6/25/2007

One of the characteristics of an effective Elevator Pitch is that it is like an accordion; it is tailored to time you have and expands or contracts accordingly. As a result, in many cases you will find that you have to edit your Elevator Pitch so that it can be delivered in the time that is available. If you are pressed for time, it is generally best to cut things out of an Elevator Pitch in the following order...

The Money
The Money is the first that should be cut because it is secondary to what you are selling and can always be brought up at a later point.

The Benefits
Similarly, you should give a quick sense of The Benefits in your Summary Sentence so that you can postpone a more detailed discussion of The Benefits until later.

The Solution
If you give a high level definition of The Solution in your Summary Sentence, then it often isn’t necessary to go into any additional detail about it during your Elevator Pitch. That can be left up to a later conversation.

The Pain
The Pain can be cut before The Problem because you cannot make a profit if your innovation simply will not sell.

The Problem
One of the main concerns an investor has is “Will it sell?” Because The Problem addresses this question, it should be one of the last things you cut.

The Customer
While the details can be left to a later conversation, you should at least try to give the Audience a sense of The Customer because that gives context to your discussion of The Problem.

The Team
When to cut The Team depends on just how good of a team you have assembled. If you have an ordinary team, meaning that you have some relevant experience, but nothing extraordinary like a prior success in the field, then The Team can be cut fairly early. However, if you do have an extraordinarily experienced team -- like we did at Saleslogix -- then if you are pressed for time all you might want to talk about is your Summary Sentence and The Team.

Summary Sentence
If you only have time to say one thing -- and you don’t have an extraordinarily experienced team (and you probably don’t) -- then that thing should be your Summary Sentence.