what part of a business plan is a written version of the elevator pitch

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How to Write an Elevator Pitch

What’s an elevator pitch? An elevator pitch is a brief e-mail summary of your business. Or a short story that you can tell in the course of a elevator ride. You use the elevator pitch to get meetings with prospective investors. Typically, you ask someone whom the investor trusts to pass along your elevator pitch […]

What’s an elevator pitch?

• Babak Nivi likes helping entrepreneurs succeed. He’s helped start companies like Songbird, Grockit, and Kovio that have been backed by firms including Sequoia, Benchmark, and Kleiner Perkins.

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The Secrets to Crafting an Irresistible Elevator Pitch (With Examples)

The Startups Team

What is an elevator pitch?

Stop us if you’ve heard this one before: a Founder and a VC walk into an elevator…

In all seriousness, if you’ve spent any time swimming in the startup waters, you’re probably familiar with the idea of the elevator pitch. But in case you missed that day in Founder School, the scenario is this:

Say you got in an elevator, and standing in that elevator was the one person that could make or break your business. You have the length of that elevator ride to convince this person to get on board. And no, the electricity can’t suddenly cut out and leave you with a couple of hours to fill instead of a handful of seconds.

Well — What the @#*! do you say?

We’ll get to that.

Why are elevator pitches important?

There’s a reason the elevator pitch has become such an icon of entrepreneurship. And it’s not because so many founders keep finding themselves in elevators with Mark Cuban.

Crafting the perfect elevator pitch is equal parts art and science. It’s an exercise in economy, and a master-class in making every word count. Most of all, an elevator pitch is about distilling the value of your company down to its absolute essence. And the ability to do that is crucial no matter who you’re talking to.

But let’s be real: You’re spending every waking hour of your life for months at a time trying to build this thing. Boiling all that blood, sweat, and tears down to a couple of words can feel like an impossible task. Right?

Wrong. In fact, writing a killer elevator pitch for your startup is more than possible – it’s essential. Your elevator pitch the most important piece of storytelling about your company you will ever do.

How to write an elevator pitch

Invisu.me co-founder and CEO Donna Griffit has turned helping entrepreneurs tighten their pitch into something of a life’s calling. As a corporate storyteller and consultant, she has an almost magical ability to spin raw data into compelling stories that captivate audiences and drive results.

Here, she joins us to share some of her thoughts on the makings of a great elevator pitch, and why you don’t just need one elevator pitch – you need many.

What should be included in an elevator pitch?

The first question in the elevator world is always this: What exactly do you put in an elevator pitch, anyway?

There’s advice on this subject all over the Internet, with slight variations from here to there. For the most part, though, people can agree on a basic three-part structure: Problem, Solution, and… something else. That “something else” where the varying opinions start to creep in.

For Donna, that three-part structure looks like this:

• The Problem. What is the problem the audience faces? What is the frustrating, maddening, mind-bogglingly bad thing about the status quo needs to be fixed right now?
• The Solution. How does your product solve the problem? Where does your product or service fit into this picture you’ve painted?
• The Kicker. What’s staggering fact about the market that proves that this is a big deal, or an amazing you’ve accomplished that proves you’re the one to take this on?

Good elevator pitches have empathy.

Content is key when it comes to crafting the perfect elevator pitch. But when it comes down to it, the actual words of your pitch aren’t nearly as important as what’s between those words. Because oozing out of every pore of your elevator pitch should be one, all-consuming principle: empathy.

A good elevator pitch, at the most fundamental level, is about a deep, radical understanding of your audience’s need – and how you can fill it.

As Donna outlines it, there are three essential questions that every elevator pitch has to answer: “Do you understand my need? How does your solution benefit my need, and how does it work? Can you prove it?”

You might notice that these three questions correspond to the Problem – Solution – Kicker structure outlined above pretty much exactly. That’s not an accident. These audience-focused questions are the force that’s fueling that structure in the first place.

• “Do you understand my need?” That’s your Problem.
• “How does your solution benefit my need?” There’s your Solution.
• “Can you prove it?” Here’s your Kicker. Bring it home.

Best of all: When you frame your elevator pitch in terms of these three questions, you keep the emphasis where it should be: on the person who’s hearing it, and what matters to them.

2. Good elevator pitches are targeted.

While we’re on the subject of what matters to people, here’s something to keep in mind: different things matter to different people.

What a customer needs is different from an investor needs, which is different from what a potential partner or press contact needs. The best elevator pitch artisans feel that difference deep in their bones – and they get really good at calibrating their pitches to the needs of specific audiences.

No matter who is on the receiving end of your pitch, you want it to connect with them. So do your homework, know who you’re talking to and what’s important to them, and give them a pitch that they can knock out of the park.

Good elevator pitches keep it simple.

Another important ingredient in crafting elevator pitches with empathy? Making it easy for your audience to understand what you’re talking about. That means steering clear of a lot of ten-dollar words and high-falutin’ industry jargon.

We know what some of you are probably thinking. “But my product is a highly technical, special snowflake! I need my fancy words to accurately describe what my company does!”

Do you, though?

To go back to the baseball analogy for a second, loading your elevator pitch up with complicated jargon is like throwing your trickiest curveball or your hardest fastball. It’s basically saying that you don’t want your audience to get it. That you want them to strike out.

What’s more, when people load up their elevator pitch with too much jargon, a lot of the time what they’re actually signaling is that they’re not that confident in the value of their product. They use technical jargon as a crutch with the hopes that the “innovativeness” of the language will somehow rub off on their product.

If you can’t describe what your value is in a sentence of two-syllable words or less, it may be a sign that you’re stuck on the how of your product, instead of the what. Dig deeper, and get to the core of what your product does for people. And don’t be surprised if the pitch that comes out is several reading levels lower than your earlier versions.

Oh, and another thing: erase the word “disrupt/disruptive/disruption” from your vocabulary. Trust us. Just do it.

Out of the elevator, into the real world.

The elevator ride has long been the default symbol of quick startup pitching. But of course, the reality today is that most of the time you don’t even have the length of an elevator ride to get your point across.

That’s why Donna recommends you have not one, not two, but three different versions of your pitch ready to go. First, the full elevator pitch, and then two even shorter, even more condensed versions: the handshake and the eyeblink. That way, no matter what the situation and how much time you have, you have something ready to get the point across.

The Handshake

We’ve all been there: at a happy hour or networking event, people milling around, introducing themselves. Inevitably, the eternal question comes up: “So what do you do?”

This is your window, but let’s get real: if you talk for a whole minute, you’re going to look like a giant asshole. So what do you do? You reach for your handshake pitch: a Cliffs Notes edition of your elevator pitch, handily condensed down to 20 seconds.

Now, as Donna points out, this doesn’t mean delivering your Elevator Pitch at warp speed. What It means is distilling the same ideas from your elevator pitch into an even tighter, more powerful version.

The Eyeblink

If the handshake pitch is the Cliffs Notes of the elevator world, the eyeblink pitch is the freaking Haiku. With the eyeblink, you don’t have 60 seconds. You don’t even have 20. Heck, you barely have five.

“Imagine that you were at a conference and you see Mark Zuckerberg walking past you and you have the perfect company for a Facebook acquisition,” says Donna. “Zuck’s not going to stand around waiting as you hem and haw – you have to give him the bottom line up front – the hook. What does he stand to gain by associating with you?”

Okay, so maybe we’re not all likely to have the chance to insta-pitch Mark Zuckerberg anytime soon. But trying to get a customer’s attention in the space of a tweet? Or a press contact’s in the space of a subject line? Those are situations that founders face every single day – and it’s situations like those where it’s the eyeblink pitch’s time to shine.

And again, don’t forget the golden rule of pitching: every pitch should be hand-crafted for the needs of the person it’s thrown at. “I would create about 6-7 different “Eyeblinks” and have them ready to go at a moment’s notice to the right person,” recommends Donna.

An example of a great elevator pitch

All this theorizing about elevator pitches is great. But what’s even better is being able to see actual examples of what these theories look like in practice.

Donna laid out three examples of hypothetical elevator pitches, all imagined for the same hypothetical company: WhatsApp.

The Full Elevator Texting has become our number one way of communicating. Phone call? That’s so 2005. But try putting a picture on a text. And what about group texting? Or what if you have a limited data plan on your cell plan like most teenagers do? WhatsApp is a messaging app that lets you communicate with one or many people with text and rich media, including links, pics and emoticons. Only people you include in the message can see it, and everyone in the group can talk to each other. We have 450M active users (the figures at time of purchase), growing by 1M a day, and are almost as high as the volume of all text messages sent in the world!

The Handshake Texting is great, but try texting pictures? Or texting a group? WhatsApp is a messaging app that lets you communicate with one or multiple people sharing pics, videos or links in a snap, for free! And with 1M new users a day – we have almost as many messages as all SMSes sent globally!

The Eyeblink Zuck, your numbers are down, we’re growing by a mil users a day – and the kids love us!

A good elevator pitch is just the beginning

One final thought on elevator pitches: remember, If you’ve done your job right, the elevator pitch won’t be the end of the conversation. It will just be the beginning.

The ultimate goal of the elevator pitch is to make your audience want to stay in that elevator with you. You want them to want to keep learning more about your product and what it could mean for them. But that longer conversation can’t happen if the person turns around and gets off the elevator to avoid listening to you. Or just nods politely while quietly counting the floors in their head until they can get off.

So get to work crafting the fascinating, magnetic, irresistible, empathetic, short elevator pitch of your audience’s dreams.

Happy pitching.

Want even more tips on how to craft an amazing elevator pitch? Check out the Startups.com Playbook on the Elevator Pitch .

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How to Write the Perfect Elevator Pitch with Examples

An elevator pitch is a great way to win new clients and partners in just a short pitch. Learn how to develop an elevator pitch for your brand or business.

No matter the size of the business you run, understanding how to write the perfect elevator pitch is essential. Think of how little time you have in an elevator heading from the ground floor to the fifth floor. That's not much time to explain what your business is and what you do, is it?

However, being able to write an elevator pitch is a beneficial aspect of your marketing. It might sound a bit outdated, but it's really not. This grassroots marketing concept can be used in other scenarios more relevant in today's world besides in an elevator.

Nowadays, you might not run into a potential investor or client on an elevator and have little time to speak to them. You will, though, meet people or need to send emails and want to keep them short and sweet. You may be at a networking event, where you have short bouts of time to mingle with different people.

Therefore, when you can summarize what you do and offer in a short speech, it keeps people engaged and gives them just enough information to pique their interest, no matter where you run into them or reach out to them.

What is an elevator pitch?

An elevator pitch is basically a sales pitch. It's succinct and persuasive. Unlike crafting an entire speech, you're condensing who you are, what you do, and what your company offers into a few short sentences, just enough to explain but not enough to bore or overwhelm.

A good elevator pitch essentially lays the foundation to get people interested in your idea, product, or service. They then want to know more and might just contact you.

While today an elevator speech doesn't necessarily have to be in an elevator, it's been rumored that the first elevator pitch was in an elevator. It happened in 1853 when a number of buildings had elevators. They were dangerous, especially considering they used ropes to pull the elevator and passengers.

Alisha Otis thought of another, safer way for people to travel from one floor of a building to the next. And he demonstrated his idea in an elevator display at a convention.

How long should an elevator pitch be?

Now that you know the answer to "What is an elevator pitch," know that it should be the length of a brief elevator ride, so about 20 to 30 seconds.

Keep in mind that it doesn't matter whether you want to start a business , have online business ideas , or already have a business and are looking for ways to grow your audience , expand your company, or sell your product or service.

It also doesn't matter what type of entrepreneurship the pitch is for either, whether a small business, medium-sized company, or large enterprise. The goal is to write something concise and quick that can encapsulate your main idea.

Ultimately, the object of an elevator speech or sales email is to explain how it's a product market fit in as short of an amount of time as possible. You must give enough information to adequately explain but not too much that the audience loses interest.

How to create an effective elevator pitch

Creating an elevator speech is less complicated than you may think if you're contemplating how you can summarize everything about your business in a few sentences.

Here are some key aspects to consider:

Know your business and target audience

Before you create your elevator pitch, make sure you create a business plan .

In your business plan, establish what you plan to offer, who you'll hire, and a variety of other details that are vital to creating your business. Not to mention, you perform market research , so you develop a profound understanding of who your target market is.

Know your goal

What do you plan to accomplish with your elevator speech? Do you want to find a co-founder , gain a new client, or sell your products to a large company? The possibilities are numerous. And not everyone will create the same type of elevator pitch since they may not have the same purpose.

Briefly describe your business

In your elevator pitch, sum up your business in a sentence or two. While it sounds difficult to keep your elevator speech short, especially if you've been in business for a bit, it's possible.

Think of what your company does or offers. Even if the concept of your products or offerings is technical in nature, leave out the technical jargon. Describe it in a way that almost any adult could understand what you do and provide.

Explain what makes your business unique

You have competition out there who are trying to obtain business in your niche. You need to find a way to stand out. Think about what sets your company apart. Why is your product or service better? Is it your customer service or the product itself?

Whenever you're going to networking events, meeting new people, or even cold emailing, you need to persuade people to choose you and your business over others. Therefore, make sure you explain why you're different in your elevator pitch.

Be positive

It's easy to come across in a negative way, even if that wasn't your intention. For instance, you could exacerbate the problem or put the competition down. These, however, come across poorly and can be off-putting for your potential customers.

Instead, explain everything in a positive manner. If you mention anything about how your company is different, explain it in a way that shines a light on your product or services and doesn't trash the competition.

For instance, if you want to say your company offers quicker service, don't mention that other companies can take days to show up. State that you built your business around providing quicker service than the competition.

When you talk about something you know, it becomes almost effortless to just ramble on. You then might find people are ignoring you when you're pitching your idea. This can pose quite a problem when you're trying to summarize your business quickly and intrigue people.

For this reason, always create the elevator speech first before you start using it on people. You can then slim it down and make it more concise. Speak only about the most important points. Save everything else about your business for once the person takes an interest in learning more.

Be the solution

Whether you're at a professional networking event, sending an email, or preparing for job interviews, make your pitch encompass being a solution for their problem.

For instance, if someone has dry skin, your elevator pitch could sell lotion. Let's say the individual is a major investor. Their focus is on making money. Therefore, marketing your company is a way for them to earn big bucks.

Go out with a bang

At the end of your elevator speech, you need a solid conclusion that pulls the audience in. For instance, you could conclude with how your product or service can change people's lives. Or it may include how much becoming your partner could bring prosperity.

Besides ending with a thought-provoking statement, you could also end with a question to get the audience thinking and questioning if what you're saying is right for them. It could also be a question that gets them to respond so you can begin a conversation with them. If they're in a hurry, it's a prime opportunity to exchange information, such as a business card.

Elevator pitch examples

Although the advice above may help, these elevator pitch examples can further your understanding and start you thinking about your own elevator pitch.

Skincare product

Are you tired of scanning the store shelves for natural skin care products only to find parabens and phthalates? After much deliberation and research, I created the perfect blend of herbs, minerals, and vitamins to give you soft, supple skin without everything you don't want. Would you like to give it a try?

Housekeeping company

It can often seem like you're failing when you can't juggle everything. That's when my company can help. No matter how frequently you need cleaning, my company can assist. We complete everything from sweeping and dusting to washing walls and windows. We're insured and guarantee high-quality results. So if you're sick of streaked windows, give us a try.

Restaurant looking for investors

Who doesn't want a mouthwatering, healthy, home-cooked meal brought to them? I've been in the restaurant business for over 10 years and am ready to take it on my own and provide the area with healthy, comfort food. While it sounds like an oxymoron, it isn't. I know how to cut calories and unhealthy ingredients without sacrificing taste. I'm just looking for an investor for this potentially profitable venture.

Marketing solutions software

Did you know, on average, a company spends between 7% and 8% of its revenue on marketing? Think about that in dollar amounts. With 365 Marketing, many of those tasks you're paying for right now can be automated, saving you time and money in the long run.

Expand your reach with Mailchimp

An elevator pitch is a synopsis of what makes you and your company unique. It's often offering a solution to a problem. Fortunately, Mailchimp provides various options that can help you with the process.

With Mailchimp's products, you can reach your investors, clients, or customers conveniently through automated email generation and more. You can then use your well-written, well-thought-out elevator pitch on a large number of people.

Related Topics

• Personalization
• Grow Your Team
• Grow Brand Awareness
• Measure Marketing Performance
• Drive Sales

How to Write an Elevator Pitch for Your Business [Template & Examples]

Written by Dave Lavinsky

What is an Elevator Pitch?

An elevator pitch in business is a brief description of your business, which can be spoken in 30 to 60 seconds (about the same duration as a short elevator ride), that excites your audience and encourages them to want to learn more about your company.

6 Components of a Great Pitch

Your company’s elevator pitch should include the following:

• Who you are – Introduce yourself and your company.
• What you do – Describe what products and/or services you offer.
• How you’re different – Describe what makes your company different from its competitors.
• Why you’re the best – Explain your value proposition.
• What’s in it for them – Describe what your audience can gain by working with you.
• Call to action – Describe your desired outcome.

What Makes a Great Elevator Pitch?

A quality elevator pitch:

• Gets everyone in your company on the precise same page regarding what your business is and what the key objectives are.
• Allows everyone in your company to give a concise and consistent explanation of your business which leads to more customers.
• Allows investors, lenders, partners, etc., to quickly understand what you do and hopefully get excited to work with your business venture.

Below you’ll learn the 7 keys to writing an effective elevator pitch for a company with examples from successful companies.

Then you’ll see our elevator pitch template to allow you to skillfully create your own elevator pitch for your business.

Finish Your Business Plan in 1 Day!

Once you finish your elevator pitch, you should include it in your business plan.

7 Keys to Writing an Elevator Pitch with Examples

Below are a few tips to help you create an effective elevator pitch with examples from multiple industries.

1. Make Your Elevator Pitch Short

With elevator pitches, brevity and simplicity are the keys. Take this elevator pitch example:

This is the introductory statement of the elevator pitch of Sandy Lerner, co-founder of Cisco Systems. The entire business premise is explained in just three words. A tremendous feat but one that is achievable with practice and patience.

2. Make it Simple

Use straightforward language in your elevator pitch with the goal that someone with very limited knowledge about your industry can easily understand your value.

Celebrated investor Michael Moritz in his book Leading recalls founders of Google, Sergey Brin and Larry Page’s straightforward elevator pitch:

Moritz recalls being impressed with the crispness and clarity of the pitch. The lesson here is that your pitch needs to be concise but with a clear sense of purpose and direction, which makes it memorable and easy to deliver.

3. Hook Them with What Makes you Unique

Your elevator pitch should spark interest, arouse curiosity, and make people want to engage with you to know more about your business and/or idea. It should be creative and distinctive.

Apple’s co-founder Steve Jobs was a star presenter who perfected the art of the hook. At the 2007 iPhone launch he began his pitch with the following statement:

Similarly, Airbnb’s pitch clearly highlights their distinctive offering:

Once you have people hooked you can expand upon your idea, depending on the time you have.

4. Include Numbers in Your Pitch

Instead of industry jargon, incorporate numbers into your elevator pitch. Investors understand numbers and a single relevant data point can do most of the influencing for you.

Consider the premise of The Laundress, a non-toxic fabric care company founded in 2004 that sold to Unilever for a reported $100 million in 2018:

Almost no one understands the specialized textile science that underpins The Laundress’ products. But almost everyone understands that dry cleaning is expensive and uses harmful chemicals. The 90% figure is an attention-grabbing statistic that immediately prompts curiosity around how The Laundress will clean your clothes while saving money on dry cleaning and reducing your environmental impact.

5. Prepare Several Elevator Pitches for Various Stakeholders

When getting your business off the ground or trying to scale it you will pitch different stakeholders.

You might find yourself pitching to an investor, coworker, or client. All will have a different agenda and need from your business. So, your elevator pitch to each one of them should be slightly varied to account for their needs and prospective benefits.

Consider a fictional startup aerosol disinfectant company and the below elevator pitches as framed to various stakeholders:

Prospective investor : Aeroclean’s portable disinfecting equipment creates the finest mist on the market and performs twice as effective at killing bacteria and viruses as the leading competitor. We estimate the market for products like ours will double in the next 24 months and, because we are the best in the business, your $500,000 investment will triple in that same period.

Prospective salesperson : You will be joining Aeroclean at the front end of a massive market expansion never before seen in the disinfectant space. We expect that your past experience in chemical sales coupled with our competitively priced state-of-the-art product will result in a six-figure commission opportunity over the next 12 months.

Prospective client : Keeping your common spaces bacteria and virus free will keep your workforce healthier and more productive, but 3 out of 4 companies we meet with haven’t found a solution that works for them. Aeroclean is portable, twice as effective as our competitor and priced at $1,500, payable over six months, and comes with a money-back guarantee.

Understanding how to get your audience’s attention is important for any pitch situation. Make sure you practice giving your elevator pitch so you can effectively communicate your business or idea to the right audience.

6. Have a Key Takeaway

Make sure your audience knows what you want from them at the end of your elevator pitch, be that their business, capital investment, or endorsement.

Consider Heal, a mobile app that facilitates doctor house calls for patients. Founder and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Renee Dua makes this pitch to potential patients on Heal’s website:

The takeaway here is a bid to you as the consumer to switch to Heal from other alternatives for your family’s healthcare needs.

7. Rehearse Thoroughly

Practice your pitch whenever you can and on whoever you can. Record yourself and play it back to see how you come across. Practicing also fosters confidence so that in an actual pitching situation you do not stall or come across as robotic.

Your body language also matters, so practice in front of a mirror to see how you move. Sit up straight, make eye contact and use hand gestures to help communicate the important points.

Your delivery must be smooth, conversational, and delivered in a compelling way. Seeing you entirely in control and confident will automatically inspire the audience’s confidence in the idea and/or business you are selling. The way you deliver your pitch is a great indication of the amount of passion you hold for your business. Hearing a passionate pitch can convince investors who invest in people as much as they invest in ideas. But, be sure to have your business card handy. 

Business Elevator Pitch Examples for Inspiration

Some specific examples of how to craft your company’s elevator pitch can be helpful. The following sample elevator pitches cover a wide range of businesses and organizations.

“We sell eco-friendly home goods online. We’re better than the other guys because we have a commitment to sustainability and offer high-quality products that last.”

“We develop mobile apps. We’re different because we design for both Android and iOS, and we have a team of experts who can make your app stand out in the App Store.”

“We help small businesses grow. We do this by creating and implementing online marketing campaigns that generate leads and sales. We’re the best at this because we have a team of experts who know how to leverage the latest digital technologies.”

“We offer a cloud-based customer relationship management system. Our CRM is different because it was built from the ground up to be mobile-friendly. We also have a team of experts who can help you get the most out of our CRM.”

“We sell and install solar panels. We’re the best at this because we have a team of experts who can help you choose the right solar panel for your needs and budget, both for installation and maintenance. We also have the best warranties in the industry.”

“We are a children’s boutique with one-of-a-kind clothing for kids 0-5 years old. We offer free shipping when you spend $50 or more, which is our way of saying thank you for supporting our small business.”

“We are the smartest sales lead generation company in the industry. We provide intelligence to clients through our proprietary platform, which is powered by big data and machine learning. But what really sets us apart is our team of experts who manage every facet of your lead gen campaigns.”

“We are the only company that offers a complete solution for your event planning needs. We have everything from venues to catering to décor, and we can take care of all the details so you don’t have to worry about anything. Plus, our team of industry experts will make sure your wedding is the stuff of fairy tales.”

Some other real-world elevator pitch examples include:

DoorDash : “DoorDash is the fastest way to get food from great restaurants to your door.”

Blue Apron : “Blue Apron helps you cook incredible meals at home.”

Warby Parker : “Warby Parker is a better way to buy glasses.”

ZocDoc : “ZocDoc makes it easy to find and book appointments with top doctors and dentists.”

While these elevator pitch examples are great for inspiration, remember that the best pitch is the one that fits your company perfectly.

To make the perfect elevator pitch, focus on what makes your company different and how you are helping your customers. If you think about your pitch as a conversation between two people, it should flow and sound natural.

You can also try using one of these elevator pitch examples as a starting point or our template below from which you can craft your own elevator pitch. However, keep in mind that the best way to have a successful pitch is by tailoring it for each potential investor.

General Elevator Pitch Template to Help You Write Your Pitch

The following elevator template includes six questions to help you develop a good elevator pitch for your business.

• What does your company do (start with phrases such as: we help, we provide, we manufacture, we offer, etc.)?
• Who does your company serve (who are your customers? teenagers? entrepreneurs, new parents, etc.)?
• What key benefits do you offer your customers? (e.g., higher quality/more success, lower cost, more reliable, etc.)?
• Why is your company better than competitors? (e.g., even faster, less expensive, etc.)? 
• What information gives your firm more credibility  (e.g., track record)?
• Is there a clear and clean business sector that your company fits into (e.g., restaurant, CPA firm, etc.)?

Combine the key points from Questions 1-6 into a 35 word or less statement that describes your business.

Say it aloud to make sure it sounds good and makes sense. Tell it to friends to make sure they “get” it. Tell it to team members and other employees to confirm that they can repeat it back to you.

Business Elevator Pitch Conclusion

Developing a strong elevator pitch is essential for any business. It can help you sell your company to potential investors, employees, and customers.

The best elevator pitches are clear, concise, and easy to understand. They highlight what makes your company different and why customers should choose you over the competition.

Remember to tailor your pitch to fit each individual investor and to make sure it sounds natural and normal. Practice saying it aloud to make sure everything flows together well.

If you follow these steps, you will have a much better chance of selling your business to investors and achieving great success for your business.

Other Helpful Business Plan Articles & Templates

5 Successful Elevator Pitch Examples – and How to Write Your Own

Our experts

Written and reviewed by:.

An effective elevator pitch is that perfect distilled version of everything you want to convey about your business, whether that’s in the formal document of a business plan , or in an in-person conversation.

But, the term ‘elevator pitch’ has been so endlessly re-used, it’s worth taking a beat to picture again what it was first meant to convey:

You’re in an elevator, and all of a sudden, in steps your dream business investor, mentor, or client. You have 30 seconds to introduce yourself and your business in a few deathly-concise sentences that will impress and convince them to want to work with you before those elevator doors open and you miss your one golden opportunity forever.

Would you be ready for that opportunity, and what would you say?

Using examples from real case studies, we’re going to take a deep dive into each one to explain what makes it work and why, plus provide you with the inspiration and insight to be able to write your own – so that you are ready to spring into action when opportunity knocks.

In this article, we'll cover:

What is an elevator pitch, how to write an elevator pitch, 1. “why mac” microsite (apple), 2. lumio (shark tank pitch by max gunawan), 3. “what is netflix” elevator pitch, 2022 (netflix), 4. stripe’s “global advertising campaign” (stripe), 5. google’s 1999 elevator pitch (google), elevator pitch template.

A good elevator pitch summarises who you are, what you do, and the value you bring to a person.

It can either be a pitch about you or for your business.

Having a short, sharp, memorable elevator pitch is the ultimate way to attract new and beneficial relationships and opportunities for your company or brand. And while an elevator is just one of the most common ways to visualise the concept, there are many, many other places and ways one can be used to your advantage.

An elevator pitch is particularly effective on your ideal customers, for example. The truth is attention spans are ruthless these days (a study by Microsoft concluded that the average human attention span dropped from twelve to eight seconds in 2022), so an elevator pitch is one way to ensure that not only can you prove you know what you’re talking about quickly and concisely to yourself, but also to your potential customers in a way they actually care about.

In the famous words of Albert Einstein:

“If you can’t understand it simply, you don’t know it well enough.”

It can also be used to attract potential partners. As the story goes, Steve Jobs looked the President of Pepsi – who he wanted to poach – in the eyes and said:

“Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water, or do you want a chance to change the world?”

An elevator pitch is also an excellent tool to use with people who work in press or when you have a large audience you are planning to present to. You’ll want an elevator pitch in order to immediately pique their interest enough to want to find out more and hopefully convert into media opportunities or sales.

Elevator pitches extend far beyond the realms of physical elevators – you can use them anywhere, from parties, to keynote speeches to casual business chats over coffee, or on your website and press materials. It should be something you consider writing in your business plan from the very beginning when you’re ready to start your business .

You must remember that the whole point is to get your most essential points across to your audience in a few precious seconds, and in a way that is meaningful to them, so this means ensuring that you’re not waffling on about your entire life story, bibliography or long list of product features (despite how interesting all of those things are to you personally).

Introduce yourself

It’s best practice to introduce yourself or your business as you would in any other conversation. It’s not essential or the only way (as you can start with an attention-grabber as shown with Steve Jobs’ pitch above), but it’s a polite and fail-safe place to start.

Present the problem

What problem does your business solve? There are so many problems in the world that need solving and in so many areas (from lifestyle to life-saving), with new challenges and struggles for people emerging everyday. If your business doesn’t solve a clear problem it is a very damning indicator of future failure.

Present your solution

Now that your elevator pitch has brought a (hopefully very relevant) problem to light in the mind of your audience, your business needs to be the solution for it. This is also called your “value proposition”. What does your company do that eases or solves the problem completely? And how can you make this sound essential and a no-brainer to all with the problem you put forward?

Bonus points if your solution features a USP (unique selling point) that makes you stand out from other competitors and businesses in your industry.

How long should an elevator pitch be?

The clue is in the title: an elevator pitch should be the length of a short elevator ride, around 30 seconds to 2 minutes. Yes, we know that’s hardly any time at all, but if you can step up to the challenge, the results are extremely effective, and the pitch will be an invaluable asset to your business for a lifetime.

Essential dos and don’ts

• Get straight to the point
• Keep it clear, concise, and easy to understand
• Give it a hook to catch the other person’s attention
• Stick to the important points: the problem that needs solving and the solution
• Memorise it off the top of your head (you never know when opportunities may arise!)
• Practice, practice, practice.

DON’T:

• Tell your whole life or business story
• Try to explain your entire business structure or every product or service feature
• Use overly technical or scientific jargon
• Be too vague – try to include at least one concrete achievement or qualifier that would command respect and cause people to stop and listen

A bad example of an elevator pitch would be:

“Hi, my name is Mary, but I know I need no introduction. I work in an office, doing a bit of this and a bit of that. Uhm, maybe you could fund some of my ideas one day even though I haven’t put together a full plan yet? I started thinking about the idea in University in 2002 when…”

“Easy to learn. Astoundingly powerful. And designed to let you work, play, and create in ways you never imagined. It’s the computer that comes packed with apps that are ready to go right out of the box. Free, regular software updates keep things up to date and running smoothly. And if you already have an iPhone, it feels familiar from the moment you turn it on.”

How does it work?

Geared towards customers, this elevator pitch hits a few of the most timeless and sought-after desires directly when it comes to any product or service: ease of use, and power (which would also be defined as “individuality” according to Apple’s iconic brand strategy).

Why does it work?

Having your elevator pitch lean towards a customer desire (most namely power) is backed by a few theories – including McClelland’s theory of needs and Tony Robbins’ six core human needs – in that ultimately people want products that make them feel free, autonomous and significant i.e. all attributes that Apple want their products and brand to be known for.

What can your company learn from it?

It goes without saying that Apple are global leaders in marketing and experts when it comes to brand storytelling and captivating their audiences at this point. This example is no exception. Strong, clear value propositions and short, authoritative sentences are something you can take away for your company from this elevator pitch and Apple altogether as a brand.

“An elegant lighting solution that gives you the freedom to experience beautiful lighting wherever you are.”

It clearly states the USP, why someone would want to purchase it and also subtly the type of person who should buy it, by its use of the word ‘elegant’. The elevator pitch positions the product as a luxury item in the listeners mind right away, as well as a lifestyle piece, by also using words like ‘freedom’ and ‘experience’. The great thing about lifestyle product branding is that you never really lose customers by communicating your more exclusive status – it simply increases the desirability of the product. It will be an alluring and exciting buying prospect for those who already consider themselves elegant, and those who wish to be.

One of the key components with this elevator pitch is actually not what was said (although in those two small sentences, a lot was conveyed) – but really it was about the confidence in the delivery. Max Gunawan knew he would be on a worldwide platform, sharing his idea for the first time to a half-engaged, unreceptive audience watching at home, so had to capture not just the room but the millions of viewers. To do this, he was bold and assertive, which was enough to catch people’s attention and have them intrigued enough to want to learn more.

In this case, confidence and a short concise explanation of the product and its potential audience win out here. Considered one of the best Shark Tank pitches of all time, these 16 words secured a cool £350,000 investment for 10% equity from Robert Herjavec, and Lumio continues to make a profit of an estimated £5 million annually to this day.

A subscription-based streaming service that allows our members to watch TV shows and movies on an internet-connected device.

While there are many different types of streaming services now, Netflix was always one of the pioneers.

Its pitch went from one about sending DVDs to people’s homes, to unlimited movies at people’s fingertips with the click of a button. But the story behind the pitch remained the same – wanting to solve the hassle of having to go to a rental store.

Herein lies the genius behind this particular pitch. It is a perfect opener for Netflix to share more about founders Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph’s personal grievances and pain points that led them to creating their own, perfectly streamlined solution.

It explains everything you need to know by using extremely succinct, keyword-type language that is easily recognised in any listener’s mind. The technicality and straightforwardness of the pitch makes it hard to misinterpret or misunderstand.

While there are multiple other ways to access this kind of technology nowadays, Netflix was truly a pioneer when it came to TV and movie viewing on the internet. It has continued to evolve and innovate since Blockbuster laughed them out of their offices for what they considered to be a ridiculous idea with absolutely no potential for the future.

We all know who’s had the last laugh, as the company continues to grow and has a current net worth of $127.58 billion (a s of December 2022).

The most important lessons you can learn from Netflix and its humble pitch are that 1) It’s okay to change your pitch as your business evolves and 2) simple, cheap and convenient business ideas can change the world.

“ Financial infrastructure for the internet. Millions of businesses of all sizes, from startups to large enterprises, use Stripe’s software and APIs to accept payments, send payouts, and manage their businesses online.”

This elevator pitch is Stripe’s current staple when it comes to marketing in a quick and succinct way in its advertising across all its platforms, from its homepage, to social media to underground station posters. What’s great about this pitch is that it communicates a strong and memorable positioning statement, as well as an enticing vision.

From the initial sentence you understand Stripe’s decision to take a hard stance on how it intends the world to see the brand. This kind of positioning statement inspires confidence in a company, because it signifies that it’s intending to stick around for the long term and be #1 in this aspect in the world. It also hints towards the brand’s future vision, because the idea of ‘financial infrastructure’ is still quite innovative but Stripe is willing to take on this title and in doing so, must aim to take it to the next level.

A positioning or vision statement is very intriguing to start with and immediately captures attention. It is also memorable and should be easy to understand for best effect.

“Google exists to organise the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.”

On the day Google’s founders walked into his office, venture capital investor John Doerr learned something that all entrepreneurs should consider: There’s power in simplicity.

Once in a blue moon, an idea comes along that is truly life-changing for the majority of the world. An idea that shifts the entire framework of how we work and live. That was Google. The brand showcases this very well with their use of extremely big phrases such as ‘universally’ and ‘the world’s information’. Those are huge claims, and fortunately Google could actually back them up otherwise the pitch would not have been as legendary as it is today.

A good elevator pitch can double up as the beginnings of your brand story, forming the foundation of almost everything else you present in a marketing sense from the company’s launch presentations, press releases, ads to fully-fledged marketing campaigns.

Use our template below to start constructing your elevator pitch and customise it where needed. This template incorporates the four parts explained above to hit all of the important details of a good elevator pitch.

Introduction:

• Hi I’m [name], I work at [company name].
• Did you know that [problem, current events or interesting statistic]?
• Do you ever feel like [relatable pain point or struggle]?
• “Don’t you just hate that [relatable pain point or struggle]?
• Do you ever wish that [pain point or struggle]
• Have you ever wondered why [pain point or struggle]?
• I work there because I believe the world needs [help with specific pain point]
• I don’t know about you, but I’ve always had [this relatable problem] and a lot of other people do, too.
• [My company] helps [ideal client] solve [this problem] by [solution].
• [My company] helps [ideal client] solve [this problem] so that they can [include a desired outcome for customers]
• That’s where [my company] comes in – we [solve the problem]!
• This has always been a problem, until now. [My company] [solves the problem] by [unique selling point / value proposition]
• [My company] solves this problem, and we do it a little differently than everyone else. We offer [unique value proposition]

Bonus (Add a CTA):

• We’re currently looking for [press opportunities]
• I really think this would be beneficial to your [podcast/show/newspaper/magazine]. Would you be happy for me to send you a press release?
• I’ve really appreciated your time today. Would you be interested in continuing this conversation sometime over [phone/text/email] so we can see how we can help each other?
• I just know what I do is perfect for [you / your company]. Here’s my business card if you’re interested in [an interview with us / purchasing our product/service / learning more].

It’s well worth your while to have an elevator pitch (or two) for yourself and your company, because you never know when they will come in handy – from communicating your next big idea to a friend, a friendly new contact, or a key investor.

You might also want to use a quality project management software to manage all these contacts and monitor the potential far-reaching effects your pitch can have.

Practice makes perfect, and with a perfect pitch you could easily end up with the business opportunity of your dreams.

• What are 3 things your elevator pitch should include? At the least, a good elevator pitch consists of an introduction, a problem and a solution from you and/or your company.
• What is the most important part of your elevator pitch? The most important part of your elevator pitch is communicating to your audience what you actually sell. Nothing else in your pitch (for example your story, your vision, your target market) works without this crucial factor.
• What should not be included in a good elevator pitch? A good elevator pitch is authoritative, concise and powerful - so should not include any useless information that does not bring value to your audience such as a long-winded, unrelated life story, overall technical jargon, or any weak, vague language.
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How to Write an Elevator Pitch for Your Business: Tips & Examples

As business owners, we’ve all been in a situation where we’ve had to succinctly and impressively explain our business to someone else. Yes, I’m discussing the much-dreaded elevator pitch. But fret not; it doesn’t need to be as scary as it seems.

An elevator pitch is essentially your business in a bite-sized nugget, a short and snappy overview designed to grab attention, invoke curiosity, and leave a lasting impression. It’s the tool you pull out when you only have a limited amount of time to make an impact. It’s named after those brief elevator rides, after all!

If you’re struggling with crafting your pitch or even if you wish to polish an existing one, you’re in the right place. Today, we’re going to demystify the art of writing a compelling elevator pitch, with practical tips and real-world examples to guide you along the way.

What is an Elevator Pitch For a Business?

An elevator pitch. also known as an elevator speech or elevator statement, is a quick summary that lasts around 60 seconds or less (the length of an elevator ride). It captures the essence of your business in a succinct and engaging way. It’s a versatile tool that you can use in different situations, from networking events to sales meetings. It’s all about giving a snapshot of what your business does, who it serves, and what sets it apart.

But it’s not just a boring recitation of facts. An elevator pitch is meant to be a compelling story that paints a vivid picture of your business, showing your passion and highlighting the value you bring to the table. The perfect elevator pitch is attention-grabbing leaves the listener with a clear understanding of your business and sparks their interest to learn more.

What is The Importance of Giving an Elevator Pitch?

An elevator pitch can be used as a business introduction— the first impression —that can spark interest. It can unlock doors for potential customers, investors, and partners. It’s like a business card, but spoken and much more captivating. In a limited time, it allows you to concisely present your business.

Moreover, you can use your elevator pitch to confidently articulate your business’s value proposition. It forces you to think critically, distilling your business’s essence into an easily understandable format. This clarity also helps align your team, ensuring consistent understanding and communication of your business’s purpose and value.

Lastly, when networking among fellow entrepreneurs and business owners, a compelling elevator pitch is also what sets you apart, grabs attention, and leads to meaningful connections. So, giving an elevator pitch is not just a powerful promotional tool but also a valuable exercise in refining your business’s identity and value proposition.

How to Write and Deliver an Elevator Pitch

Now that we’ve covered what an elevator pitch is, its importance, and the value it can bring to your business, it’s time to delve into the heart of the matter: how to write and deliver an effective elevator pitch. This process requires clarity and conciseness, honed with a dash of creativity. So, let’s roll up our sleeves and craft a pitch that leaves a lasting impression and opens doors to new opportunities.

Who are you?

Start your pitch by establishing your business’s identity. It’s not just about stating your name and your business’s name; it’s about conveying your role, mission, and core values that drive your operations. What sets you apart from your competitors?

Are you an innovative tech startup disrupting traditional markets, a family-owned business with a rich heritage, or a social enterprise making a positive impact in your community? Whatever it is, express it authentically and compellingly. Your elevator pitch should paint a picture of your identity that aligns with your brand and resonates with your audience.

What do you do?

When considering what to include in your pitch, it’s important to focus on what your business does. It’s not just about listing your products or services; it’s about explaining how you solve your customers’ problems or provide value to the market. To nail this, put yourself in your customers’ shoes. What are their needs and pain points? How does your business offer a solution? And don’t forget to tie it all back to your mission and values.

For example, if you’re a digital marketing agency, you could say something like, “We help small and medium-sized businesses boost their online visibility, attract more customers, and drive growth.” Keep it simple, free of jargon, and relatable. The goal is to effectively communicate the value of your business in a way that anyone can understand, even if they’re not familiar with your industry.

What do you want?

The third part of your elevator pitch is all about expressing what you want; it’s like your call to action. This part should be customized based on the situation and the person you’re talking to. Here’s an example: at a career fair or a networking event, you might want to establish a connection or schedule a follow-up meeting.

When pitching to a potential client, you’ll want them to consider using your product or service. When speaking to a potential investor, your goal could be to secure an investment meeting. It’s so important to be clear, specific, and direct. You could say something like, “I’d appreciate the opportunity to discuss how our unique approach could drive growth for your business .”

8 Tips to Create an Elevator Pitch for Your Business

Want to learn how to create a pitch that you can use at any moment? These tips provide a guide to better structure your pitch, add a touch of uniqueness, and ensure that it resonates with your audience.

1. Identify Your Goal

Before you start crafting your elevator pitch, it’s important to first identify your goal. What do you hope to achieve with this pitch? Are you aiming to attract potential clients, secure an investment, or simply build your network and meaningful connections? Your goal will shape how you structure your message and what aspects of your business you choose to highlight.

For example, if you aim to secure an investment, you may want to emphasize your business’s growth potential and unique value proposition. On the other hand, if you’re looking to attract clients, you might focus more on the problems you can solve for them. By clearly defining your goal , your pitch will have a clear direction and purpose, helping you stay focused and on point.

2. Describe Your Work

The next step is to provide a quick synopsis of your background. This entails more than just a rundown of the services or products you offer. It’s about painting a vivid picture of the value you bring and the problems you solve for your customers. Think about the unique aspects of your business that set you apart from competitors. Perhaps you offer a new innovative solution, or you apply a unique methodology, or maybe you have a strong track record of success. Whatever it is, it needs to be captivating and memorable.

For example, instead of saying, “I run a digital marketing agency,” you could say, “We empower businesses to reach their full potential in the digital landscape, transforming their online presence and driving sustainable growth through innovative marketing strategies .”

3. Explain Your Unique Selling Proposition

Your Unique Selling Proposition (USP) is what sets you apart from your competitors. It’s that special something that makes your business shine in a crowded marketplace. So, when having your pitch prepared, emphasize the unique value your product and service brings, something that others can’t match. It could be a patented feature, exceptional customer service, or a one-of-a-kind business model. The aim is to give your audience a compelling reason to choose you. Remember, your USP should be concise yet powerful.

For example, if you’re an organic food retailer, your USP could be something like, “We’re dedicated to promoting health and sustainability by offering 100% organic, locally sourced produce that supports local farmers and is free from harmful pesticides.” This not only showcases your unique offering but also resonates with the values of health and sustainability, making your pitch more appealing to your target audience.

4. Know Your Target Market

Understanding your target market is crucial when writing your pitch. It’s all about knowing who your customers are, what they need, what they want, and how they behave. By doing so, you can tailor your products or services to meet their demands and effectively communicate how you can solve their problems. Tailoring your pitch to the person ensures that your message resonates on a personal level. Take the time to understand their demographics, psychographics, and the challenges they typically face. This way, you can deliver a pitch that truly resonates with them.

Remember, your elevator pitch is not about you – it’s about your audience. Speak in their language, address their concerns, and watch as you engage them more effectively. For instance, if your target market consists of small business owners , you could emphasize how your service can save them time, reduce costs, or expand their customer base. Let them know that you empower small businesses to optimize their financial performance, providing tailor-made strategies that increase profitability and ensure financial stability.

5. Interact With a Question

Engaging your audience is crucial for a successful elevator pitch, and one of the best ways to do that is by asking a question. This technique not only grabs their attention but also gets them thinking about their situation or challenges. It transforms your pitch from a one-sided talk into a conversation, making it more dynamic and captivating. Your question should be thought-provoking and relevant to what you offer.

For example, if you’re in cybersecurity, you could ask, “Have you ever considered the potential impact of a data breach on your business?” Or if you offer a productivity tool, you might ask, “How much time do you think your team could save if their tasks were automated?”. The goal is not to put your audience on the spot, but to spark interest and open a dialogue. By incorporating a question into your pitch, you can better understand your audience’s needs and demonstrate how your business can fulfill those needs.

6. Include a Financial Summary

When crafting your elevator pitch, don’t forget to include a concise financial summary. This is your chance to showcase the financial health, growth potential, or profitability of your business, depending on your objective. If you’re seeking investments, provide a snapshot of your financial projections, growth rate, or return on investment. This will demonstrate your business’s potential profitability and assure potential investors of your financial expertise.

On the other hand, if you’re pitching to clients or customers, emphasize how your product and service deliver value for money or lead to cost savings. For example, a software-as-a-service provider could say, “Our clients typically experience a 30% reduction in costs within the first year of using our service.” This section of your pitch should instill confidence in your audience about your business’s viability and the financial advantages of partnering with you .

7. Put it All Together

Once you’ve identified each of these key components, the final step in crafting your elevator pitch is to bring them together into a seamless narrative that flows naturally. Start by introducing yourself, and clearly stating who you are and what you do. Then, highlight your unique value proposition, explaining the specific value you offer. Show your understanding of your target market and how you address their needs. Engage your audience with a thought-provoking question, inviting them to consider how your business can benefit them.

Finally, wrap up with a compelling financial summary, giving a snapshot of your business’s value or potential profitability. Practice your pitch regularly, allowing it to evolve organically as you resonate with your audience and adapt to changes in your business. With a well-crafted elevator pitch, you’ll be ready to seize any opportunity to promote your business and attract potential clients, investors, or partners.

8. Read, Edit, and Practice the Pitch

After creating your elevator pitch, it’s time to refine and perfect it. Start by reading it aloud to yourself; this helps identify any awkward phrases or jargon that might hinder comprehension. Next, edit your pitch for clarity and brevity, removing any fluff or unnecessary details. Practice your pitch repeatedly until it becomes second nature.

Try it out in front of a mirror, record yourself, or even practice it with a friend or colleague to get feedback. Through repeated practice and adjusting where necessary, your pitch will become more natural, convincing, and effective. Also, don’t forget to adapt your pitch to different audiences or situations as needed. Your elevator pitch is a living document, always ready to be tweaked to best fit the context.

How to Use an Elevator Pitch Effectively for Business Development?

An elevator pitch may be a powerful tool for business development if used effectively. Here are several ways to put your pitch to work:

Networking Events

These gatherings are breeding grounds for potential business opportunities. They are also the perfect place to use your pitch to introduce your business and its value succinctly and compellingly.

Sales Meetings

When meeting prospective clients, it’s a good idea to off the conversation with your elevator pitch. It sets the tone, communicates your value proposition, and can directly address the client’s specific needs or challenges.

Online Platforms

A well-crafted pitch can be an excellent addition to your LinkedIn profile summary, business website, or even as part of your email signature. It serves as a brief, engaging introduction for potential clients, partners, or investors who come across your online presence.

Funding Pitches

When seeking investment, your elevator pitch can provide a quick overview of your business’s potential profitability and growth prospects.

Good Elevator Pitches Examples with Templates for Businesses

Now that we’ve covered the key elements of a great elevator pitch and how to use it effectively, let’s take a look at some viable elevator pitch examples to inspire you.

These pitches demonstrate how various businesses have successfully captured their unique selling points, showcased their value, and generated interest concisely and engagingly. We’ll also provide a simple elevator pitch template to help you craft your captivating pitch in no time. So, let’s get started!

1. At a Networking Event

“Hi, I’m Jane Doe, the founder of GreenBite, a food delivery service that connects people with local restaurants serving organic, healthy food. We noticed that most people today value health and sustainability, but often struggle to find time to cook from scratch or discover eco-friendly eateries.

What if I told you that with our app, you can enjoy delicious, nutritious meals from environmentally-conscious restaurants right at your doorstep? In our first year, we’ve seen a 40% growth rate and our customers report an average of 10 hours saved per month, not to mention the peace of mind knowing their food choices support their health and the environment.”

“Hi, I’m [Your Name], the [Your Position] of [Your Company], a [What Your Company Does]. We know that [Target Market Needs or Challenges], but often [What Makes It Difficult]. What if [Provocative Question Related to Your Business Solution]? [Financial Success or Impact of Your Business].”

2.  In a Job Interview

“Hello, I’m John Smith, a seasoned project manager specialising in tech start-ups. I’ve noticed that many young companies struggle to manage multiple projects simultaneously while trying to scale rapidly.

What if you could have someone with a track record of successfully overseeing multiple high-stakes projects while ensuring growth? At my previous company, I managed a portfolio of projects worth over £2 million, leading to a 35% increase in overall efficiency.”

“Hello, I’m [Your Name], a [Your Position] specialising in [Area of Specialisation]. I’ve noticed that many [Target Market] struggle with [Common Issue]. What if you could have someone who [Solution Offered]? In my previous role at [Former Company], I [Achievement or Statistic].”

3. To Attract Investors

“Hello, I’m John Doe, a salesperson for a groundbreaking company that’s revolutionising the tech industry with our AI-driven solutions. We understand that investors like yourself are on the lookout for innovative, high-growth opportunities. What if I told you we are on track to disrupt the $5 billion AI market with our unique, patent-pending technology? In the last fiscal year, we achieved a 60% growth rate, and our projections for the next three years indicate a tripling of that figure.”

“Hello, I’m [Your Name], the [Your Position] of [Your Company], a [What Your Company Does]. I understand that you [The Investor] are always looking for [What Investors Want]. What if I told you [What Your Business Can Offer to Investors]? In the last [Time Frame], we’ve achieved [Your Business’s Recent Success]. Our forecasts for the next [Future Time Frame] predict [Future Success].”

What Not to Do in an Elevator Speech?

While crafting and delivering an elevator pitch is crucial, being aware of what not to do can be equally important. Here are some pitfalls to avoid:

• Being Vague. An effective elevator pitch is precise and to the point. Avoid generalities and focus on specifics about your business, its value proposition, and the problems it solves.
• Overloading with Information. While it’s essential to share the crucial aspects of your business, overwhelming your listener with too much information can lead to a loss of interest. Stick to highlighting the core elements of your business.
• Failing to Engage the Listener. An elevator pitch is not just a monologue. It’s an opportunity to initiate a conversation. Try to incorporate questions or statements that provoke thought or pique curiosity.
• Neglecting the Call to Action. Every good elevator pitch should end with a call to action. Whether you’re seeking a meeting, a business card exchange, or a referral, make sure to include this in your pitch.
• Not Practising Enough. An elevator pitch should be polished and well-rehearsed. It’s not something you want to create on the spot. Practise often to ensure smooth delivery.

What is a successful elevator sales pitch?

A successful elevator sales pitch is a brief, persuasive speech that you can use to spark interest in your business, your latest project, or even yourself. Typically lasting around 30 seconds – the hypothetical duration of an elevator ride – it succinctly encapsulates the value proposition of your goods or services, explaining why it’s unique, how it resolves a specific problem, and why listeners should be interested.

The most effective pitches are engaging, and memorable, and conclude with a clear call to action, prompting further dialogue or cooperation. It’s crucial to rehearse your pitch to ensure its smooth delivery, demonstrating confidence and professionalism.

How to deliver your pitch to a potential client?

Getting your pitch to a potential client requires a combination of preparation, clarity, and engagement. Begin by succinctly outlining what your business does and the unique value it offers. Focus on the client’s needs or challenges, and position your product and service as the solution. Be certain to discuss the tangible benefits they can expect, using quantitative data if applicable.

The goal is not just to talk, but also to spark a dialogue. Include thought-provoking questions or statements and show enthusiasm for the potential partnership. Lastly, end with a clear call to action – this could be scheduling a follow-up meeting, a demo of your product, or even just exchanging contact details. Practice your pitch beforehand to ensure it flows smoothly and comes across as natural and authentic.

Should a good elevator pitch last no longer than a short elevator ride of 20 to 30 seconds?

Indeed, a good elevator pitch should ideally be as brief as a short elevator ride, typically lasting 20 to 30 seconds. This timeframe is generally enough to express the essential aspects of your business, product, or service, while also maintaining the listener’s attention. It’s important to be concise and focus only on the key points that you want your listener to remember. Being able to deliver a compelling synopsis in this short time frame demonstrates your ability to identify and articulate your value proposition effectively.

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9 The Business Plan Pitch

Learning Objectives

After completing this chapter, you will be able to

• Deliver an effective business plan pitch

Writing a good business plan will only get an entrepreneur so far. To achieve their goals, they must be prepared to pitch their plan effectively to targeted investors and other potential stakeholders. These are sometimes called elevator pitches  because an entrepreneur should be prepared to effectively deliver one in the length of time it takes to ride up a few floors in an elevator with a potential investor. The goal of a pitch is not to fully describe a business idea, but to be able to convince a potential investor in five minutes or less that they should meet with the entrepreneur further to learn more about the idea because they might want to invest in it.

Your business plan pitch must be focused on what your targeted audience and business plan readers need to know. Usually your pitch will be designed to capture a potential investor’s interest so that they will want to talk to you about investing in your venture. In that case, your pitch should follow a process similar to the one described next.

Avoid the trap of telling the potential investors too much about how your business works. Instead, spend your time telling them what they need to know to become interested enough to possibly invest in your venture. That means allocating your time almost equally on each of the following elements of your pitch script.

• The problem you solve should be for an identifiable group of people or organizations who recognize that they have a problem and are willing to spend their money for a solution to the problem.
• Your solution should be better than the alternative solutions offered by your competitors or by those who suffer from the problem. It should also be a solution that cannot or will not be readily copied by existing or new competitors.
• Your chances of being considered capable of delivering what you promise are enhanced if you have a strong team, relevant experience, or access to scarce or unique resources or networks.
• Your opportunities to get the financing you need improve when you can show that the money will increase your capacity to achieve what you promise.
• Potential investors want to know how and when they will get their investment back and how much of a return they will earn on their money. You should be able provide them with an estimate of how much your venture is worth and will be worth in the future while telling them what that means for them.

Chapter Summary

A simple five step business plan pitch format has five steps. When entrepreneurs have a chance to engage with targeted investors, they usually have a limited amount of time to convince those investors to consider their investment opportunity. The purpose of the business plan pitch is to capture the attention and interest of targeted investors within a very short time. A successful pitch should result in an invitation by the investor for the entrepreneur to provide more information about the business because they might want to invest in it.

Business Plan Development Guide Copyright © 2023 by Lee A. Swanson is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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How to Create a Captivating Elevator Pitch

6 min. read

Updated April 30, 2024

For startups and entrepreneurs, a great elevator pitch is a must.

It’s the key to sparking interest in your company, raising money from investors, and networking with business partners. It’s also a handy tool to answer the question, “so what does your company do?”

To help you build the perfect elevator pitch, we’ve brought together all of the resources you need. From a guide on what to include and a free pitch deck template to advice on how to use body language to make your speech more impactful.

Read on to discover what your elevator pitch should include and how to take a pitch from “good” to “great.”

• What is an elevator pitch?

An elevator pitch is usually a short, impactful speech, but it can also be delivered as a presentation or “pitch deck.” Your pitch tells your audience what your business does, who your customers are, and summarizes your key accomplishments. The goal of an elevator pitch is to intrigue the listener, inviting further conversation or inspiring them to take action. 

There are situations where a more extended version of your pitch is appropriate. This longer presentation, sometimes called a “pitch presentation,” typically lasts between 5 and 20 minutes. This extra time allows you to delve deeper into your ideas, products, or services, providing more detailed information while maintaining a clear, concise, and persuasive tone. 

This format is often used in formal business situations like investor pitches, business plan presentations, or when addressing larger audiences at conferences or public speaking events. 

• How to create an elevator pitch

Here are the steps you’ll need to take to create a convincing elevator pitch.

Cover these key components in your elevator pitch

Aside from catching your audience’s interest, there are seven specific things you must address to be sure your audience understands your business.

Get feedback on your business pitch

Are you speaking too fast? Is there vital information missing? You probably wouldn’t know unless someone takes the time to review your pitch. Here’s how to approach getting feedback on your presentation.

Know what you’ll say in your one, five, ten, and 20-minute pitch

You need to have a short and meaningful pitch. You also should be able to tailor your pitch to fit the expectations of different audiences. So, start by defining what should be in your pitch with more or less time.

Create a pitch deck that works without your elevator pitch

If you’re presenting to investors or lenders, you’ll want a visual presentation to compliment your elevator pitch. Ideally, this deck should describe your business so well that it works without a verbal explanation.

Back up your pitch with a business plan

Before you start pitching, you need to have a business plan. If investors or lenders like what you’re saying, they’ll expect you to share a plan that goes into greater detail and backs up what you’re saying.

Tips to nail your pitch and impress investors

There are many factors that go into creating a good elevator pitch. Whether you’re improving your poise, ability to tell a story, or ability to answer investor questions, we have several guides to help strengthen these specific skills.

Things that will take your pitch from good to great

Aside from a well-developed elevator pitch here are nine other things to elevate your presentation and set yourself apart.

How to successfully pitch your business idea to investors

We’ve covered the basic sections you need to include in your pitch. But there are other things to consider covering to convince investors that your idea is worth their time and money.

Avoid these common mistakes when pitching

Don’t want to bomb your pitch? Be sure to avoid these costly mistakes.

How to hook investors with your company culture

Not every investor will be won over by an impressive bottom line and high growth potential. Some care more about the mission or culture of the companies they’re investing in.

What to do if you can’t answer an investor question

Even with the most thorough preparation you’re bound to have questions you simply don’t have a good answer for. Here’s what to do when you can’t quickly present a good answer.

How to improve your body language when pitching

You may have a killer pitch, a captivating pitch deck, and a well-written business plan to back it all up—but if your posture, hand motions, and eye contact aren’t hitting the mark you may fall short.

Learn to harness the power of Pixar storytelling

No one knows how to craft a compelling story better than the creatives at Pixar. While their focus is on animated features that pull the heartstrings—their methods can actually help you develop a more enticing pitch.

How to raise money and pitch as a female entrepreneur

There are numerous roadblocks to small business funding—even more-so for women who must combat a legacy of underfunding due to the predispositions of many investors. Here’s what to prepare for.

Lessons from Shark Tank pitches

When pitching to investors you’re going to hear ‘no’ more than ‘yes’. It’s a necessary process for you to learn from. But, you can also take away some insights from the public pitches shown on Shark Tank.

• Alternative ways to pitch your business

You’re not always going to pitch in a formal or traditional setting. It’s important to understand the different types of pitches you may have to give, including virtual, written, and spontaneous pitches in social settings.

Learn to pitch in social situations

If you’re starting to network or rub shoulders with industry veterans there will likely be an opportunity to pitch your business. It’s not a formal setting and you need to fine-tune your pitch to fit the spontaneity.

How to pitch your business virtually

Meetings over video calls are becoming the norm and that also applies to pitch meetings. While your overall pitch shouldn’t change that much, there are some nuances to doing things virtually that you should consider.

How to pitch your business through email

If you’re struggling to secure time to pitch to investors then you may be better off skipping the meeting and trying to convince them directly in their inbox.

• Elevator pitch and pitch deck resources

Resources and templates to help you successfully pitch your business idea.

Free investor pitch deck template

Visualize your business pitch and wow investors with this free pitch deck template.

Download Template

Business plan template

Back up your pitch with a detailed and investor-ready business plan. Get started with our fill-in-the-blank business plan template.

Plan and pitch with a single powerful tool

Create and share your investor-ready plan, pitch, and financial forecasts with LivePlan.

Kody Wirth is a content writer and SEO specialist for Palo Alto Software—the creator's of Bplans and LivePlan. He has 3+ years experience covering small business topics and runs a part-time content writing service in his spare time.

Table of Contents

• Tips to nail your pitch

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How to Give a Great Elevator Pitch (With Examples)

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How to Give a Great Elevator Pitch (With Examples) was originally published on Forage .

Though people are complex and so much more than just their jobs, in a new social situation you’re often asked, “So, what do you do?” or “What are you majoring in?” While you probably have a stock answer ready to go (I’m in sales; I’m majoring in English), the person asking may be able to help you achieve your career goals — but they won’t know unless you’ve got an elevator pitch ready to go.

An elevator pitch is an enticing and interesting three or four-sentence summary of you. But you do more than talk about yourself. Your elevator pitch gets the listener interested in what you’re capable of.

In this guide, you’ll learn:

What Is an Elevator Pitch?

How to write an elevator pitch, elevator pitch examples, elevator pitch bonus tips.

Mike Gardon of CareerCloud sums up elevator pitches like this: “When meeting someone for the first time, we all get asked what we do, right? Well, an elevator pitch is how you answer that question.”

At its core, an elevator pitch is a brief synopsis of who you are and what you do (or are trying to do). It’s named so because of the idea that you’re in an elevator with the one person who can make your career dreams come true. You’ve got the length of that elevator ride (approximately 30 seconds) to convince that person to keep listening to you.

Why You Need an Elevator Pitch (and When You’ll Use It)

In many respects, an elevator pitch is all about you. And though it may seem strange — uncomfortable even — to talk about yourself, a well-designed elevator pitch starts with you and ends with the listener.

Gardon explains, “The elevator pitch is designed to engage the person with whom you are communicating, and get them to take some next action. Think about it like this: if you were writing an email, the elevator pitch would be the subject line plus the next couple of lines that are shown in an inbox. The purpose is to get the recipient to open the email.”

In the case of your elevator pitch, you’re attempting to spark a longer conversation (or later meeting) with someone who could potentially help you professionally.

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Your elevator pitch comes in handy when you’re looking for a job. But you’ll also use various versions of your elevator pitch in situations like:

• Networking events
• Prospecting for new sales and clients
• When you’re interviewing and asked, “Tell me about yourself.”
• As the “about me” on LinkedIn, Twitter, or other social media page
• In the summary of qualifications on your resume

How Long Should an Elevator Pitch Be?

While elevator ride times vary, the general rule of thumb is that an elevator pitch is no longer than 30 seconds, which means your pitch needs to be concise.

So, you can’t include every accomplishment from your last three jobs, just the top most recent ones. As you’re honing your pitch, write it down and limit yourself to four sentences. This will help you focus on your top highlights.

In general, an elevator pitch includes four essential elements: who you are, what you do, what’s unique about you, and what your “ask” is. Though the “meat” of your pitch likely doesn’t change often, you should prepare multiple elevator pitches that you can tailor to your situation.

For example, if you’re a student, the pitch you use at a career fair may not be the same one you use at a networking event. Likewise, if you’re changing careers, you may need to switch up what your “ask” is depending on who you talk to.

Gardon offers an example. “I wear so many different hats and am involved in different businesses. So, if I want someone to be a guest on my podcast, I might tell them how we’ve done over 400 episodes, instead of telling them that I’m a former derivatives trader.”

Also, while the below elements are crucial, they can go in almost any order. While a good elevator pitch usually begins with your name, you may find that listing your skills before your accomplishments is better for your pitch.

Part 1: Who Are You?

Your elevator pitch starts with your name, of course, but also consider throwing in a “hook” that gives the person you’re speaking with an opening to ask you questions. Here are some examples:

“I’m [your name], a recent graduate of [university] with a degree in [your degree].”

“My name is [your name] and I’m a junior at [university] majoring in [your major].”

“I’m [your name] and while I’m currently in product development, I’ve decided I want to change gears and go into graphic design.”

Part 2: What Do You Do?

The second part of your elevator pitch explains what you do. However, you shouldn’t limit yourself to a job title. This is the place to mention one outstanding accomplishment from your job, internship, or even a class that will wow your listener.

Like all parts of your elevator speech, this needs to be brief, but it should also be detailed and help the listener get an idea of what you’re capable of:

“During my marketing internship at [name of company], I grew social media engagement by 43%, which resulted in an uptick in newsletter sign-ups year over year.”

“Our business is small, but that lets us have more personal interaction, which has helped us keep a small but loyal and profitable client base for 15 years.”

“After learning about the stock market, I wanted to test what I learned as well as my skills, so I created a mock portfolio that’s realized a 24% gain over the last year.”

Part 3: What’s Unique About You?

The next section of your elevator pitch includes something unique about you. While this can include specific skills, you can also trace your career path or accomplishments to illustrate how you use your skills.

Because you only have 30 seconds, you might be tempted to list your skills or accomplishments like a grocery list. But try to link them to an outcome or something you can do.

“I enjoy analyzing data and using the results to plan my content calendar, including social media posts.”

“I worked on my college newspaper, starting on the sports beat, eventually moving my way up to chief editor.”

The first example mentions one skill (data analysis ) and two outcomes (planning the content calendar and social media posts). The second example doesn’t mention any skills but illustrates the speaker’s career path (sports beat to chief editor), demonstrating an increase in skills and responsibilities.

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Part 4: Call to Action (or What’s Your Ask?)

The final part of your elevator pitch includes a call to action. Or, more specifically, what are you asking for?

Much like networking, you may not want to blurt out “a job!” even if that’s your desired outcome. This section is what you hope will happen, which could be a job, internship, or just a new networking connection.

“I would love to speak to you about being a potential mentor, if you have time.”

“I’d like to follow up with you about how I can get involved in and conduct summer research.”

“Can you tell me how you decided on [this] career?”

Each of these invites the listener to continue engaging with you either right now or in the future. 

Optional Part 5: Something Memorable

Finally, depending on the situation, you might want to include something memorable in your pitch. This is situation-dependent and only something you should do if you’re comfortable.

For example, the pitch on Gardon’s LinkedIn profile says, “Earned the Title ‘World Champion Funniest Person In The World (to my kids)’ 10 years running.”

Of course, not everyone can be the “Funniest Person in the World,” but your memorable moment could be your love of science fiction, who your favorite author is, or the fact that you just adopted a cat.

Here’s what all the elements look like when you put them together:

“I’m David, a rising senior at XYZ University and an education major. I spent last year student teaching at my old high school, and it was quite the experience being on the other side. I’m graduating in the spring and am looking to teach high school biology.”

“I’m Ella, and I’m currently an individual contributor at XYZ company running the social media accounts. I use Google Analytics to analyze and improve content performance, and my personal TikTok has XXX followers. I’m looking to move to a leadership role at a mid to large-size company where I can mentor others.”

“I’m Mike and I’m a sophomore at XYZ university. When I was a kid, I really wanted to communicate with animals, which is partly why I’m majoring in zoology. I’m not sure what career is best suited for me. Can you tell me how you ended up in yours?”

Once you’ve written (and rewritten) your elevator pitch, you’re almost ready to try it out. Before you do, though, ensure your delivery is memorable — for the right reasons!

• Practice. Practice makes perfect, of course. And while you don’t want to sound too rehearsed, you also don’t want to trip over your pitch or start rambling. Practice in front of a mirror, with friends or family, or record yourself to make sure you’re getting it right.
• Time yourself. Thirty seconds can feel like forever or fly right by. Time yourself to make sure your pitch isn’t too long or too short, and adjust as necessary.
• Use your “excited” voice. While you’ll want to use your “inside voice,” vary your tone. When you give a rehearsed speech, it should be polished but not robotic. Try to bring some excitement to your voice as you speak.
• Speak slowly. You may want to cram as much as possible into your 30 seconds, but that could result in you speaking too quickly to try to get it all in, making it tough for the listener to understand you. As hard as it might be, stick to one or two main points.
• Maintain eye contact. While you don’t want to stare at the listener the whole time, you don’t want to stare at the floor either. Maintain the level of eye contact that feels normal and natural to you, and break eye contact when appropriate.

Make Your Pitch

An elevator pitch is useful in all sorts of professional (and even personal!) situations. By taking stock of what you do and what you want to do, you’ll find the perfect elements to include in yours and impress the next person you pitch it to.

Want more insights into creating the perfect pitch? Check out Ashurst’s Building Your Personal Brand Virtual Experience Program .

Image credit: Canva

The post How to Give a Great Elevator Pitch (With Examples) appeared first on Forage .

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The Art of Selling Yourself in 30 Seconds: How To Write an Elevator Pitch

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Syndicated from The Penny Hoarder

Telling other people what you do and why it’s important isn’t always easy, especially when you’re pressed for time.

An effective elevator pitch can help.

An elevator pitch is a brief, persuasive speech that you use to spark interest in what your small business does. You can also use your pitch to foster interest in a project, idea, or in yourself.

Whether it’s during a chance encounter at the coffee shop, a formal business meeting, or a big networking event, delivering a perfectly crafted elevator pitch sets you apart from the competition.

Without an elevator pitch, you run the risk of missing out on opportunities to build your network and promote your business.

Here are the essential parts of a strong elevator pitch, along with tips and tricks to make your speech stand out from the crowd.

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Rules for crafting a strong elevator pitch

When crafting your perfect elevator pitch, there are a few rules you should keep in mind.

Keep your pitch between 30 and 60 seconds

Any shorter and you won’t convey enough information. Any longer and you run the risk of bogging down your audience, losing their attention or getting interrupted. Aim for a written paragraph of about 150 to 250 words and an unrushed speaking time between 30 and 60 seconds.

Make it easy to understand

Choose clear, concise language and keep it jargon-free. You don’t want your listener to get lost in heavy wording, and a lot of people find industry jargon off-putting (even if it’s their own industry).

Make an impression

Your pitch should be powerful and illustrative. You’re trying to hook your audience in without alienating them, so make sure your passion for your work shines through.

Keep it listener-focused

There’s a delicate balance here: While you do want to highlight your skills and abilities, you also want your listener to be aware of how this information could be useful for them .

Don’t just say “I write marketing copy.” Say something like, “I write marketing copy to promote products and services similar to the ones you offer .”

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How to write an elevator pitch that works

Now that you know the basics, follow these steps to construct an elevator pitch that stands out and delivers the right information the right way.

Keep in mind that you won’t get it perfect the first time — in fact, you should write a couple of versions and revise them over time.

1. Know your audience and determine your goal

Before you start, decide who your audience is and determine what you want them to take away from your conversation.

Are you speaking to a potential client interested in your company’s services? Or will you be interacting with potential investors at a networking event?

Decide on your audience and purpose, and then keep this in mind as you write your pitch. You might even write a few versions so that you can whip out the right one at the right time. Just think about your audience as you follow these steps.

2. State who you are and what you do

Start with a sentence about who you are, what you do and where you currently do it. This doesn’t have to be anything fancy — just state the facts. You’ll build from here.

3. Explain what you do best

In two or three sentences, explain what you do in more detail — and how you do it better than anyone else. What makes your business unique in the industry? What can you do for this person that no one else can do? Which top achievements are you most proud of?

Brag on yourself a little, but be sure to stick to the achievements that will service your listener — don’t brag just to brag.

4. Tell them what you hope to gain

Here’s where your elevator pitch really needs to be specifically tailored and targeted. At the end of the 60 seconds, your listener should know exactly what it is you hope to gain from this conversation. Are you looking to gain clients? Are you looking to expand your network? Are you looking for a potential investor or a business partner?

While you don’t want to be so direct that you make the listener uncomfortable by begging, “ Please, please, give me a job ,” you also don’t want them to walk away from the conversation wondering, “What was that all about?” Dancing around the point will only leave your listener frustrated, so be direct.

5. Include a “next steps” line

End your pitch with an action plan. Let them know what you want to happen next. 

Whether you want to schedule a meeting over coffee or simply exchange business cards and keep in touch, be sure to make your intentions clear and let them know what they can expect from you.

6. Turn it around

If you have the time during your brief encounter, be sure to ask them about what they do, too, to make the conversation feel more like a two-way street and less like a stuffy sales pitch. Plus, hearing their statement may help you further identify any potential needs you can fill.

7. Practice, practice, practice

Once you have a draft you’re satisfied with, stand in front of a mirror (or a friend) and practice saying it out loud. You want it to sound natural, not like you just spent six hours rehearsing in your bathroom (even though you did).

A confident and friendly voice will signal to your listener that you’re open to continuing the conversation.

Also, remember that your body language often says more in seconds than words can say in hours. Make sure your body language is on par with the version of yourself you’re trying to present — eye contact and a firm handshake are key!

Rachel Christian is a Certified Educator in Personal Finance and a senior writer for The Penny Hoarder. She focuses on retirement, Medicare, investing and life insurance.

Related reading

• 5 Essentials to Know Before Marketing Your Startup
• How to Start a Small Business: Must-Have Checklist to Spark Success
• How To Write a Business Plan

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Plan Projections

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Home > Business Plan > Elevator Pitch for your Business Plan

Elevator Pitch for your Business Plan

…we have this idea…

The elevator pitch gives the investor a framework for the rest of the business plan, encourages them to read on giving you a chance to tell the rest of the story, and hopefully leads to a meeting.

The ideal elevator pitch needs to deal with and answer the following questions:

• What customer problem are you solving?
• What’s your solution to the problem?
• What’s your product?
• Who is the target market?

The elevator pitch sets the framework for the rest of the business plan. Although it should be possible to draft an initial version before completing the business plan, it is important to review the pitch following completion, to ensure that they are consistent with each other.

This is part of the financial projections and Contents of a Business Plan Guide a series of posts on what each section of a simple business plan should include. The next post in this series is the management team .

About the Author

Chartered accountant Michael Brown is the founder and CEO of Plan Projections. He has worked as an accountant and consultant for more than 25 years and has built financial models for all types of industries. He has been the CFO or controller of both small and medium sized companies and has run small businesses of his own. He has been a manager and an auditor with Deloitte, a big 4 accountancy firm, and holds a degree from Loughborough University.

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Rising to the Occasion: How to Master Your Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch

Quick: Tell me what your business does in under a minute and a half. Can you do it? Probably not—for one of two reasons. First, we can’t hear you. And second, you may not have nailed down your entrepreneur elevator pitch yet.  

Concisely articulating your business idea or business is hard. It takes significant practice, know-how, and tweaking. Read on to learn more about the elevator pitch in entrepreneurship. 

What is an elevator pitch?

An entrepreneur elevator pitch is a short speech (generally less than a minute) detailing a business idea or existing business. The point of an elevator pitch in entrepreneurship is to hook investors in the time it takes to ride an elevator. Business owners use elevator pitches to market their company. 

So, how much could you say in a typical elevator ride? Depending on what floor you’re going to, not much. That’s why it’s important to have a strong opening and dive right into the point in an elevator pitch. 

If you’re riding an elevator with a potential investor, what would you need to say to get them interested in your business? What could you say that would make them want to learn more, and possibly invest, in your company? 

Think of your elevator pitch as a (very) short company description for a business plan . Give a brief overview of what your business does, why it’s unique, and why it matters. 

Keep it short and simple. An elevator pitch shouldn’t be a long-drawn-out spiel. Instead, it should be clear and concise and leave your audience wanting to contact you for more information. 

Parts of an elevator pitch in entrepreneurship

Effectively, your elevator pitch is a marketing and sales pitch. Elevator pitches can differ, but there are some main parts they should all have in common. 

An entrepreneur elevator pitch typically includes:

• Introduction: What is your name and your business’s name?
• Products or Services: What does your business do?
• Target Market: Who are your potential customers?
• Unique Value Proposition: How can you help your target market? How are you different from your competitors? 
• Next Steps: Why are you giving someone your pitch? What action do you want them to take? (e.g., provide business card)

Developing your entrepreneur elevator pitch: 5 steps

Take a look at the following five tips to help you craft and deliver a successful entrepreneur elevator pitch.

1. Do your research

Don’t go blindly into your elevator pitch with nothing more than the knowledge of what your business offers or is going to offer. You need to be able to share information about your target customers and competitors. 

And to do that, you need to do your research ahead of time. If you haven’t already, conduct a market analysis to learn more about your industry, competitors, and customers. 

Find out about your industry’s current state and its projected growth. Is it a strong industry that’s growing? What kind of potential does your business have in the industry? 

Next, move onto the customers your business is targeting. Who are they? Research details like their age, income, gender, location, and occupation. Determine how much they would be willing to pay for what your business is offering, how frequently they need your offerings, and how your offerings fill a need. 

Your competitor research should analyze their strengths and weaknesses. What are they doing well at? Where are some opportunities they’ve missed? Analyzing your competitors can help you to find and articulate your business’s unique value proposition. 

2. Use your company description 

After you do your market analysis, you likely report your findings in your small business plan . There are a number of sections in your plan, including your company description. 

An elevator pitch is a condensed version of a company description. So, let’s go over the parts of the description. 

A company description should include your business name, goals, target customers, products or services, competitive advantages, mission statement, and business location and structure. 

You won’t be able to cover all of that in a short, minute-long speech. But, you can use it as a baseline for coming up with your pitch. Shrink it down, prioritize the information in your description, and get to drafting your elevator pitch.  

3. Don’t settle on your first “draft”

Flowery language is hard to avoid. And more often than not, it’s probably found its way into your first elevator pitch draft. 

The best way to get your elevator pitch down to a concise speech is to make a few drafts. Write it out, read it out loud, and cut out any filler words. 

Remove the things that don’t matter. Sure, some things might make you and your business look good, but does it belong in your initial pitch? Will it convince a potential investor to want to talk more? If not, cut it out. 

Remember that your elevator pitch isn’t the only contact you’ll have with the person you’re talking to. It’s the first contact—the one that’s meant to reel them in. You can mention things you’ve cut from your first draft at a later time. 

4. Practice and memorize 

Practice makes perfect. If you don’t practice your elevator pitch before delivering it to a potential investor, you may get tripped up or ramble. 

Once you’ve settled on your final elevator pitch, practice it out loud. Work on your inflection and ability to engage your audience. Time yourself. Eventually, with enough practice, memorizing your elevator pitch will become easy. And when you have your pitch down pat, you can focus on channeling your passion into it. 

Practice on your family or friends and get their thoughts. Again, time yourself. Your speech duration might be different between when you’re talking aloud to yourself and when you’re actually speaking to people. 

5. Create a business card

Elevator pitches should end with an overview of the next steps. Most culminate with the speaker giving their entrepreneur business card to the person or people they’re talking with. 

So, if you want your audience to be able to contact you post-pitch, you need to first create some business cards—and remember to carry them around.  

Your business card should have your name and position, as well as your company name. Don’t forget to include pertinent information like your business website, phone number, and email address.

Once you talk in-depth with potential investors about your business, you need the records to back up your claims. That’s where your accounting books come in. Manage your books with Patriot’s accounting software . Start your free trial now! 

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Lean Business Planning

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Business Plan Outputs: Plan, Pitch, Summary, and Elevator Speech, etc.

Several variations on a business plan might be relevant to you and your specific business needs. There are several varieties of business plan outputs. The lean plan, the traditional plan, summaries, pitches, and so forth. Obviously, if you don’t need it, don’t do it ; but here are some variations that come up often:

Common Business Plan Outputs

• The lean business plan . Don’t assume you necessarily need the elaborate business plan even if the goal is presenting for outsiders. Times are changing. For investors, the lean plan might be all you need. Investors normally they deal with your summary and pitch before they see the plan.
• The traditional business plan document . It starts with executive summary. It has chapters describing the company, its market, its business offering, strategy, management team, and financial projections. It’s often a printed document. It can also be an electronic (usually PDF) document or even a website (presumably protected by password to protect confidentiality). For more on that, turn to
• The pitch presentation . Think of startups pitching for investment. It’s a slide deck to be narrated and used as background for a talk. It includes taking as few as 10 and usually 20 to 30 minutes, even more when things go well. The main pitch presentation is mostly pictures and business charts to serve as background and emphasis for a speaker. Sometimes people will create a leave-behind version, with more words. These can stand alone being read as a series of slides, without narration. For more on that, turn to Your Business Pitch later in this section.
• The summary memo . This is a short text summarizing the main points of a business. Use it as an introduction to investors, bankers, or other outsiders. It fits into an email. The best of these are only a page or two long, and they rarely if ever exceed five pages. The summary memo is often almost identical to the executive summary, the first section of the business plan document. For more on that, turn to Developing Summaries later in this section.
• The elevator speech . A very short monologue. The well-known business plan competitions that feature elevator speeches limit them to 60 seconds. For more on that, turn to Your Elevator Speech later in this section.

And these are not the only business plan outputs

There are also some common variations on these main themes. For example, some people recommend a “one-page business plan,” which is really a variation on the executive summary. And there is a variation on the pitch presentation that is effectively a wordy slide deck. This one can stand alone, to be read. I prefer to call a “leave-behind,” or “leave-behind slide deck,” or “summary deck.”

Don’t think a pitch presentation or summary deck can replace a business plan. This idea stems from the Lean Startup rejection of the “elaborate” business plan. Furthermore, it has become cool for successful entrepreneurs to claim they didn’t start with a business plan. And also some investors like to claim they don’t read them. It’s like it’s cool for successful people to claim later that they never studied in school – whether that’s true or not. But even the lean startup authors agree that all businesses need strategy, tactics, milestones, priorities, and sales and expense and cash flow projections. And pitches and summaries should be business plan outputs, not replacements.

Important: A lean plan alone might well be enough, without the full elaborate plan, to serve a business plan event, especially when it is communicated along with a good summary and good pitch deck. Tweet

The Problem of a Pitch Without a Plan

The most serious problem with using only a pitch instead of a plan happens, ironically, if the pitch is successful. Interested investors will almost always respond to a pitch with additional questions, and they are disappointed and discouraged when the entrepreneurs can’t answer those questions in depth, with projections, from the context of a real business plan. However, for this use, the simple lean business plan may be enough.

However, it is also true that sometimes, for entrepreneurs they know and trust, investors will fund a startup that doesn’t have a formal business plan. I’ve had real experience with this, from close up. Also, professional investors will invest in ongoing high-growth companies based on formal financial statements and demonstrable traction, plus team credibility, without requiring a formal business plan. Furthermore, investors quite frequently reject a deal without ever reading a business plan, just from a summary or pitch presentation. The business plan becomes important for deals the investors like, especially during the due diligence process. Here too, however, the simple leans business plan may be enough to meet the need.

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How to Write and Give an Elevator Pitch

By Joe Weller | October 17, 2022

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Students, professionals, and entrepreneurs should always have a personalized elevator pitch they can deliver at a moment’s notice. With help from experts, we’ve created a guide to developing, writing, and delivering an effective elevator pitch. 

Included on this page, you’ll find expert opinions on elevator pitch length and a step-by-step guide to writing an elevator pitch . Learn from our useful elevator pitch examples , and get tips from professionals on delivering your pitch . Also, download a free elevator pitch brainstorming guide , a basic elevator pitch template , a cheat sheet for reading listener cues , and more.

What Is an Elevator Pitch?

An elevator pitch , or elevator speech , is a short summary of a product, person, or company. A good elevator pitch is usually between 30 and 60 seconds long. Elevator pitches should be well-rehearsed, clear, and persuasive. 

Appropriate in any networking scenario, formal or informal, the elevator pitch is the answer to the tricky “tell me about yourself” or “tell me about your company” question. A strong elevator pitch will demonstrate professional aptitude, grab attention, and convey information quickly, clearly, and memorably. 

“A good elevator pitch will align a person emotionally and intellectually with your product and brand,” says Morgan Roth, Chief Communication Strategy Officer at EveryLife Foundation for Rare Diseases . “People need to feel good, smart, and safe about their investment of time, money, or other resources before they commit to calls to action. Your pitch puts your value-add on the radar and invites conversation with the potential for a relationship.”

Elevator Pitch Example

Here is an example of a basic elevator pitch for a software company:

ATS (applicant tracking software) reduces time people spend on hiring by about 20 percent. But these systems also throw away thousands of qualified resumes daily. Our team at Hiring Help has designed an ATS with the fewest formatting restrictions of any option on the market. Hiring Help software keeps hiring times low but discovers 30 percent more qualified resumes than the leading ATS, providing our users the best access to top talent.

How Long Should an Elevator Pitch Be?

An elevator pitch should last no longer than a short elevator ride. Usually this time is between 30 and 60 seconds, or 50 and 200 words. Some experts suggest writing elevator pitches that are as short as 15 seconds. 

Most experts recommend erring on the shorter side. “Keep the pitch short — within seconds, not minutes,” says Roth. “Thirty seconds is the max because of our overworked attention spans. That said, have your next steps ready. What are you prepared to do and say if the prospect asks for a prospectus or a meeting? What if they have questions about you at the ready? Have a plan to follow up in the moment or the following day.”

Shorter elevator pitches are best for casual networking events or chance encounters, where your primary goal is to spark interest and open the possibility of a continued relationship. Elevator pitches might go longer, about 45 to 60 seconds, in scenarios such as job interviews or career fairs. In these situations, you have a platform to speak, and the person listening might want more specific, detailed information. 

Remember that no matter the case, an elevator pitch should never exceed a minute in length. A good elevator pitch should open up the possibility of longer, more substantial conversations and professional relationships down the line.

How to Use an Elevator Pitch

Use an elevator pitch when you want to create a professional connection. Have your pitch ready for interviews, semi-formal chats, or career fairs. Break it out to spark interest, get across key points, and ask to stay connected. 

“I love using the elevator pitch when working a room — say, at an industry conference,” says Justin Kitagawa, Senior Director of Revenue Operations at MixMode . “You’re there meeting new people, and you want to make a strong impression quickly and find out if it makes sense to continue the conversation later.”

Roth suggests having your elevator pitch ready, even if you don’t have a specific networking event in mind. “Certainly, an elevator speech is a great tool to use at networking events, but a well-practiced pitch is also great for those unplanned encounters when you run into someone, say, on an elevator,” she says. “You may not have planned or expected it, but here is that person you’ve been reading about who has some promising connection to your product or cause, and they are a captive audience for some period of time!”

Finally, Roth stresses the importance of following up after you’ve made a connection. “Don’t assume that your pitch will establish or secure a relationship on the spot,” she cautions. “Your elevator pitch is an introduction meant to generate interest and imagination about possibilities. It represents the start of a cultivation process that can take weeks, months, or even years to mature. You still have to steward the relationship and fan the flames of interest strategically and with sensitivity.”

How to Write an Elevator Pitch

When writing an elevator pitch, start with who you are, what you do, how you do it, and why you are unique. Pare down those details. Structure your pitch with an intro, relevant experience, goals, the solution, and your plan. 

Learn how to write an elevator pitch about yourself, your company, or your product with this step-by-step guide.

1. Brainstorm Your Elevator Pitch

The first step to crafting an elevator pitch is to brainstorm some ideas. Think about all the ways you or your product add value. 

Devin Schumacher, Co-Founder of SERP , recommends answering several key questions as you brainstorm your pitch: “Who are you talking to? What are their pain points? What are the results they want? What is your solution? When it’s time to write your pitch, you need to answer those questions clearly and simply.”

Use these questions as a starting point in your brainstorming process to ensure you cover all your bases:

2. Pare Down Your Ideas

Once you’ve finished brainstorming, it’s time to pare down your pitch. Effective elevator pitches are concise. Look through all your points, and select a few key details that you think will have the most impact. 

“Your first order of business is to determine the one takeaway you want your prospect to take in,” explains Roth. “If he or she really hears you on one point only, what do you need that point to be?”

3. Write Your Elevator Pitch

Finally, it’s time to write your pitch. Keep the pitch short, usually between 50-120 words. Longer elevator pitches should never exceed 200 words. 

Begin your pitch with an attention-grabbing detail. This opener might be a surprising statistic, a pain point that your audience can relate to, or a thought-provoking question. From there, be sure to include the following five components in your pitch:

• Introduction: Include basic information, such as name, job title, or company name.
• Experience: State any relevant work experience, or give your listener a little background about your company, brand, or idea. 
• Goals: Clearly state your ultimate goal. This could be a pain point or problem you hope to address or value you can add. 
• Solution: Tell your listener about your unique solution to the problem. 
• Plan: Explain your plan for achieving your goal. Demonstrate that you have the necessary skills and knowledge, and be specific about how you are better equipped than your competitors to do it. 

Use this reference guide to make sure you remember all the key components of a successful elevator pitch:

Tip: When writing your pitch, Kitagawa recommends talking through it aloud. “I prefer to talk through my pitch rather than write it out. If you can do this live with another person, even better. Writing them out tends to be a bit more one-sided and can leave you sounding like you’re reading off a marketing campaign,” he adds.

Elevator Pitch Starter Kit

Download Elevator Pitch Starter Kit

Use this free starter kit to help you get started writing your elevator pitch. This kit includes templates for a basic elevator pitch and an elevator pitch deck. In addition, you’ll find an elevator pitch cheat sheet, which includes a guide to reading listener cues, brainstorming ideas, and the key components of an elevator pitch, all in one comprehensive document. Finally, consult the list of correct elevator pitch examples to help guide you as you create your own. 

In this kit, you’ll find:

• An elevator pitch template for Microsoft Word to guide you through the elevator pitch writing process. 
• An elevator pitch deck template for PowerPoint to help you structure your elevator pitch as a presentation.
• An elevator pitch cheat sheet for Adobe PDF to help you read listener cues, brainstorm ideas, and remember the key components of an elevator pitch.
• A list of elevator pitch examples for Microsoft Word to help you create your own elevator pitch.

For more free resources to help you craft an elevator pitch, including templates that have been pre-filled with sample text, see this comprehensive collection of downloadable elevator pitch templates .

How to Write a 30-Second Elevator Pitch

Most experts recommend keeping your elevator pitch under 30 seconds. This translates to between 80 and 120 words. Be sure to include the five key parts: introduction, background, goals, solution, and plan.

Here are some examples of each of the elevator pitch components: 

• My name is Linda, and I work in digital marketing.
• Our company is Hiring Help, a leading ATS software developer.
• I’ve spent the last six years coordinating our social media advertising program. In our last initiative, I increased our Twitter engagement by 60 percent in three months.
• We’ve been producing industry trusted ATS software for more than 10 years. 
• I noticed that your company hasn’t yet developed a robust social media presence, even while your top competitors are launching social media campaigns.
• Most ATS solutions cut down on hiring times by about 20 percent, but they also throw away thousands of qualified resumes for things as simple as formatting issues. 
• As marketing manager, I could develop a social media engagement team to run a program that will make you more competitive.
• We offer software that saves as much time as our leading competitors, while giving our clients more access to top talent.
• In my current role, I’ve created a detailed social media development plan that any company can adapt. 
• Our team of top-tier engineers has created software that discovers 30 percent more qualified resumes than the leading ATS, while keeping hiring times low.

How to Write a 60-Second Elevator Pitch

Opt for longer elevator pitches when you have a captive audience. A 60-second elevator pitch should be around 200 words and use the same components as a shorter pitch. In the extra time, add attention-grabbing details to prompt a dialogue.

“I would typically start with the 30-second pitch, and then be prepared to go into additional detail in the area where the person you are talking to expresses interest or asks a question. It’s all about matching up with their interests and potential needs,” advises Kitagawa.

“If you have the benefit of a full 60 seconds to make a case and an invitation to keep speaking, be prepared to show that you’ve done your research,” suggests Roth. “Connect your organization’s mission or product to your prospect’s specific needs, interests, or passion.”

If you have 60 seconds for your pitch, you can add the following on top of the basic elevator pitch components:

• Did you know that 55 percent of customers first hear about new brands or companies through social media?
• On average, 43 percent of the resumes that ATS products reject are for file compatibility issues, not because candidates aren’t qualified. 
• What has been preventing your team from expanding into social media?
• What initiatives have you been taking to ensure that you are hiring the top talent available in your field?

How to Deliver an Elevator Pitch

An elevator pitch needs to be engaging and informative. Speak slowly and clearly, and avoid confusing jargon. Practice saying your pitch ahead of time so that you feel confident and prepared during delivery. 

Given the short timespan available, it can be tempting to rush and cram in as much detail as possible. However, this is counterproductive. Speak slowly so that your listener can follow along and ask questions as they arise.

Roth stresses the importance of practicing, and practicing often. “An elevator speech should be articulated fluently and effortlessly and, whenever possible, in the vernacular of your audience,” she stresses.

Here are some simple ways to make the most of practicing your elevator pitch:

• Record Yourself: It can be difficult to judge your pitch as you’re giving it. Try recording your voice or filming yourself as you practice your pitch. When you watch it, you’ll be better able to identify areas for improvement. 
• Use a Mirror: A low-tech option is to deliver the pitch in front of a mirror. Watching yourself as you speak will allow you to practice keeping your body language professional and welcoming. 
• Do a Trial Run: Ask a friend, colleague, or career counselor to watch your elevator pitch and provide feedback. This practice has two benefits. First, it will help you feel more comfortable when you deliver your pitch in a real networking scenario. Second, they will likely pick up on problems that you aren’t aware of. 

Kitagawa also recommends keeping your pitch conversational. If it feels one-sided, it’s possible you aren’t engaging your audience. “I recommend everyone drop the 30 seconds of you talking,” he advises. “Instead, use a question. Why? Because talking doesn’t sell. Listening does. If you’re the one doing all the talking, you’ll often miss the opportunity to learn how you can help that person.”

What Not to Do When Giving Your Elevator Pitch

When giving an elevator pitch, avoid rambling, using jargon, or ignoring your audience. Elevator pitches should be conversational, concise, and friendly. You can avoid most pitfalls by practicing your pitch often.

Here are some elevator pitch don’ts to keep in mind: 

• Don’t Ramble: “Don’t get distracted and start rambling,” says Schumacher. “How do you avoid that? Practice. Practice saying your pitch out loud repeatedly, until you’re sure you can deliver without a hitch.”
• Don’t Ignore Listener Cues: An elevator pitch should be interactive. If you want to keep your audience engaged, listen to their questions and respond to their nonverbal cues. 
• Don’t Be Overly Technical: Focus on pain points that you or your company or idea can address. Roth explains, “You can tweak context and vernacular to accommodate the level of familiarity your audience has with your business or mission. Insiders from your field may be more tolerant of some technical or industry jargon, but don’t go overboard.” 
• Don’t Be Shy: Confidence will generate interest and trust. Combat stage fright by practicing regularly. 
• Don’t Show Desperation: Elevator pitches are about making connections and starting conversations, not demanding or pleading for help. Remember, desperation can be off-putting. 
• Don’t Talk Too Fast: When you speak too quickly, you can make mistakes or trip over your words. Your audience will also be more likely to misunderstand you or lose interest. Practice speaking slowly and clearly.
• Don’t Have Just One Script: “Consider the context in which you are giving the pitch, both the situation and the person. You should adjust the level of detail you go into, formality of the language you use, and key points of your pitch,” says Kitagawa.
• Don’t Monologue: Keep a conversational tone. “Make sure you don’t sound like a robot. You want to be natural,” adds Schumacher.

Listener Cues to Look for During Your Elevator Pitch

Paying attention to your audience can provide vital feedback. Look out for signs such as eye contact and relaxed posture. These signs indicate that your audience is engaging with you. If you notice negative cues such as fidgeting and frowning, have some plans in place to get back on track. 

“Imagine meeting someone who interests you romantically,” Roth suggests. “You want to make a memorable introduction and establish what you have in common. But you’re still steps away from asking for a date, let alone proposing marriage. Just like in the dating world, how someone responds to your elevator pitch will signal whether you should stand down, move forward, or move on.”

Look for positive cues as signs that your audience is receiving your pitch well. These cues include eye contact, commentary, and friendly, open body language. “The best cue your pitch is working is when the person you’re talking to starts asking questions. That’s a good sign they’re interested in learning more,” says Kitagawa. 

If your pitch isn’t going well, your audience is likely to reveal their disinterest in body language and actions. Lack of eye contact, fidgeting, and frowning are signs that your pitch isn’t establishing the connection you want.

The easiest way to save a pitch is to encourage listener engagement with questions. “If you’re picking up on negative cues, the best thing to do is to ask a question, and then really, genuinely listen to what they have to say,” advises Kitagawa. “This gives the person a chance to explain what they’re thinking, and you a chance to course-correct to get back to how you can help them.”

Refer to the following cheat sheet for a quick overview of the positive and negative cues to look for, as well as some strategies for turning around a pitch that isn’t going well.

Elevator Pitch Examples

We’ve compiled a useful list of correct and incorrect elevator pitch examples for three different encounters: an informational interview, a career fair, and a new business pitch. Use these examples to spark ideas for your own pitch.

Here are some example elevator pitch scripts:

Informational Interview

• Correct: I’m studying political science at X University. This summer I worked on Senator A’s reelection campaign, where I focused on social media promotion. I helped launch a TikTok campaign that got over 6 million engagements in the first three weeks. I want to continue doing this after graduation and would love to talk to you about your work. I’m really drawn to the social media campaigns your company has spearheaded, especially the ones for Governor B and Congresswoman C. 
• Why It Works: This speaker provides a quick background, notes quantifiable results from previous experience, and gives their listener clear expectations for the conversation. This speaker also demonstrates that they’ve done their research by citing specific campaigns their listener has worked on.
• Incorrect: I’m in my last year at university, so I’m starting to think about jobs. I’m really good at social media, and I’ve taken some classes in communications and political science. I think I want to work on either political campaigns, but I could also be interested in other kinds of marketing. What kinds of jobs can I get at your company? 
• Why It Doesn’t Work: This speaker is too vague about their background and experience and doesn’t make it clear what they want from the conversation. The final question presumes that their listener wants to hire them, which could come across as rude.

Career Fair

• Correct: My name is Emma Miller. I’m a second-year MBA student studying business operations. I noticed that you’ve been expanding your verticals. Before starting school, I was an assistant operations manager at a multinational clothing manufacturing company, where I assisted with vertical integrations. I’ve been focusing my coursework on process and systems optimization. I’m currently looking for internships and jobs where I can put those skills to use. 
• Why It Works: Emma is clear about who she is, her background and experience, and her goals for the career fair. She also demonstrates that she’s done research on the company and finds a connection to her own experience. 
• Incorrect: My name is Sarah Smith, and I’m a second-year MBA student. I’m interested in business operations, but also management. I also have taken some classes on business strategy, which I think I’m pretty good at. I haven’t taken too many classes on corporate finance, but I’m a fast learner. But probably I have the most experience in operations. What jobs are you hiring for?
• Why It Doesn’t Work: Sarah is vague about her experience and interests. She wavers back and forth so that it is unclear what kind of role she wants or would suit her. The final question is one she could easily look up online and suggests that she hasn’t done her research.

New Business Pitch

• Correct: Have you had any nasty surprises on your utility bills? My name is Jim Johnson, and I’ve created and sold four apps to major developers. For the last eight months, my business partner and I have been creating partnerships with local utility companies to develop an app that would allow users to track utility use in real time. Now we’re looking for sponsors so that we can secure enough funding to make this app a reality. 
• Why It Works: Jim starts with an attention-grabbing question and transitions smoothly into his introduction and background. He also demonstrates that he has already done work toward this business but doesn’t get into too much technical detail. This way, the listener can engage by asking questions.
• Incorrect: I’m Bob Williams. I want to develop an app that would help people keep track of their utilities. We really need funding to get the ball rolling with this app. I’ve been trying to find investors, but they just aren’t seeing how much value this app has. It would really solve a lot of people’s problems. I promise this will be such a good investment.
• Why It Doesn’t Work: Bob doesn’t include any interesting details so that his listener can connect with or understand his concept. He focuses for too long on the need for funding and not enough on what work, if any, he’s already done. His pitch risks coming across as demanding or desperate. 

For a more comprehensive list, including elevator pitch examples by industry, see this collection of elevator pitch examples .

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Business tips

11 actually great elevator pitch examples and how to make yours

There's a trope in late '90s movies where a motivated, ambitious main character does everything they can to get on the same elevator ride as the CEO of some powerful company.

It usually ends the same way. Our protagonist makes a nervous, fast-paced speech that the CEO ignores while repeatedly pressing the elevator button, and we get a five-second scene with sad music of our main character watching them walk away.

That nervous, fast-paced speech is an elevator pitch example—a bad one, because otherwise, those movies would be nine minutes long and uninspiring. In the real world, an elevator pitch can make a powerful impression and pave the way for business ventures, employment opportunities, and networking. It won't get you a corner office and a fancy title one week into your new job, but it can be an important step in the right direction. 

To highlight that difference—and to really dismantle "The Pursuit of Happyness" as a plot—I've put together some elevator pitch examples and a guide on how to write one that actually works.

Table of contents:

What is an elevator pitch?

An elevator pitch is a concise speech in which you introduce yourself and a few key points about what you're pitching, whether it's to acquire investors, promote a product, advertise a business, or even sell yourself as a potential employee. If it takes longer than a minute to get the point across, it's getting too long.

You're not trying to convey your entire business strategy or all your selling points. Your goal here is to raise interest, make a connection, and facilitate an opportunity for business in the future.

Let's say you're in the fintech industry and are attending a networking event full of bank representatives and decision-makers. Instead of spending an hour going through your company's history and how it's aiming to be carbon-neutral by 2157, you'd find more success introducing it concisely, pointing out one or two key features and how they could serve your audience's interests. 

Components of an elevator pitch

The pitch begins with a hook to draw your audience in, veers into the value you offer, provides some proof to support your statement, and wraps it all up with a display of what makes you different.

It's relatively easy to incorporate these elements into a short pitch. The difficulty lies in choosing a good hook and phrasing your proposition in a way that appeals to the other side of the conversation.

The hook: This element doesn't need to be fancy or complicated. Make it simple and get straight to the point. For example, if you're pitching a time management tool, your hook can be a personal story like: "When I first started my business, it felt like there was too much to do and not enough time to do it." It can also be a statistic. If you're pitching an online collaboration tool, your hook can be something like: "73% of all teams will have remote workers by 2028."

The evidence: The person you're talking to may be nodding, but that doesn't necessarily mean your point is getting across. Some proof of past success or stats that speak to your success could make that nodding a lot more genuine.

The differentiator: Let them know that you're different—that your product or service isn't just another iteration of what came before. You get brownie points for originality and not quoting any movies.

11 elevator pitch examples done right

I rewatched "The Pursuit of Happyness" to see if there was anything I could salvage, but all I walked away with was frustration at the misleading lesson that passion can overcome anything. Passion cannot, in fact, overcome a busy decision-maker who can't wait for you to stop talking.

If you're at all like me, you'll find the following examples a much better use of your time.

1. Startup pitch example

Everyone's got ideas for [shared goal] . But ideas aren't enough.

We took [shared goal] and turned it into a reality.

We developed [solution] at [company name] that's [list of qualities] . We made it possible for [target audience] to [shared goal] .

What sets us apart is our [differentiator, followed by brief overview] .

If you're passionate about [high-level goal] and interested in [benefit of collaborating with you] , let's connect.

This elevator pitch example demonstrates how to approach potential business partners and investors with a clean energy project. The hook is simple. It leans on the issue and the harsh reality of how little the world does to achieve utopian sustainability. Then it introduces the solution as the company's proactive effort to change the status quo. It pitches efficiency, reduced costs, and access to a larger customer base. Finally, it addresses how ease of use sets the solution apart from the competition and invites further collaboration. 

This example is ideal for startups in that it focuses more on the product, what makes it unique, and the features that set it apart, rather than the company's past achievements, success stories, or revenue metrics. It can easily be used to pitch investors and potential clients alike.  

You can follow this example by making the problem the centerpiece of the hook. Open with the issue, and position your company's service or product as the solution.

2. Job seeker pitch example

It took me [period of time] to [achieve goal] .

It's always been my priority to deliver [high-level result] , but I want to put my [expertise] to use making [high-level goal/impact] .

At [company name] , I [past experience] that [measureable results] .

I love what I do. But I [differentiator, high-level goal] .

If you're looking for a [position/title] who's [differentiator] , let's chat. I'm eager to explore how I can help your organization achieve its [field] objectives.

Since tropes are only a good idea when I propose them, I've decided that our job seeker would be making a pitch to GreenCorp, the company from our previous example. Will Smith will not be playing this role.

In this example, the author of the pitch isn't trying to sell a company or a product; they're trying to sell themselves. The hook addresses their background, expertise, and goals. It then veers into past performance results and highlights the key skill set. The uniqueness factor here speaks to GreenCorp's mission, showcasing that the author shares the company's grand goals, empathetic mindset, and desire to help build something positive. 

If you're ever job hunting, open your pitch with a concise and direct overview of your background, share your most impressive achievements, and do your research into the company you're pitching.

3. Sales pitch example

Most people [relevant statistic, followed by explanation] . 

At [company name] , we've taken the [pain point] out of the equation. 

Our [products] are designed for [value proposition] .

They're more than just [product] . They're [differentiator, followed by supporting evidence] . 

We're not just salespeople; we're [differentiator] .

So, are you ready to find [product selling point] ? Let's [CTA] .

In this example, a guitar shop is pitching its unique guitar design to potential customers. It recognizes a very common problem and ties it to a feeling that most guitar enthusiasts know all too well: giving up too soon. It later positions the author as an expert and fellow musician and utilizes customer reviews as supporting evidence.

4. Networking pitch example

I'm a [position/title] at [company name] , and I've worked on [past experience] . 

Over the past [period of time] , I've had the privilege of working with diverse industries, from [industry] to [industry] , and what truly excites me is [shared interest] . 

I'm here to connect with other professionals who share my enthusiasm for creative and innovative [field] ideas. I really want to explore new [differentiators and shared interests] .

Let's connect on [communication channel] . I have quite a few compelling [field] resources to share and talk through.

This networking pitch resembles the job seeker pitch with one major difference: the audience shifts from an employer to a colleague. The objective changes, and that affects the entire approach. 

Ahead of your next networking event, tailor your pitch so that it speaks to your expertise and knowledge without going into too much detail.

5. Investor pitch example

At [company name] , we [business concept offer] , plain and simple.

We [value proposition] .

Our portfolio contains [supporting evidence] .

Why us? Well, we [differentiator] .

We roll up our sleeves and get involved. 

We're currently prospecting [target audience] to join us on our journey. If you're ready to be part of the next [field] disruption, let's talk about how [company name] can help.

Investors have heard it all a million times over. It's why their faces are so hard to read—set in unimpressed silence. So it's best to make your hook short and to the point. "We do X to achieve Y" can be a breath of fresh air when your job is listening to entrepreneurs pitch their ideas five days a week.

In this example, YZTech Ventures aims to secure investors for promising companies. The hook is straightforward and simple, slowly veering into an overview of the company and why it works.

6. Nonprofit pitch example

Every day, [pain point] .

[Company name] is working to change that.

We're a nonprofit dedicated to [high-level goal] . We've already provided [supporting evidence/achievements] .

We don't want to treat the symptoms; we want to face the root cause of [pain point] . But this will be a losing battle if we're fighting it on our own.

We're always looking for individuals who share our vision and drive to build a better world where [high-level goal] .

If you're ready to make a difference, let's discuss how you can be part of the solution.

Empathy is the name of the game here, and charities and nonprofits can use it as a unique selling point. The good news is there's very little risk of doing this wrong. The example outlines the cause, its aim, and the efforts being made to find a solution. 

If you're pitching a nonprofit or a charity to potential donors, lean heavily on the charity's message and accomplishments.

7. Personal branding pitch example

I'm [name] , and I'm a dedicated [title] . I've helped [past expertise and achievments] .

I do what I do by [value proposition, followed by differentiator] .

I'm here to [offered value] .

There's " [position] " in the title, but I'll be [differentiator] .

Let's schedule a meeting and discuss what you can do.

Personal branding comes into play when you're pitching yourself, the individual. Just as companies share their unique idea, proposition, and values, the life coach does the same at a personal level. 

If you're ever writing a personal branding pitch, approach it as you would a business. The key difference is to showcase your values and what makes you unique as a person rather than as a corporate entity.

8. Product launch pitch example 

I'm very excited to share with you [product selling point] .

At [company name] , [products] aren't just a [basic nature of product] . We see them as a game-changer in [selling point] .

This is why we developed our [product] , a cutting-edge [product overview] .

Imagine all of your [value proposition, followed by key features] .

Our product has already received rave reviews during beta testing, with users reporting [survey results] .

[Product] is now available for preorders! [CTA].

This example focuses less on the company and more on the newly revealed product. The new release speaks for itself and the business at the same time.

The hook immediately positions the product as the future or "the next best thing." The pitch dives into what makes the new product unique, utilizing a hypothetical to paint a picture of what it can achieve.

If you're writing a product launch elevator pitch, focus on the product and let it speak for the company.

9. Rebranding pitch example

We've done great things as [company name] . We've helped businesses [services and past achievements] .

We've since been on a journey of transformation, and it's time for a fresh start.

Our company has grown, adapted, and innovated in response to changing market dynamics. We've [outlined change] . Now, [company name] is about to become [new company name] .

Why the change? We've rebranded to [rebranding reasons] .

With [new company name] , you can expect the same quality, expertise, and dedication you've come to trust. But now, we're adding a fresh perspective and a dynamic spirit to our brand.

We invite you to join us in this exciting phase of our journey. [New company name] is ready to [service/value proposition] .

Let's schedule a meeting and explore how our renewed brand can better serve your evolving needs.

In this example, the hook immediately delivers the reasoning behind the change. 

Instead of a value proposition, the pitch offers an assurance that the rebranding won't have detrimental effects. It's designed to address stakeholders and clients as well as provide context.

10. Consulting services pitch example

At [company name] , we specialize in [value proposition] .

With a team of seasoned experts in [field of expertise] , we've successfully guided organizations to [high-level goal] .

Our approach is all about partnership. We take the time to deeply understand your unique market and audience. From there, we [differentiator] .

[Company name] can be the catalyst for your business's transformation. Whether you're looking to [goal] or [goal] , we're here to help.

Let's schedule a virtual meeting to discuss where your company stands and where we can take it.

This pitch is designed to attract clients for a consulting service. It takes a collaborative tone in its approach and focuses on areas of growth that pretty much every decision-maker worries about. It makes the solution the centerpiece of its hook instead of the problem, and goes on to briefly outline how the firm's process is structured. 

11. Technology solution pitch example

[Relevant statistic].  

That's how it goes for your [pain point] .

Imagine you didn't have to worry about [pain point] .

Our [product] is designed to enhance [process] . We help businesses [value proposition] .

One of our recent success stories includes helping a [supporting evidence] .

The thing is, [differentiator] ; we make sure our [product] is specifically customized for your organization's needs. 

Are you available to meet next week for a personalized demo?

In this example, the hook is a statistic that lays the foundation for the problem and the value proposition. It's a powerful hook that captures the audience's attention and helps you transition into what you really want to say.

How to write an elevator pitch

You can be an optimist and decide to improvise an elevator pitch. But you'll likely end up taking too many pauses under the guise of sipping your water, and stumbling over your words mid-pitch might waste a precious conversation.

It pays to be prepared, and writing an elevator pitch beforehand can make a big difference.

1. Outline a clear objective

Your objective will help you pinpoint the information you want to mention in your pitch. 

Tip: Establish success metrics relevant to your objective. Investors will want to know how much revenue your business can generate, while potential clients will want to know the benefits of your product or service. Make sure your success metrics speak to your audience's concerns.

2. Define your audience

One speech won't work across the board. Hollywood says the up-and-coming manager likes to be impressed with a Rubik's cube, while the CEO likes to hear your heartfelt speech about how much this job means to you and how you're expertly overcoming odds. 

Both those things are wrong, but the point remains that identifying who your listener is and what matters to them is a nice way to tailor your pitch so that it speaks to their concerns, needs, and bigger pain points. The more you resonate with your audience, the more impactful your pitch will be, and the closer you'll get to a tearful Will Smith movie ending.

Defining your audience goes beyond knowing the name and nature of what might make a potential client. 

Tip: Conduct in-depth audience research by diving into your chosen market, competitors, user data, and digital marketing analytics. Then comb through that information to define your audience's pain points and how you're uniquely positioned to address them.  

3. Craft a hook

You know what you want to say and why. Now you need an opening statement—a hook that grabs their attention and gets them invested in the rest of your pitch. You want to set the stage for the elements that come next. Make it clear and engaging, but keep it concise. The goal here is to get an attentive listener, not a bored one.

The hook needs to spark the audience's interest. You need to speak their industry's language, show knowledge and expertise, and put your audience research data to good use by pointing out the difficulties and issues they face.

Tip: Use a personal story, a statistic, a fact, or an interesting hypothetical to draw your audience in.

4. Explain your value proposition

Once your audience is paying attention, it's time to dive into the proposition and the value within. What do you and your idea bring to the table? What problems do you solve, and how does that make your listener's life better? How does your solution differ from those they've heard pitched a thousand times before?

Point out the differentiating factors that make you and your business unique, whether it's the groundbreaking tech you've patented or the better pricing options your competitors can't keep up with. 

Tip: Write down all the aspects that make your business different, and choose the most compelling ones for the pitch.

5. Support your pitch with evidence

Who doesn't like real-life measurable data? Well, Hollywood doesn't, but that's just because no amount of Hans Zimmer music can make your 325% ROI cinematically engaging. You can be confident that your audience will want to hear success stories that support your proposition.

Have a few successful case studies from former and current clients ready to drive the point home and turn a semi-interested listener into an engaged party.

Tip: Draw on your own expertise, and use performance statistics and relevant metrics from previous projects. 

6. Keep it concise

It's called an elevator pitch for a reason. You have under a minute to get your entire pitch across to a busy decision-maker who doesn't have all day. Cut the fluff, and only say what you feel certain will convince your recipient to take your side.

Tip: Practice reading your pitch out loud in the mirror. Use a timer to measure how long it takes to deliver it comfortably.

7. End with a clear call to action

Since the point of an elevator pitch is to generate interest, you'll want to end it with a clear call to action—one that evokes a response and maybe a more in-depth conversation.

If you're pitching a service, you can offer to schedule a meeting to further outline your services and how they can help the listener. If you're pitching a product, you could offer to schedule a demo to prove it can improve their business. Get creative here, and aim to turn that interest into a meeting.

Tip: Lead your audience to connect with you beyond the pitch. Schedule a meeting or a coffee chat, exchange contact information, and make sure there's room for a longer discussion.

8. Prepare to answer questions

You can't just deliver your pitch and then hit the open bar at the networking event. Be ready to answer questions.

Questions at this stage mean your listener is intrigued, curious, and interested. At this point, feel free to provide as much context in your answers as you'd like. The elevator pitch has already ended, and it served its purpose. Go in-depth and provide context.

Tip: Write down a few questions based on your own market research. Ask yourself what your customers, investors, and audience might be curious about. Prepare your answers so you're never surprised.

Make a unique first impression

Opportunities are fleeting, especially when businesses are launching every day. In an oversaturated environment, an elevator pitch can help you make an impression that lasts. And who knows, you might just have what it takes to inspire a 50-million dollar movie that Will Smith can "misty-eye" his way through.

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Hachem Ramki

Hachem is a writer and digital marketer from Montreal. After graduating with a degree in English, Hachem spent seven years traveling around the world before moving to Canada. When he's not writing, he enjoys Basketball, Dungeons and Dragons, and playing music for friends and family.

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The 4 Components of a Compelling Elevator Pitch

Before you launch your product, service, or cause, you need “an elevator pitch.” This is a short summary of your product offering, including your target market and your value proposition.

The name comes from the idea that you should be able to deliver a succinct, compelling description of what you offer in the time it takes to ride an elevator up a few floors—approximately 30 seconds to two minutes.

The idea originated with entrepreneurs who needed to pitch their business proposals quickly to potential investors in order to secure funding. This enabled those same investors to quickly eliminate ideas that were ill-conceived or simply didn’t fit their investment profile.

Entrepreneurs often spend hours honing and practicing their elevator pitches. The stakes are huge. If they are successful and connect with a potential investor, they win the opportunity to present a more detailed business plan. If they don’t, they are sent packing.

The elevator pitch has become so effective that it is used in other fields as well. This includes publishing, movie-making, job interviewing, and even dating. It is a great way for both parties to cut to the chase and determine if there is a connection.

Why do you need an elevator pitch?

I can think of at least three reasons:

1. It forces you to achieve clarity yourself

I can’t tell you how many authors I have spoken with over the years who could not summarize what their book was about. They should have achieved clarity on this before they began writing. This is one of the main reasons publishers say “no.” It is also why you should strive for a clear elevator pitch before you do anything else.

2. It helps you understand your prospect’s perspective

If you are going to connect with your target prospects, you must see your offering from their perspective. Moreover, you must understand their problems, their concerns, their hopes, and their dreams. Only then, can you put together an offering that they will find compelling.

3. It provides a tool for enrolling strategic partners

In order to be successful in launching anything significant, you need help. You can’t do it all yourself. Whether it is a publisher, a record company, a booking agent, a publicist, a retailer, or a corporate sponsor, you need to be able to explain quickly what you are about. Only then can your potential partner decide whether or not he or she can help you.

Okay, so you’re convinced. But how do you structure a good elevator pitch?

First, understand that the pitch will be different depending on whether you are offering an information product (e.g., non-fiction book, speech, consulting service, etc.) or an entertainment product (e.g, novel, screenplay, comedy act, etc.). Note that when I use the term “product,” I am referring to your creative output regardless of the form. It could be an actual product, a service, or even a cause.

The elevator pitch structure for an information product should consist of four components:

• Component 1: Your product name and category.
• Component 2: The problem you are attempting to solve.
• Component 3: Your proposed solution.
• Component 4: The key benefit of your solution.

Here’s an example from my current project:

I am writing a new [Component 1] business book called Platform . [Component 2] It is designed for anyone who is trying to get attention for their product, service, or cause. [Component 3] I teach my readers how to build a tribe of loyal followers, using social media and other new technologies. [Component 4] I explain that it has never been easier, less expensive, or more possible than right now.”

The elevator pitch structure for an entertainment product should also consist of four components:

• Component 2: The main character’s ambition.
• Component 3: The conflict he or she encounters.
• Component 4: The real significance of the story.

Here’s an example from a mythical project about the modern composer, Eric Whitacre :

I am shooting an [Component 1] inspirational documentary called Cloudburst. [Component 2] It is about a young, extremely gifted musician who dreams of becoming a symphony conductor. [Component 3] The only problem is he can’t read music. As a result, no one in the music business will give him a chance. [Component 4] Yet he ultimately succeeds because of his honesty, optimism, and hard work.”

Obviously, pitches can vary widely, depending on your offering. Regardless, you want to create an elevator pitch that is clear and compelling. This is a prerequisite to attracting the partners and prospects you need to succeed.

Once you get your elevator pitch fine-tuned, don't deliver it like a mechanical parrot. Instead, do what Michael Port suggests in his excellent book, Book Yourself Solid , Chapter 4: use it as the foundation of a meaningful sales conversation.

Last modified on March 3rd, 2022 at 7:00 pm

Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, we will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, we only recommend products or services we use and believe will add value to our readers. We are disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

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6 Tips for Writing a Sales Elevator Pitch as a Small Business Owner

That brings us to the concept of the elevator pitch. In this article, we’ll explore what an elevator pitch is, why it’s essential, and how you can craft one that really sells your business. We’ll also share tips to help you perfect your pitch to make a lasting impression.

What is an Elevator Pitch?

Let’s get the basics out of the way first. If you’ve ever watched the TV show “Shark Tank,” you already know what an elevator pitch is. For those who haven’t, an elevator pitch is a short, snappy summary of your business that you can deliver in about 20-30 seconds – the time it takes for an elevator ride.

It’s like the logline in the movie industry, a one-sentence summary that hooks people and makes them want to know more.

To give you an idea, here are some famous sales elevator pitch examples:

• Airbnb: “Airbnb helps people list and book unique accommodations around the world, whether it’s a room in someone’s home, an apartment, a villa, or even an igloo.”
• Uber: “Uber is an on-demand transportation service that allows consumers to request a ride using a mobile app. The app shows available drivers nearby and gives accurate arrival times and fare estimates.”
• Slack: “Slack brings all your business communication together in one place to help teams collaborate easier and get more done.”

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What is your zipcode, what is your business name.

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Last step. What is your business info?

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Why You Should Refine Your Elevator Pitch

Now, as a small business owner, you may not be appearing on TV pitching your business to the likes of Mark Cuban, Daymond John, and Lori Greiner. But that doesn’t mean you don’t need an elevator pitch.

First, you never know when you’ll meet someone interested in your business or a potential investor. It could be at a networking event, a local business meetup, or even in line at the grocery store. Having a polished elevator pitch ready means you’re always prepared to make a great first impression.

Secondly, writing a sales elevator pitch will help refine your business concept and goals. When you’re knee-deep in the day-to-day operations, it’s easy to lose sight of the big picture. Working on your pitch forces you to zoom out and focus on what matters.

It’s a great exercise to narrow down your unique selling points and target audience. Let’s say you run a medspa that offers various services but has a core focus on anti-aging treatments. With all the new services you’ve added over time, you might have forgotten your roots. An elevator pitch exercise will remind you of your initial goal and refocus.

In short, even if you don’t end up pitching to investors, an elevator pitch can help you get to know yourself (or your business) better. It’s like a mirror that reflects the essence of your business.

6 Tips to Perfect Your Sales Elevator Pitch

There’s an art to crafting compelling elevator pitches. It’s not just about cramming as much information as possible into 30 seconds. It’s about hitting the right notes and leaving a lasting impression. Let’s explore six sales elevator pitch tips to help you do that.

Know Your Goals and Target Audience

One of the most commonly forgotten elements in a pitch is the goals and audience. People often focus on the idea or the product and forget to mention who they’re targeting and what they’re ultimately trying to achieve.

When working on your elevator pitch, clearly define your target audience and the goals you’ve set for your business. This shows whoever’s listening that you have a clear understanding of your market and what you hope to achieve.

Remember, goals also extend beyond business objectives. You should also know the goal of your pitch. Are you looking for new investors or a partner, or are you simply trying to network and make connections? Knowing this will help you tailor your pitch accordingly.

Highlight Your Unique Selling Proposition

Your unique selling proposition (USP) is what sets you apart from competitors. It doesn’t matter if you’re offering a service that others are offering, like legal counsel. There should be something that makes your law cabinet stand out. Maybe you specialize in a specific type of law, and that’s your USP. Or maybe you offer competitive pricing or a unique approach to legal services.

This USP should be front and center in your elevator pitch.

Follow the Traditional Sales Elevator Pitch Template

While we won’t suggest starting with the cliché “Has this ever happened to you?”, using a template helps guide you to include all essential pitch elements:

Here’s an example of a traditional template: “Hello, my name is [name], and I am the founder/CEO of [business]. Our business offers [product/service] for [target audience] to solve [problem/pain point]. We have seen success by [unique selling point/competitive advantage] and are looking for investment to help us expand our reach.”

Including all these elements in your pitch shows potential investors that you have a clear understanding of your business.

Keep It Short

The whole point of an elevator pitch is to be able to deliver it in the span of an elevator ride, which is typically 30 seconds to one minute.

Yet, one of the most common mistakes people make when crafting an elevator pitch is trying to include too much information. It drags on, and by the time you get to the main point, you’ve lost your audience’s attention. Or it looks like you don’t know your business well enough to pick out the most important points.

To keep it short, focus on the most critical aspects of your business, eliminate unnecessary details, and use concise language. Remember, less is often more when it comes to elevator pitches.

Be Passionate

An elevator pitch goes beyond cold, hard facts. It’s also about selling your vision and passion for your business. People are looking for someone who truly believes in their product/service and has the drive to make it successful. Your conviction can be contagious.

To show passion, use enthusiasm in your tone, share personal anecdotes or experiences that have motivated you to start this business, and convey your belief in the potential of your business.

Practice Makes Perfect

Even if you have a great pitch written down, it’s important to practice delivering it. Otherwise, you might freeze up or stumble during an actual pitch.

Practice in front of friends, family, or even a mirror. Get feedback and make adjustments as needed. But also remember that it’s important to sound natural and not rehearsed. The pitch should flow naturally and not sound forced or robotic. Like an actual conversation.

Another tip we recommend is recording yourself every time you deliver the pitch, whether you’re alone or in front of someone. This can help you identify areas for improvement and perfect your delivery.

Use a Business Management Platform to Streamline Your Operations

A well-crafted pitch can open doors for your small business. It can help you network more effectively, attract potential investors, and even clarify your own business goals and unique selling points.

As a small business, another thing you can add to your pitch is that you’re using a platform that handles your CRM, billing, payments, and marketing all in one place for convenience. That’s what you get with Townsquare Interactive’s business management platform .

With Townsquare Interactive, you can streamline your business operations, leaving you more time to focus on perfecting your pitch and growing your business. Contact us for a free demo !

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The differences between a business plan, pitch deck and an elevator pitch

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Over the years we encountered confusions between our startup clients regarding whether they should have a business plan before making a pitch deck or if they need one in the first place. So let’s put it like this, the business plan is your house, the pitch deck is your window that shows the indoor beauty and the elevator pitch is your alley to the house.

First things first, you need all three of these materials prepared when you want to start a business. Before we start to talk about the differences between them, let’s go through some basic information.

What is a business plan?

A business plan is a document that contains a detailed description of your business. You will use it as a roadmap for how to structure, run and grow your new business. It is built to store and transmit your plans for the next 1, 3 or 5 years, including the research of the industry,  the competitors. It covers the sales predictions, the marketing strategy and the operational plans.

The document is based on charts, representations of growth and financial strategy, but mainly the information is transmitted through plain text. A common business plan has a length of 10 to 100 pages. As nobody has the patience to go through a 100 pages document you should keep it simple, but well structured.

In the end you are making the business plan for you, to reflect the vision and the direction you are going. After that, the goal of a business plan is to give investors information about your company, to show them how do you plan to use their investment. 

Tip: You should be honest with yourself in your business plan, which is why it’s important to consider challenges and opportunities. If you’ve got a strong idea, let it stand on its merit.

What is a pitch deck?

A pitch deck is a presentation that summarises the business plan and it gives an overview of your company. It is usually made using PowerPoint, Keynote or Prezi as a visual support and used in face-to-face/ online meetings with potential investors, customers, partners or presented in pitch competitions.

The pitch deck contains 10 – 20 slides and should include all the information required, as you may be asked to send it after the presentation. The structure can vary from business to business, but it must include company details, who it serves and why, the size of the market, you added value. 

The goal of the pitch deck is to show investors where you are, where you are going and most important to get a meeting or start a conversation with one about funding you.

If you want to know more about what to put in a pitch deck read

How to create a great pitch deck .

What is an elevator pitch?

As its name says an elevator pitch is a brief description of your business, like a movie trailer, that can be presented during an average elevator ride 10 – 30 seconds. An elevator pitch should be pre – prepared so when the occasion arises you will know exactly what to say.

You can also look at it as a positioning statement. Start with Who do you help , this is also important to set for yourself. Now they are listening to you so you continue with what you help them with .

The elevator pitch can be used in other situations, such as job fairs, networking events, your LinkedIn bio. It is a great way to introduce you to people that you meet as a conversion starter.

The goal of this speech is to be short and spark interest to your elevator ride so they want to know more about your business.

Focus your elevator pitch around “ We are X and we help Y to do Z “

What are the differences?

Basically all three of them have the same content, but it’s a matter of details. You start with the business plan that has everything about the business, then make a more compact version for the pitch deck and finally you create an elevator pitch that has the essence of your business.

The link between the business plan, the pitch deck and the elevator pitch

We talked about the differences, but now let’s see what is the connection between these three. 

As we know the pitch deck and the business plan include mostly the same section and while the business plan is more detailed, the pitch deck offers high level information on some sections ( problem, solution, product, market, team). We can consider the pitch deck a visual summary of the business plan.

The elevator pitch is used without an additional support, but when presenting a pitch deck the first information has the role of an elevator pitch, to catch the attention of the investors for the rest of the presentation. You open the pitch deck presentation with the elevator pitch.

Looking at the big picture we can see that the elevator pitch is included in the pitch deck, which in his turn is included in the business plan.

Download a Free Guide to design your pitch deck

We recommend having all of them prepared. For the business plan you can use all kinds of templates and platforms to build one or having a consultant working with you. The pitch deck should be made with a pitch deck designer as it needs to be compelling, but there are also a lot of tips for how to create one. And for the elevator pitch follow a structure that puts your advantages in the spotlight.  

Hope this helped you to have a clear perspective about what is a business plan, a pitch deck, an elevator pitch, when to use them and what are the differences between them. 

If you already decided that you need to have an stunning design for your pitch deck we are here to make that for you.

Need help designing or structuring your next presentation?

Our team can help with everything from research, to creating your presentation flow, writing the content, designing and building your slides.

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This is very helpful information

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