You've got 30 seconds to impress: Here's how to nail your elevator pitch

Are you worried your idea is shit, or that people will think it is if you try and share it in an elevator pitch? Many are.

Two veterans of the Aussie startup scene, Daniel Fah and Tony McAuslan, know what it’s like to be on both sides of the fence: raising capital themselves, and working as investors.

Fah and McAuslan say that their book, Your Idea Is Shit — Change My Mind, was written to give budding entrepreneurs “some insight into the way Investors think, as well as lots of insider tips and great strategies for winning over sceptical investors”.

In the extract below, the two authors run through the secrets of a great elevator pitch — where you’ve only got 30 seconds to convince someone that your idea is, in fact, not shit.

Secrets of a great elevator pitch

Unless some VC has invited you along for the ride up to his or her office — there’s a good chance your elevator pitch is going to be delivered under ambush conditions.

Which means their focus is most likely to be entirely elsewhere and the last thing you want to do is waste valuable seconds having to repeat yourself because they didn’t realise you were actually speaking to them.

Turns out that certain people (like film producers and venture capitalists) who like to think of themselves as ‘big visionaries’ also have short attentions spans, so they need to be able to understand your goal or dream and most importantly — “WIFM? (what’s in it for me?) in just a few sentences. (The ‘Me’ being ‘them’…).

A big time Hollywood producer is unlikely to want to sit through your film synopsis about an ancient reptile that is brought back to life then escapes into the forest where it wreaks havoc on the local wildlife before going on to destroy a whole city during an apocalyptic event…

But, if you were to just say “Think Godzilla meets Bambi in San Francisco during an earthquake” they’d have all the info they’d need to consider calling for the full script.

If the IM is like ‘Tinder for Startups’, then the Elevator Pitch has to be like one of those great Hollywood ‘Coming to a Cinema Near You’ promos that instantly has you checking for the screening times at your local theatre.

In other words, don’t “uhm” and “arrh” or get caught up in awkward introductions or inane comments about the weather — this is where you need to really nail it.

Every second counts, so if your elevator pitch is going to grab them, then the opening line needs to be right on point.

There are three opening gambits that we’ve seen used to great effect over the years:

Intrigue them
Humour them
Frighten the shit out of them

Intrigue them

Whatever you say in your elevator pitch — the first objective is to instantly get their attention.

Here is an example of an intriguing opening line:

‘Would you be interested if I could show you how to cut 60% of heart attacks in America with a simple $15 dollar device?’

However, this, is not an intriguing opening line:

‘Hi, I’m Gary Guttledge and I’m the founder of HeartHealth Inc and ever since I was a little kid I’ve been interested in medical devices, and I want to talk to you today about a major breakthrough we’ve developed in Yadda Yadda Yadda…’

Do you see the difference?

People’s retention abilities are not good at the best of times. In the first opening we are only asking your mark to remember two things — ‘We can cut 60% of heart attacks’ + ‘With a $15.00 device’.

In the second scenario you are asking them to retain:

Your name;
Your position;
The name of your company;
Your dream since you were a little kid; and
The fact that you have some vague sort of major breakthrough to do with a medical device.

…You haven’t even got to your idea or value proposition yet and DING! They’ve reached their floor and your time is up.

Believe us when we tell you: if your idea or value proposition has intrigued them — they will make it their mission to find out your name, position, company, and your childhood ambitions.

Humour them

Comedy is subjective, so unless you know your audience (and are good at delivering one liners) it’s probably best to stay away from opening with a joke. However, self-deprivation can often work well in breaking the ice and putting your mark at ease.

Some self-deprecating opening lines:

‘You wouldn’t think with a body like this I could sell a million dollars’ worth of health supplements.’ (Works especially well if you DON’T have a body like Thor);
‘Look at me. Six years studying accounting and now I’ve got the fastest selling baby formula in Australia. My mother doesn’t know whether to be proud or horrified’;
‘I’m sure you would rather have been sat next to Heidi Klum — but when was the last time Heidi Klum turned a $6000 dollar investment into $6 million?’; and
‘My parents would be so angry if they knew I had quit Med School to join a startup, so I tell them I’m in prison.’

You get the idea…

Frighten the Shit Out of Them

There’s and old saying in the publishing business: ‘Bad news sells papers’

…It turns out it’s also a great way of getting people’s attention — especially if you’ve got a solution for them.

Examples of frightening people:

‘There are about a hundred people in this room and by the time they are 65, roughly half of them will have been diagnosed with dementia…’;
Before they integrated our system, one of our big clients was regularly issuing duplicate payments with cheques of over a million dollars at a time – imagine trying to get that back off a supplier…’;
‘They estimate that many sporting codes will soon have lawsuits that run into the billions of dollars based on the poor helmet designs of today…’; and
‘Did you know that there are new laws coming into play that could see you in court for the unhinged tweeting of one of your employees?’

Any fact that conjures up an image of financial or reputational loss or that could have a direct impact on the health of your mark, is bound to make them sit up and pay attention. But it has to be factual, and it has to be relevant to your business and theirs.

For example, there are plenty of startups right around the world today that are cashing in on the current COVID-19 pandemic.

Leave them wanting more

Once you’ve got their attention, (and bearing in mind the time constraints) give them a bit more information that supports your original claim and gives them some confidence that you are serious about delivering the solution.

So after delivering the killer line about half the people in the room being diagnosed with dementia by the time they reached 65 – you might want to go on with: “I’ve been working with a team of international scientists, and we’ve developed a treatment for dementia that utilises stem cells – is that an area you’d be interested in?”

And you could add: “What about if I told you that treating patients with dementia was a $17 billion dollar a year industry?”

So just to recap, the whole idea of an elevator pitch is to pique their interest. But like any ‘sales communication’ it should have an objective. And in this case your objective should be one of two outcomes:

They ask you to send them your IM/pitch deck; or
They ask you to come to their offices or connect with them in order to give them a more detailed pitch.

Your Idea Is Shit is out now and is available here, for free.