Your Guide To A Killer Business Pitch
By Jody Bell
I had 60 seconds to pitch a company I had been working on for months.
An auditorium full of people sat in front of me as I walked up to the stage - the clinking of my shoes was the only thing that filled the silence of the massive room. My hands were so sweaty they crinkled the notecard I was holding, and I was trying hard to settle my shaky breathing.
How was I possibly supposed to summarize my business plan, the market research data, and the various partnerships I’ve made in such a short period of time? Plus, I had to explain the problem that this venture addresses and do it all in an engaging fashion. Overwhelmed was an understatement.
I took deep breath after deep breath to settle my nerves. You see, I couldn’t let my nerves show. I had under a minute to make investors believe in my start-up, and if I didn’t appear 100% confident and calm they wouldn’t trust me to lead a company they were invested in.
I got to the stage, smiled, and a minute later I was met with a massive round of applause. Just 10 minutes after that I had $1,000 in initial funding to start my venture.
While $1,000 for a 1-minute pitch seems like an amazing payoff, preparing this short pitch and the work that has led up to it took me months. Not only did I have to create and work on my Girls With Impact business plan, but I had to construct an elevator pitch that encompasses my work and the problem it solves.
This elevator pitch is actually incredibly difficult; it’s called an elevator pitch because you’re supposed to be able to introduce the problem and inspire an investor to support your venture during a single 60-second elevator ride. While it’s supposed to come off as conversational and casual, these pitches tend to follow a particular outline that can maximize investor engagement.
Below we’ve put together the 5 tips to follow to make a killer elevator pitch.
1. Start with a good hook
Now, this might surprise you but, the most important sentence you’ll say in your elevator pitch probably isn’t actually about your business. It’s your hook.
Having an engaging hook can make the difference between an investor actually paying attention to the rest of your pitch or not. In terms of how this normally looks, many investors start with a personal (and inspirational) story, a notable statistic, or they ask the crowd to raise their hands to prove a point. Each of these plays into the audience’s mind and makes them really pay attention.
Investors hear tons of elevator pitches a day, and to distinguish themselves, entrepreneurs will sometimes have outlandish hooks and/or bring a prop to use in their hook. This is your time to really get creative with your pitch - we recommend trying a bunch of different hooks and practicing in front of friends/families for feedback!
2. Expand this into a conscience 1 sentence summary of the problem your start-up hopes to solve
Once you’ve got your audience’s attention, connect your hook to a larger problem that inspired your venture.
If you used data/statistics as your hook, this might not be entirely relevant. However, if you polled your audience or spoke about a story or personal experience, try to expand how this can apply to many different people that experience this problem (and use numbers!)
3. Introduce how your product is a solution to the problem and try to use the rule of three
Now, as you introduce your start-up, it may be hard to narrow down what exactly you want to talk about.
I recommend jotting down the three ways that your start-up solves the problem you just described and introducing your venture with these three things. Data shows that people tend to remember things in groups of three, plus this gives you some structure and limitations which can be helpful in thinking about the most concise way of communicating your venture.
4. Bring your pitch full circle: Conclude by relating it back to your hook
Ending your pitch by relating it back to the intro is a great approach from a structural perspective, and will signal to investors you’ve put some thought into this pitch.
Plus, you can apply how your solution will solve the issue that initially drew their attention and got them engaged!
5. Your last sentence should be a call to action
Let’s be honest…ending any public speaking engagement can be a bit award if you don’t have a clear structure.
Ending your pitch with a quick statement that tells investors (or your general audience) how they can get involved in your start-up not only gives you this structure, but also gives them a channel to continue to stay involved.
Example:
Hook: Growing up on a lake, one of my favorite things to do was watch the fish jump for bugs in the dusk. Yet, as I grew up this sight became less and less frequent. Now, I can’t even remember the last time I saw a fish in my sweet hometown lake.
Problem: While overfishing is often spoken about amongst commercial fishermen, many hobby fishers aren’t educated to know the fishing limitations of the local lakes and rivers that they fish in. These ecosystems are much smaller, and thus more fragile, and one season of overfishing could destroy the perfect balance that has been constructed to maintain life.
Solution: “MyFisher” is an app for fishers that want to protect the waterways that they enjoy. Our app looks at local state data and suggests fishing protocols to fishermen in the area to ensure they don’t overfish.”
Close (connecting back to the hook): So, if you want to ensure future generations have memories of summers on the lake watching fish just like I had the opportunity to do, please speak to me after this to see how you can get involved.
Jody Bell, 21 is Girls With Impact’s Editor in Chief and a program graduate from Greenwich High School. Girls With Impact is the nation’s only online, business and leadership program for girls 14-24, turning them into tomorrow’s leaders, entrepreneurs, and innovators.