D3 -- Disney Demo Day -- Graduation for 1st Accelerator Class

Last Tuesday marked graduation day for the Disney Accelerator’s first class -- the Class of 2014.  10 companies.  10 compelling stories to tell.  And, 10 CEOs who told those stories very well indeed.  (Here they are, each of them, pitching in 6 seconds, yes, 6 seconds a la Vine.)

Not surprising when you think about it.  First, the material is good.  Each company has real substance.  No fluff here.  Disney and TechStars selected them well (kudos to Kevin Mayer and Cody Simms).  Second, each company was in good company -- in the company of the Mouse House, that is.  The quintessential home for story-telling.  And, the Disney team delivered.  Production values for this demo day were second to none.  The Disney Accelerator team turned it up to 11 for this one, giving each company's CEO an opportunity to be Steve Jobs for the day.  There each of them was.  On a sparse stage, in a darkened auditorium, massive screen behind them, visuals choreographed perfectly to their perfectly constructed individual words -- words spoken while pacing slightly back and forth across the stage with hands clasped a la vintage Jobs.  He would be smiling ....

It all worked.  Beautifully.  Each company showcased well.  Each company CEO had trained for his or her moment for days.  But, no matter how much training, it ain’t easy for a young entrepreneur when you have Disney's CEO Bob Iger right there in the front row.  Yet all of them delivered.  (Only later did I learn that a giant teleprompter aided them from the very back of the auditorium -- but, that does nothing to take away from each individual performance).   (Here is The Wrap’s wrap-up of the event.)

My favorite?  Tyffon -- the app developer with proprietary facial recognition technology that has developed Zombie Booth to a tune of 30 million downloads (Zombie selfies, anyone?).  Of course, I am a bit partial here, since I mentored this company in the Accelerator (my stint started in July).  Others that stood out for me included Naritiv, a Snapchat-centric marketing and analytics firm (intriguing) and Sphero, an already-proven and established "connected toy” company that sells its wares at Apple stores (join me by buying one -- your kids will be glad you did -- YOU will be glad you did).

All of these Disney Accelerator company CEOs and teams should be proud.  They have accomplished much already.  And, they have a permanent feather in their caps as a result.  Not too shabby to have the Disney stamp of approval.

I too enjoyed it -- enjoyed being an official Mentor for the inaugural Class of 2014.  And, ready to help some of these grads continue their journeys.