SUGGESTIONS & IDEAS

Purpose of your 90 second pitch

You may have a dynamite team, a fantastic market niche, a totally disruptive product, but if you don't get investors' attention you won't get funded.

Angels fund fewer than 5% of ventures that approach them; VC funds are even more selective, funding between 0.3% and 1% of the business plans they receive. If you fail to ignite investors' interest immediately, they'll likely tune out the rest of your presentation or relegate it to the 'later' pile which never gets read.

You want to get the judges interested enough to want a follow-up meeting with you to learn more about your investment opportunity. You do not want to try and summarize your entire business plan in 90 seconds!

An "elevator pitch" that captures an investor's interest quickly greatly increases your chances of getting funded. Depending on the situation, "quickly" may be a few seconds, a minute, or a simple paragraph of text.

In this content, consider these suggestions:

Grab them or lose them

You must lead with the fundamental 4-6 points that state your value proposition, differentiate it, and make it an attractive investment opportunity. The elevator pitch should be the first content slide in your PowerPoint, and the lead paragraph in your executive summary.

Authors of best-selling novels understand. Of the year or more that best-selling authors take to write one book, they spend 10% of that time writing the first sentence, and another 10% on the balance of the first paragraph. Why? Because people go to the best-seller rack, take down a book, read the first sentence, and if that grabs them, they read the rest of the paragraph. If that grabs them, they often buy the book. If either fails to engage them, they turn to the next book.

Say it in English for laypeople

Unless your audience can explain your venture to someone else, you have lost them. Do you think investors ever tell their associates or spouses: "I saw this great venture today, but can't explain what they do"? Well, they don't.

Exclude fluff and hype

Replace all superlatives ('unique', 'revolutionary', 'best', 'fastest', etc.) with specifics; e.g., "priced 40% below market leader" is informative, whereas "lowest cost" says little.

Be relevant

Avoid the unimportant – "founded in May", "offices in Los Angeles", "Delaware C-Corporation". Make sure it's not only unique, but also relevant – that the names of all six founders start with "J" may be unique, but hardly germane.

There is no pat answer

The question "What should be included in my elevator pitch?" doesn't have a single answer. Focus on what differentiates your venture – what makes it unique or special – and on what makes it an attractive investment opportunity. Consider some of these items:

Length

A 90 second pitch rarely exceeds 300 words. Usually it must be ~250 words to be effective without rushing. This said, well-trained, well-rehearsed speakers with excellent diction can sometimes deliver 300-word pitches in 90 seconds.