TechCrunch Disrupt at it's finest: Lumier's Windows enhancement platform

This was incredibly awkward and painful to watch. It goes to show why you should avoid buzzwords as much as you can when pitching, it just looks like you're compensating for a lacking product. Startups can learn an absolute ton from this, namely:

- Only demo when you actually have something to demo (an animated start menu does not count).

- Drop the buzz words, and just describe why the hell it's going to improve my life.

- If you're going to put up a pre-launch website[1], don't just list your investors like that is some sort of indicator you'll be amazing, at least put some product information on there.

Cullen's performance here intrigued me, especially his self-noted notoriety in the Windows community. A quick Google search unearthed this: http://www.bluescreenofdeath.org/?p=85, where he discusses "Project Copenhagen" in 2009. It's pretty much the product they claim to be building today, but now with the backing of SV Angel and the Founders Fund. According to their website[1], "It's gonna be big. Really big.". My personal feeling is that there just isn't enough people who will go out of their way to skin their Windows PC, even if it does improve the experience.

1. http://lumier.com

There is http://www.stardock.com/products/windowblinds/ - how different this would be?

Having both pitched, critiqued and been critiqued, seeing the range of presentation and communication skills at Disrypt NYC is very 'illuminating'. However, in addition to what has already been mentioned by olivercameron, there are couple of things that should encourage us to pause in completely dismissing lumier. Firstly, good presentations and good products are not synonymous, nor is the opposite universally true. Secondly, not having a full demo does not mean that the idea lacks value or relevance. I think the key thing here is that Cullen had difficulty articulating his vision, or the product's promise. Whether he proposes simply to skin windows (like a mac) and extend it into the cloud (like the Chrome notebook), or he envisions something else entirely, that was not made clear.

This presentation looks like an early Mark Zuckerberg speech. Awkward and painful.