You Crushed the Demo—But Still Can’t Close: The $100K Mistake Education Founders Keep Making

You crushed the demo.The buyer smiled. They nodded. They even said, “This is exactly what we need.”And then… nothing.That silence isn’t harmless. Every “We’ll be in touch” costs you weeks of follow-up, lost momentum, and deals that should already be on your books.In Part 1, “Your Demo Is the Problem” with John Gamba, Entrepreneur in Residence and Director of Innovative Programs at Penn GSE, Josh and John exposed a hard truth: most EdTech demos fail before they even start. Founders pitch products, not pain. They confuse polish for persuasion. Head nods happen… but deals don’t.Part 2 picks up exactly where that left off. Now that your demo is solid, the real question is: what happens after the head nods?This is the next leak in your funnel, the moment when enthusiasm quietly turns into indifference if you don’t take control.Because in founder-led sales, praise isn’t pipeline, confusion costs money, and every vague next step is a lost opportunity.This episode is your wake-up call. Josh reveals how the top 10% of education founders, leaders like Paul King, Kathryn Adabonyan, and Wayne Bovier, stopped collecting compliments and started collecting contracts. They replaced feature tours with funding-aligned conversations that moved buyers from interested to invested.If your demos impress but don’t convert, this is your reset before another quarter disappears.5 Big Takeaways for EdTech Founders1️⃣ Why Praise Alone Doesn’t Close DealsHead nods, smiles, and “This is exactly what we need” don’t guarantee contracts. Josh explains why enthusiasm stops short of intent and how silence after the demo is actually a polite no.2️⃣ The One Step Founders Often Miss After a DemoIt’s not the demo that fails, it’s the next move. Josh shows why every vague next step costs weeks of follow-up, lost momentum, and deals that should already be booked.3️⃣ How to Turn Your Product Pitch Into a Partner ConversationShift your mindset from “here’s my product” to “here’s how we solve this together.” Josh breaks down how funding-aligned conversations make buyers see the value and act on it.4️⃣ Clarity Is the Secret Weapon in Founder-Led SalesIf your pitch is clear, buyers can retell your value to their team. Josh shows how tying outcomes to KPIs like attendance, test scores, and funding makes your offer tangible, urgent, and impossible to ignore.5️⃣ Urgency, Fit, and Proof Drive DecisionsJosh walks through the exact elements buyers scan for: clarity, proof, fit, confidence, and urgency. Miss any one of these, and the deal stalls, even after a perfect demo.Your buyers aren’t ghosting because they don’t care.They’re ghosting because your demo stopped one step too soon.📩 DM me “Demo” to see the exact framework education founders use inside the EdSales Elevation Experience to turn clarity into contracts, and conversations into cash.📤 Know a founder stuck after “wow”? Send them this episode, it could save their next quarter.✍️ Loved the show?Subscribe on Apple Podcasts and Spotify so more education founders can stop losing deals after “wow” and start turning demos into dollars.#EdTech #FounderSales #LeadGen #EdSales #BreakingTheGrade #DemoStrategy #PipelineGrowth #JohnGamba #JoshChernikoff #ClarityConverts

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