How do you approach demos for your product?

As users, we all want to try a product before committing. As builders, we want to show real value without over-engineering and investing time 'just for show'. Finding that balance is harder than it looks.

I just shipped my demo for Rewo (https://rewo.app), and intentionally went with a live, real demo:

• Fully functional product (same codebase as prod)

• Uses demo data instead of real integrations

• Some interfacing + sync pieces are disabled

• Auto-resets on a schedule so anyone can jump in fresh

The goal wasn’t to “fake” the experience, but to let people feel the product without setup friction or commitment. The implementation itself was fairly straightforward — mostly blocking critical pieces and setting up seeded demo data — though some of Rewo’s core value comes from automation that you only experience over time (and via email), which is harder to demo.

As such, curious how others here think about demos:

• Do you prefer live demos vs. guided / interactive walkthroughs?

• How much functionality is too much to expose in a demo?

• Do demos convert better than videos or screenshots for you?

• What’s the cleanest demo you’ve seen recently?

• How do you approach demos when key value shows up asynchronously or over time?

Would love to learn how you all approach this!