Trapped in an elevator pitch. The 30 second wonder idea!

How do your construct an elevator pitch?

Your Rant: I have a project that I want to pitch to a Venture Capitalist that I know. But I know how busy she is so I’ll only have a minute or two to make my pitch.

911 Repair
A gate agent at the airport told me a story about a friend who is an airplane captain. Seems that a woman on his flight accidentally hit the flush button while still on the seat. She was stuck. After a lot of heavy lifting, the pilot was finally able to get her free of the seat.

Suction is a powerful tool in airplane johns AND when you are making your pitch to a Venture Capitalist. What can you say that will suck in their interest? And this is not just a skill for entrepreneurs; any worker bee with a too busy boss often has precious little time to get information out to them. For more, check out Milo Frank’s book, “How to Get Your Point Across in 30 Seconds Or Less” (Pocket, 2000).

What is your goal? As an old friend used to say, “If you don’t know where you are going, any old path will get you there.” You must start with your goals. What do you need? How can this person help? What will success look like?

Who is your audience? A pitch to a Venture Capitalist should probably involve a bottom line (I did say probably, you need to do research to find out if there are other things that are also important, for example, creating the next killer ap, changing the world, etc.). Know what is important to your audience and build your pitch around it.

What is your hook? You’ve got to grab their attention immediately. A simple way to do this is to ask a provocative question, paint a picture of a better reality than currently exists or hit one of his or her hot buttons. A modest example of a provocative question, “What if we could turn something that we’re currently paying to throw out into an income stream?”

Do you keep it simple? Woody Guthrie once said, “Any damn fool can make something complex, it takes a genius to make something simple.” Resist the temptation to cross all the “t’s” and dot all the “i’s” in your initial pitch. If you do your job, they’ll ask you questions so you can fill in the blanks.

Are you genuine? People want to see passion. But watch going too far and coming across like a snake oil salesman. I have a simple philosophy here-show ‘em what got you excited in the first place.

Do you incorporate their feedback? When they start to talk, really listen. It’s important to show them that you not only can hear what they’re saying, but can incorporate it into your proposal.

Whatever that pilot’s salary, he certainly earned it that day. And you’ll earn yours if you can learn how to make your pitch fly.

Workplace911 Pulse:

What is the toughest part of pitching a new idea at work?

• Coming up with the idea, 20%
• Finding the right time to make the pitch, 22.2%
• Fear of being rejected, 24.4%
• Coming up with the right thing to say, 33.3%

User generated

The key to making a pitch is practice, practice, practice. I look for chances to practice at dinner parties, when I meet people on the street and with relatives. Some people say that I’m shameless. But I’ve found that it’s amazing what you can learn from all the people that you know. And don’t shy away from people who aren’t involved in your industry, I’ve found that it’s great practice to pitch people who don’t know all the jargon.