Err on the side of speaking slowly. At Rehearsal Day, one of the founders mentioned a rule actors use: if you feel you’re speaking too slowly, you’re speaking at about the right speed.

…

What you need to do is talk in this artificial way, and yet make it seem conversational. (Writing is the same. Good writing is an elaborate effort to seem spontaneous.)

…

The problem is, as you approach (in the calculus sense) a description of something that could be anything, the content of your description approaches zero.

…

So we concentrate on the basics. On Demo Day each startup will only get ten minutes, so we encourage them to focus on just two goals: (a) explain what you’re doing, and (b) explain why users will want it.

— Paul Graham

2012.04.08 Sunday ACHK