Elevator pitch
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
An elevator pitch (or elevator speech) is an overview of an idea for a product, service, or project. The name reflects the fact that an elevator pitch can be delivered in the time span of an elevator ride (for example, thirty seconds and 100-150 words).
The term is typically used in the context of an entrepreneur pitching an idea to a venture capitalist or angel investor to receive funding. Venture capitalists often judge the quality of an idea and team on the basis of the quality of its elevator pitch, and will ask entrepreneurs for the elevator pitches to quickly weed out bad ideas and weak teams.
A variety of other people, including entrepreneurs, project managers, salespeople, evangelists, policy-makers, job seekers, and speed daters commonly use elevator pitches to get their point across quickly.
[edit] Elements
An effective elevator pitch generally answers questions such as:
- What the product, service, or project is.
- What it does for the buyer, investor, or sponsor (e.g. the benefits).
- Who you are and why you will be successful.
[edit] References in fiction
An elevator pitch (literally done in an elevator) is a key scene in the movie Working Girl.
[edit] External links
- Video on how to create an elevator pitch from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Rice University Audioexamples of elevator pitches. (Dead Link: Error 404. 3/29/2009.)- Elevator Pitch article from Chris O'Leary's book Elevator Pitch Essentials.
- Startup Nation article which explains how to deliver a great elevator pitch.
