Demo day is the most-photographed moment in the accelerator calendar. The pitch deck closes, the founders walk off stage, and the cohort photo gets posted to LinkedIn, Twitter, and every program newsletter for the next two years. Here is how to plan the demo day shirt so it makes the photo and ships in time for every founder.
The demo day shirt does a different job from the cohort hoodie. The hoodie identifies the program for the next three years. The demo day shirt marks a single date, a single venue, and a single moment, and it shows up in every photo from that night.
Founders treat it as a keepsake. Most demo day shirts get framed, displayed on a desk, or worn at the alumni reunion every year going forward. The shirt is the proof-of-attendance for the most important day in the accelerator calendar.
Because the shirt is event-specific, it does not need to follow the brand-identity rules of the cohort hoodie. You can run a bolder color, add the demo day date and venue as a back print, and use a fitted athletic cut instead of the standard hoodie unisex sizing.
Three shirt styles cover almost every demo day shirt run.
Premium cotton tee: The classic event tee. Soft hand feel, holds a screen-printed front design well. Reads casual and inclusive across the cohort.
Performance tee: For programs where founders will be on their feet pitching for hours. Wicks sweat, photographs cleaner under stage lights, but reads more athletic.
Polo shirt: For B2B and enterprise-focused cohorts where founders meet investors right after the pitch. Reads professional, holds a small chest logo well, and matches the post-demo-day networking format.
Most accelerators run the cotton tee for the founder cohort and a polo for the program staff and mentors. See the t-shirt catalog and polo catalog for the styles that ship in our network.
Bear Grips Pro Shops: Custom Apparel for Your Team. No Minimums. Free Shipping.The best-aging demo day shirts follow a consistent layout that reads well both in the demo day photo and at the alumni reunion five years later.
Front: Program logo or wordmark, 3 to 4 inches wide, centered on the chest. This is what shows in the cohort photo.
Back: The demo day date, the venue name, and the cohort identifier in a clean stacked layout. This is the alumni-reunion reveal that founders point at five years later.
Some programs add a list of every founder name on the back, like a band tour t-shirt. This works for cohorts of 20 or fewer where the type stays readable. Cohorts over 30 should stick with the date, venue, and cohort identifier on the back.
Each shirt produces and ships in about a week per order. For demo day, work backward to give every founder a buffer.
For programs that want every founder guaranteed in matching shirts, the program can run a single bulk order to the program address and distribute at the last cohort dinner before demo day.
No minimum, US-printed, free shipping. Publish the link four weeks out and every founder walks in matching.
Start FreeFour weeks before the demo day date gives every founder time to order their size and have it ship to their home address with the standard one-week production and shipping window.
Yes. The shop supports multi-location prints. Most programs put the logo on the front and the demo day date, venue, and cohort identifier on the back.
Yes. Polos are common for B2B and enterprise cohorts where founders meet investors immediately after pitching. The polo catalog covers both moisture-wicking and premium cotton-pique options.
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