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It's on the interviewee to get his or her key points across. Go in knowing the three or four main bullet points you want to convey, and make sure you get them out.
Anyone curious what interviews are like can get an idea from the office hours we've done at TC Disrupt and Startup School. Interviews are similar, but with more questions (partly because there are more of us asking them, and partly because we need to arrive at a decision, not just have a conversation). http://techcrunch.com/2011/05/25/absolute-must-watch-office-... http://techcrunch.com/2011/09/12/tc-disrupt-office-h…
Anyone curious what interviews are like can get an idea from the office hours we've done at TC Disrupt and Startup School. Interviews are similar, but with more questions (partly because there are more of us asking them, and partly because we need to arrive at a decision, not just have a conversation). http://techcrunch.com/2011/05/25/absolute-must-watch-office-... http://techcrunch.com/2011/09/12/tc-disrupt-office-h…
Almost everybody seems to miss the mark in the "What do you do?" type questions. What do you think it is about these interviews that prevents them from describing it in the way you want them to? Or do you try to make everybody be more specific than their first pitch?
The solution is to practice beforehand, preferably on people who will tell you candidly when you haven't yet explained yourself clearly.
The test of how well you've explained a startup idea is how accurately the listener could reproduce it from your description.
Anyone curious what interviews are like can get an idea from the office hours we've done at TC Disrupt and Startup School. Interviews are similar, but with more questions (partly because there are more of us asking them, and partly because we need to arrive at a decision, not just have a conversation). http://techcrunch.com/2011/05/25/absolute-must-watch-office-... http://techcrunch.com/2011/09/12/tc-disrupt-office-h…
But I should not be too sarcastic. I really liked these. A lot of the interviewees were very promising even after your well meaning attempts to shoot holes in their business models. And your comments are very informative.
But it seems that your comments and questions also indicate how hard it is to build a successful start-up. It is not merely about making something useful or better than the competition, you have to make something that cures a significant pain point so that your customers are actually motivated to go out and get it. It really does make one take a pause and question things.