The Campfire Test: Can Your Sales Story Survive Without Slides?

Most founders I talk to can’t tell their story without a slide deck. The deck ends up doing all the talking.

I usually spend the first ten minutes of a call just trying to figure out what the company actually does.

I’ll ask a few questions, peel back the layers, and eventually the real story comes out. It’s always there, but it’s buried under product features and pitch language.

If you can’t explain what you do and why it matters without slides, that’s a problem.

A good story should hold up without props. Think of it like sitting around a campfire.

No PowerPoint.

No animations.

No graphs.

Just you, explaining what you do, who it helps, and why it makes their life better.

That’s the part people remember. Not your feature list, not your logo slide. They remember the value — the before and after. The person who had a problem, what changed, and what things looked like after you helped.

Here’s The Campfire Test for your next pitch:

🔥 Can you explain what you do in plain language without a screen?

🔥 Can you make someone care without metrics or slides?

🔥 Can you describe the value in a way that makes them want to know more?

And here’s the part most teams miss:

You can’t run the test with someone who’s been along for the journey. You need an outsider - someone who doesn’t know your acronyms or history - to hear it cold. If they get it, the story’s clear. If they don’t, it’s not ready yet.

If your story holds up without slides and passes the outsider test, your next demo will feel effortless.

If you want to run The Campfire Test with me, no strings attached, I’m happy to do it.

Sometimes all it takes is an outside ear to uncover the real story.