The first 3 seconds of a SaaS promo video: where it goes wrong

Most of the SaaS promo videos that land in my inbox open with a logo. It spins in, or it draws itself, then it lands with a whoosh. A dashboard fades up behind it. The camera pushes in slowly while a voice explains that teams today are struggling with productivity.

6 min read

What makes a good SaaS promo video (and what just makes it expensive)

I've been making promo videos for about 15 years, including work for teams at Microsoft, xAI and Cloudflare. In that time I've watched a lot of budget go into videos that didn't work, and I've watched videos made for almost nothing do the job. The gap between a good SaaS promo video and an expensive one is almost never production value. It's a handful of decisions, most of them made before anyone opens an editor.

8 min read

The cheapest way to make a SaaS promo video (without it looking cheap)

Most cheap SaaS promo videos don't look cheap because of the budget. They look cheap because of a handful of decisions that cost nothing to get right and nothing to get wrong.

7 min read

How much does a SaaS promo video cost?

Ask five providers for a quote on the same 60-second promo and you'll get numbers so far apart they barely seem to describe the same job. A freelancer might come back with a few hundred dollars. A studio might come back with five figures. Neither of them is lying.

5 min read

The fastest way to make a SaaS promo video

Most people assume a SaaS promo video is slow because of rendering. It almost never is. Rendering is the one part of the job a computer finishes while you sleep.

7 min read

Agency, freelancer or AI: who should make your SaaS promo video?

I've freelanced for years, worked alongside agencies on other people's projects, and now I build a tool that does the job with AI. So I've watched each one hurt from close up.

6 min read

What founders get wrong in product demo videos

I've been making promo and product videos for about fifteen years, including for teams at Microsoft, xAI and Cloudflare. For most of that time, founders have sent me a screen recording and asked, in various words, whether I can just tidy it up.

6 min read

Do you really need a video agency for a SaaS promo?

I've spent fifteen years making these videos. Motion design, promo films, product launches, for teams at Microsoft, xAI and Cloudflare, and for a long tail of startups you've never heard of. Most of that time I've been inside the process rather than running it, which is a useful seat: you see what the work costs and what the client thinks they're paying for. So when I say hiring a video agency is sometimes a waste of your money, I'm arguing against my own invoice.

6 min read

Are AI promo videos good enough for your homepage?

I've spent about 15 years making promo and product videos, including work for teams at Microsoft, xAI and Cloudflare, plus a long tail of startups who couldn't afford any of that. So when founders ask me whether an AI promo video is good enough to put on a homepage, I'm not a neutral party. I built a tool in this space. I also watch a lot of AI-generated video and wince.

6 min read

How to write an explainer video script that doesn't put people to sleep

Most of the explainer video scripts I've been handed in fifteen years open the same way. Logo. Whoosh. Then some version of "Meet Acme, the all-in-one platform for modern teams." Then a calm voice reading a feature list.

6 min read

Vertical video for SaaS: why cropping your 16:9 promo doesn't work

Here's the part that usually doesn't come up when you order a product video. The 16:9 file you get back is not a master that vertical video can be extracted from. It's one composition, built for one shape. Cropping it to 9:16 doesn't move it to a phone. It amputates it.

6 min read

A SaaS launch strategy is mostly a scheduling problem

You get one day where strangers look at your product on purpose. Not because they need it. Because someone put it in front of them. Cold attention, concentrated into a few hours, then it's over and you're back to writing emails one at a time.

7 min read