Why Good Video is So Important to Startups
If you work in, or adjacent to, the entrepreneurial world you’ve probably been exposed to the ‘minimum viable product’ or ‘MVP’ philosophy.
In the simplest terms, the MVP strategy advocates releasing your product into the world as soon as it meets the bare minimum of customer requirements. This allows you to immediately begin improving your product by collecting and applying user feedback. As creators, we don’t always know exactly how our customers will use our products or what features they will benefit from most. MVP allows us to start that learning immediately.
The MVP strategy makes sense when your product is ‘iterative’. If you’ve created software that will be continuously improved and updated, you need to understand quickly and in concrete terms what your customer wants. A continuous loop of customer feedback, updates, and testing will rapidly improve your product.
“To the person with a hammer, everything looks like a nail.”
Humans are hard-wired to look for efficiencies. Once we find a mental model that works for us in one part of our lives, we assume that we will be able to obtain the same results in other parts of our lives by applying the same model.
Imagine applying ‘minimum viable product’ thinking to your child’s car seat. Or the heart medication that Grandma relies on. MVP is a useful tool but it isn’t universally applicable.
Some tools function best when they are fully developed - no rough edges. Explainer videos are that kind of tool.
MobSeen and Edward Raeker recently produced an explainer video for a Los Angeles-based software startup. Our animated explainer presented the company’s flagship technical product in clear and simple terms.
Nearly half of our production schedule was spent learning how their software worked so we could present that concept in a way that was visually interesting and immediately comprehensible to all viewers.
The explainer video was used as a presentation tool by the firm’s CEO to secure funding and entice potential investors - and it succeeded gloriously. Most importantly, it very effectively opened financial doors that had proven impenetrable without it. It paid for itself (many times over) almost immediately.
An effective explainer translates savvy technical understanding into accessible, natural language and clear, illustrative visuals.
Your explainer will be your single most important presentation and fundraising tool. The quality and clarity of your video tools send a clear message to your prospects: You believe in your own project and are willing to invest in it to demonstrate that confidence.
Poorly-produced video also sends a message - that you have little faith in, or understanding of, your own product and that you’d like to gamble somebody else’s money on its future.
The explainer we produced served a second and unexpected function. It was shown to a group of patent attorneys that had been hired to handle the complicated and troublesome process of securing domestic and international software patents.
Because our explainer made clear the basic concept behind the software and the way it could be applied in the market, the attorneys were able to efficiently argue the uniqueness of the technology and its merits in the patent application process. The savings in hourly patent attorneys’ fees alone justified the production of that potent and compelling explainer.
You’re not going to show up to a meeting with potential investors sporting bedhead hair and a stained tracksuit. The way you present yourself and your creations to the world says everything about the confidence you have in your ideas. You’ve doubtlessly invested time, sweat, and heartache in developing your project. Show the world what you’ve built in the clearest and most flattering terms with a superbly crafted explainer video. It will make it so much easier to get others on board. Your vision deserves nothing less.
* We regularly work within the confines of NDAs and other agreements that protect your intellectual property. The explainer described above is not posted on our website. We do, however, have permission from the client to share the video with you via a password-protected link. Just give us a call or drop us a line today and we’ll send you a link. We are eager to meet with you to design the most informative and persuasive tool you can have in your business-building arsenal.