Shout’Em went to SeedCamp this year. It took us three tries; we were selected as one of 20 finalists and we didn’t win anything, but it was definitely a great experience.

We can tell you one thing, though; getting in and getting something out of it are two different things. If you come underprepared, you can end up looking silly. Most importantly, being ready for all the questions you’ll be asked there will also help you understand what you need to do to make your service/product better.

Seedcamp mentors and teams on the street during the fire alarm at UCL.

1. Never forget the importance of numbers.

You work on your service every day. You love it; it’s your baby; you think you know everything about it. But do you, really? When was the last time you’ve looked at your stats? Do you know how many users you have? Do you have projections on how many users you’ll have in two years? How about this: how many users do you plan to have in two years?

If you want to present your service well, you need to be able to spew out all relevant numbers – approximations, at least – at any time, and draw a quick graph to go with the numbers. If you can’t do it, who can?

Dave McClure and his gang gave us an especially hard time when it comes to numbers. If you want to know more about it make sure you’ve read http://www.slideshare.net/Startonomics/startup-metrics-for-pirates-presentation

2. Don’t underestimate the people from the VC industry

We’re not saying we’ve done that , but we can definitely see how one could fall into that trap. These guys and girls may not be as tech savvy as your lead web developer, but very often know what they want and what they’re talking about. Watch out about numbers you’ve presenting. These folks may have completely different metrics than you. An example: take whatever revenue you consider good and multiply it by 100; then figure out how you can reach that number. Otherwise do not show any financial projections

3. Focus on your users. All of them.

A lot of the questions we were asked at SeedCamp had to do with various groups of users and how they can benefit from our service. Would your service be interesting to religious groups? How about women? On the other hand, can it be used to promote pornography? Would your users pay for your service or product? Which ones? Etc.

Geography is also very important. Some services work great everywhere; some work especially well in developing countries. You need to know not only that your service or product works; you need to know where it works best.

If you haven’t put yourself in the skin of your users – and we mean all the various types of users out there – then you won’t be able to answer these questions.

4. Keep it simple, stupid

The good ole’ KISS principle applies here, too. You need to know what you’re doing, who you’re doing it for and why they need it, and you need to be able to explain it in no more than a couple of sentences.  Focus on one thing and try to make it as clear as possible. I’m sure you have plenty of ideas, but more that one idea at a SeedCamp mentoring seesion will just confuse your listeners.

5. Don’t forget the competition

Whatever you do, you have competitors. You also have services that you rely on, and services that complement your service. You need to know everything about them; if you’re competing with Facebook, you should know their numbers as well as you know yours. If your product doesn’t work without Twitter, then you need to know Twitter inside and out.

Furthermore, you need to be prepared to what your competitors might do in the future. You may be alone now, but what if Google decides to start a service similar to yours next month? If you cannot answer that question, you have a problem, and people from the industry will notice it.

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All of the above may sound a bit gloomy, but believe us, we’ve also learned that simply coming to an event such as this is a fun experience. You’ll meet new people and see how other startups prepare for such events. It’s an invaluable lesson, and even if you don’t win over a big investor, you’ll go home knowing much more than before.