One startup bans video at its own launch events
The rule is simple: no cameras in the room when the product is shown. The reasoning is that a product should be able to survive the excitement built around it.
A startup has barred video recording from its product launch events, according to a report in Inc.
The reasoning given is straightforward. The excitement generated around a product should not outrun what the product actually does.
Launch video is normally the point of a launch. It is the clip that circulates, the thirty seconds that stands in for the thing itself, and the artefact the marketing team is measured on.
Remove it and the incentive changes. What is left in the room is a demo that has to work in front of people who can ask questions, and no edit suite afterwards to tidy up the parts that did not.
The practical version of the idea, for any founder tempted by it, is a test rather than a ban. Ask what the launch would look like if nothing from it could be replayed, and whether the product would still hold the room.
Inc. reports the rule shaped what the company went on to ship. The specifics of that change, and the company itself, are not set out in the summary of the piece.