Perfecting Your Elevator Pitch

As a startup founder, you will pitch your business thousands of times to potential customers, partners, team members, investors, and more.

Since you'll repeat your idea often, it’s important to have a clear and consistent pitch. A startup elevator pitch is one of the earliest forms of marketing you will create, and you need to nail it in the time of an elevator ride.

sentence 1

Describe your business or idea in a clear and concise manner

My Company, , is developing to help with

Example: My company, the Founder Institute, is developing a training and mentoring program to help entrepreneurs launching a new startup create meaningful and enduring technology companies with shared equity that encourages peer support.

sentence 2

Why Now?

The timing is right for this business because of

Example: According to Wakefield Research, 60% of GenZ would prefer to pursue an entreprenuerial career over a traditional corporate one, and the commoditization of many specialized technology skills is making entrepreneurship a critical skillset for the future economy.

sentence 3

Why You?

I am the right person to build this business because

Example: Since 2009, our team already helped over 7,800 entrepreneurs raise over $1.85BN in funding.

sentence 4

The Ask

I am currently looking for

Example: We are currently looking to partner with government agencies, universities, and corporations that share our mission of empowering entrepreneurial communities worldwide.

Don't use adjectives, particularly superlatives. Never say 'first', 'only', 'huge' or 'best' as these words signal inexperience

Do properly define your target market. For example, 'women' or 'small businesses' are way too large and not nearly targeted enough

Don't use any buzzwords, acronyms or industry jargon in your pitch

Do keep it short. It's easy to write a long pitch, but the right thing is to be concise

FULL EXAMPLE

My company, the Founder Institute, is developing a training and mentoring program to help entrepreneurs launching a new startup and create meaningful and enduring technology companies with shared equity that encourages peer support. According to Wakefield Research, 60% of GenZ would prefer to pursue an entreprenuerial career over a traditional corporate one, and the commoditization of many specialized technology skills is making entrepreneurship a critical skillset for the future economy. Since 2009, our team already helped over 7,800 entrepreneurs raise over $1.85BN in funding.. We are currently looking to partner with government agencies, universities, and corporations that share our mission of empowering entrepreneurial communities worldwide..

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In the below, Jonathan Greechan, Founder & CEO of the Founder Institute, explains the elevator pitch in detail:

Frequently Asked Questions

: It is short by design. The goal of the elevator pitch is to quickly establish an immediate understanding about your business, so that more fruitful conversation can follow.
: You will need to quickly pitch your business hundreds, if not thousands, of times before you are ready to build a pitch deck. You can’t build a good home without a good foundation. Perfect the elevator pitch, THEN you’ll know how to build a great deck.
: Good entrepreneurs never stop pitching, because getting feedback on your pitch is the most effective way to test what messages resonate. In any given day, a good entrepreneur may pitch their business to a potential employee, partner, customer, connector, or investor.
: You can join one of our intensive startup bootcamps focused on ideation and fundraising: https://fi.co/bootcamps

The Founder Institute is the world’s most proven network to turn ideas into fundable startups, and startups into global businesses. Since 2009, our structured accelerator programs have helped over 7,800 entrepreneurs raise over $1.85BN in funding. Based in Silicon Valley and with chapters across 100 countries, our mission is to empower communities of talented and motivated people to build impactful technology companies worldwide.

Perfecting Your Elevator Pitch

Describe your business or idea in a clear and concise manner

Why Now?

Why You?

The Ask

Learn how to validate your startup idea

Frequently Asked Questions

Isn't the elevator pitch too short?

Shouldn't I focus on building a pitch deck instead?

Is pitching just for fundraising?

Where else can I get more help and feedback on pitching my startup?