Elevator Pitches

What is an Elevator Pitch?

Learn about Elevator Pitches with Vince Vaughn
Dilemma 2011

Movie Case Study

The scene that you just saw shows you how Ronny Valentine (played by Vince Vaughn) and Nick Brennan (played by Kevin James) are pitching their idea to investors. Ronny begins with a hook statement to grab attention. He goes on to talk about various electric models. They want to incorporate the technological expertise they have into the company’s current models.

In this blog, Learning Perspectives will explore the meaning of an elevator pitch.

What is an Elevator Pitch?

Elevator Pitch means a short speech that can be delivered on an elevator when you find yourself stuck with an investor or an idol. Essentially pitching yourself to an important person. This speech needs to be between 30 seconds to a minute and it needs to be impactful. It should be terse and concise.

However, in the financial world, an elevator pitch means a founder convincing a room full of investors or venture capitalists to invest in his/her business idea. Similar to the scene that we saw. An elevator pitch is generally linked with making the other party curious and excited about the idea. Using a hook word or a statement helps. Ronny uses this by saying ‘Electric cars are totally gay.

He manages to get everyone’s attention and then he builds his case from there. He goes on to build the idea of electric cars and the technology that they are offering. Susan Warner (played by Queen Latifah) goes on to ask them, why should they be investing in their idea. To which Ronny replies because we have Nick Brennan.

How to create an Elevator Pitch?

Elevator pitches are concise and well-articulated. You can find some of the greatest elevator pitches on the reality show, Shark Tank. This TV show brings in people who want to pitch their business idea to venture capitalists/investors. Some of the features of this pitch include:

  • Cover your introduction and the idea/product/company that you are pitching.
  • The problem that is being solved by your product.
  • Revenue generation by the product.
  • Convincing speech

This elevator pitch should be impactful, tantalizing, and intriguing at the same time. Some of the tools that can be taken advantage of are as follows:

A clear understanding of the goal

Asking questions such as what are you pitching? Is there a product you want to pitch? or the goal is just to engage in conversation.

Explaining what problem are you solving

The pitch should pique investors’ interest. So be very clear in your words. These pitches need to be memorable, and adding a hook statement can help too.

Differentiate

This would clearly tell the investors, what makes you unique. Your perspective will make the pitch shine. So don’t be afraid to tell them, that you have unique gifts.

Tying it all up

You have to find the right balance of time. It can’t be too long as people would lose interest and it can’t be too short that you aren’t able to communicate with ease.

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‘Practice makes you Perfect’: While the saying is true for everything in life. It certainly works for an elevator pitch.

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