and then to the projector, Alex reached into his backpack and pulled out his boondoggle adapter.
He then proceeded to connect his Apple products into one seamless connection to our projector, in a JIFF.
This was our first time using the projector-projector screen combination, and generally our first time with projection technology for startup showcase, at all.
In a room full of captivating art pieces from @RobertNewmaniii’s collection, additional light from JIFF’s sleek interface on our white projector screen imminently peaked our audiences’ curiosity about what was to follow.
This projector-based pitch enhanced our overall startup showcase experience in more ways than one, and I can’t imagine going back to the way things were before JIFF’s showcase.
For example, say you need to search the Internet to make a strategic point or to address a question during our signature Q&A session in real time?
For example, like comparing your UX design to “one of the people we call competitors” and what that juxtaposition looks like side-by-side.
You can flash any problem that you’re solving on a gigantic screen, in real time, with lights and art everywhere in a room full of folks who truly embrace a specifically-curated environment built on mutual vulnerability.
Alex enhanced our core values in ways our guests openly appreciated and communicated to me.
Here’s the deal, pretend you’re a novel guest attending one of our startup founder showcases.
Now imagine, as a guest, you’re ascending myriad stairs inside of a Harlem brownstone and into a new diverse tech studio environment.
Your friend calls this meetup an “app launch party”.
When you’re asked what you expect to experience tonight, you return a curious blank stare.
That’s a typical experience, however on February 15th...
JIFF delivered.
Lesson #2 how to design a sleek user interface.
JIFF’s eye-catching innerface is practically fluorescent.
If you’re like me, you like the idea of having artistic depictions of sensational emotions at your fingertips.
JIFF actually did it.
Ironically, this particular innovation came from JIFF’s earliest users, it’s test groups, of which they are plentiful.
In fact, I’ve noticed this specific character trait in other successful early stage founders: the art of meticulously testing their products before launching (as Alex has).
It’s particularly important to get this right in well established industries, because those markets are brutal teachers and expensive too.
JIFF leveraged its survey respondents to help build a specific design feature-picture captions-making my earlier description of JIFF’s user interface even possible.
Listen to Alex tell his story for yourself....
