# Demo and pitch video scripts Colosseum asks for two videos ([submission-guide.md](submission-guide.md)): a 2–3 minute **presentation** and a product **demo** of at most 3 minutes. Colosseum lists exceeding the 3-minute limit among the pitch-video mistakes to avoid ([workshop recap](https://blog.colosseum.com/perfecting-your-hackathon-submission/)), so cut to fit. Organisers that want one video get the demo script with the pitch's first 20 seconds in front. ## Presentation video (2–3 min): a startup pitch, not a demo | Time | Beat | |---|---| | 0:00–0:20 | The problem: one user, one pain, today's workaround. No "Hi, I'm…" opener | | 0:20–0:45 | Who you are and why this team: the founder–market fit in one or two facts | | 0:45–1:30 | The product in one sentence and what it changes for the user; leave the walkthrough to the demo video | | 1:30–2:15 | Evidence: user conversations, waitlist, onchain usage, with sources | | 2:15–3:00 | Why now, the go-to-market wedge, and that you intend to keep building | A voiceover on slides is fine. Colosseum says a clear narrative beats production polish. What separated Colosseum winners from projects that won nothing in this video was traction and a team credential; for the product on screen and an explorer transaction the study detected no difference ([what-separates-winners.md](what-separates-winners.md)). Spend the seconds on the evidence and the team, and use [pitch-rhetoric.md](pitch-rhetoric.md) as the line-level checklist. ## Product demo video (≤ 3 min): the build | Time | Beat | |---|---| | 0:00–0:15 | What you are about to show, in one sentence | | 0:15–2:00 | The core flow end to end in the real product, narrating each step. Show the transaction in an explorer as proof | | 2:00–2:40 | One technical highlight and **why** you built it that way: the Solana integration, the onchain logic, the architecture | | 2:40–3:00 | What works today versus what is next; repo and live link on screen | ## Recording - 1080p at least, a quiet room, a decent microphone. - Clean browser profile, bookmarks bar hidden, fonts enlarged. - Cut dead time: loading, typing, wallet pop-ups that hang. Never wait on camera. - Speak from bullets, not a read script, slightly slower than normal. - Upload unlisted and check the link opens logged out. ## Don't - Keep a terminal on screen for more than about fifteen seconds. - Apologise for bugs. Fix them or cut around them. - Demo a flow that can fail live without a recorded backup. - Explain the whole stack. One highlight, done well.