The 60-second product demo script (template inside)

A 60-second demo has roughly 150 spoken words. That’s about the length of this introduction plus two paragraphs. Every word has to work, so it helps to have a structure before you write a single line.

Here is the one we use as a starting point for most product demos.

The five beats

Beat	Time	Job
1. Hook	0-5 s	Make the viewer feel the problem
2. Problem	5-15 s	Show what it costs today
3. Product	15-40 s	Show the product solving it - real screens
4. Proof	40-50 s	One concrete result or detail that makes it believable
5. Next step	50-60 s	One action, said out loud and shown on screen

1. Hook (0-5 seconds)

Start with the moment of pain, not your logo. A question, a number or a familiar scene works well:

• “It’s Monday, and the schedule for 40 people still lives in a spreadsheet.”
• “Your deploy failed. Again. And nobody knows why.”

2. Problem (5-15 seconds)

Make the cost concrete: time, money, mistakes, stress. Avoid adjectives like “tedious” or “complex” - show it instead.

3. Product (15-40 seconds)

This is the longest beat and the one founders overload. Pick one workflow and show it from start to finish. Three features shown clearly beat ten features flashed past. Narrate what the user gets at each step, not what the button is called.

4. Proof (40-50 seconds)

One believable detail: how long it takes now, an integration they already use, a quote from a real user (only if it’s real), or the fact that it runs on their own infrastructure. Specific beats impressive.

5. Next step (50-60 seconds)

One call to action. “Start free”, “Book a demo” or “Join the waitlist” - not all three. Say it, and put it on screen at the same time.

The template

HOOK:     [A moment your user recognises, in one sentence]
PROBLEM:  Today, [who] has to [painful workaround], which costs [time/money/mistakes].
PRODUCT:  With [product], they [step 1]. Then [step 2]. And [result].
PROOF:    [One specific, true detail]
NEXT:     [One action] at [url].

Write it, read it out loud with a timer, then cut until it fits. Reading aloud matters: written sentences are almost always too long to say comfortably.

Mistakes we see most often

• Opening with the logo animation. Viewers decide in the first seconds. Spend them on the problem.
• Feature lists. “It has dashboards, alerts, exports and SSO” tells nobody why they should care.
• Fake UI. Viewers can tell. Show the real product, cleaned up.
• No captions. Many people watch with the sound off, especially on mobile. Captions aren’t optional.
• Two calls to action. Every extra choice lowers the chance they take any of them.

Then cut it down

Once the 60-second version works, the same script gives you a 30-second and a 15-second version: keep the hook, compress the product beat to one moment, keep the next step. That’s your ad set, done - more on that in One launch, three videos.