Ask HN: Favorite startup demo videos
I am searching for examples of really great demo videos that explain a product or service. In your opinion what are some of the most clear and/or creative videos from startups out there?
Square, without a doubt.
I thought this one was genuinely funny and well executed:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FC_eMDnCRg
Thumbtack; saw this because they just got funded through Venture hack's Angel list.
I'm a big fan of the SoundCloud demo: http://vimeo.com/1857085 just feels slick & tells you exactly what the service does.
Straight up, Shopify made my favourite promo video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVVui4oXL4Q&hd=1
Aside from high production values, the reason this is a great clip is that they start with "Why?". If you're not familiar with Simon Sinek's awesome TED talk, I highly recommend it:
http://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspi...
Flipboard. Very clearly explains the point: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2vpvEDS00o
I'd just like to add that spending the time to put together a good-quality demo video for your startup can be a rewarding experience, and very worthwhile too. I think many still treat it like an after-thought when getting ready to launch their app, though. I was almost more proud of my demo video than when I launched LeadNuke in the first place (realizing that I lack any considerable experience making screencasts). I also took the opportunity to slip in a plug for my other startup, RateMyStudentRental.
That being said, it's just a simple screencast, so I wouldn't say it's inherently creative or out of the ordinary. But it does go to show that you can make a decent quality demo video on the cheap in under a few hours if you take it seriously.
EDIT: Oh, and just in case you'd like to see it: http://s3.amazonaws.com/leadnuke-com-cdn-streaming/introduct...
YC plug, but I really always thought DropBox did a great job - one of the things I most appreciated was the key example - they put it in terms of an item that everyone recognizes and a problem most people (if not all) have probably dealt with. I think the present version is even extended a bit from the original (now includes some computer files info)
The Google TV introduction is fantastic, note the use of simple graphics and the clear, simple language:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diTpeYoqAhc
In a similar vein, the famous "Twitter in Plain English":
I collected some startup pitches/demo and did a blog post a while back. There are some good ones here including Loopt, AdMob, Dropbox, etc.
http://jonbischke.com/2009/11/13/a-dozen-of-the-best-start-u...
I find this introduction to Cloud Computing very nice - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ae_DKNwK_ms
Though not a product demo, but the way of explaining it in simple words and illustration makes it stick to my mind.
One of the best I've seen recently is by blippy, http://blippy.com/ Just very simple animations that make it easy to quickly grasp the concept and answer potential questions about the product (security, privacy etc.)
Back when DabbleDB was new, hot and for testers, they posted some videos on what DabbleDB is. Those videos were so good. This application was everything you wanted spreadsheets to be.
Take a look: http://dabbledb.com/demo/
Video that explains putpat, a german music video service:
The one by rule.fm that was shown a few days ago is quite good, even if I will disagree with the way it was messages.
So these are all really well done videos -- very professional, and probably cost a ton. anyone know of a web service that lets you easily create your own demo vid?
I love: http://culturedcode.com/things/ipad/ the one for the iPhone app is pretty good too
How's this? Got any tips?