This was the second time I was at Tie, silicon valley to witness elevator pitches from aspiring entrepreneurs. Eight randomly selected people got an opportunity to give a 2 min pitch to a panel of four VCs and a crowd of about 100 people. Tie conducts a pitchfest every two months and you can find additional details on their website at http://sv.tie.org/
Here are the key takeaways.
Incorporate the following into your pitch:
1. Who you are : Establish trust and build credibility at the beginning. This is the best opportunity to say why they should believe that you can get the job done.
2. Introduce your company: Try to describe what your product or service does very quickly. Here are some good and bad examples.
Here are the key takeaways.
Incorporate the following into your pitch:
1. Who you are : Establish trust and build credibility at the beginning. This is the best opportunity to say why they should believe that you can get the job done.
2. Introduce your company: Try to describe what your product or service does very quickly. Here are some good and bad examples.
- We make it easier for you to manage your documents. (Bad: It is missing "how you do it")
- We try to increase employees motivation by rewarding and recognizing them ( Good: covers what and how)
3. Describe the problem or pain you are trying to address: Tell why would someone care for your product/service
4. Market size: Describe the market size. Is it $10M ,$100M or a $1B market.
5. Conclude with a punch line and state what you are looking for. For e.g. you could say, "we want to be the Netflix of children's books and we are looking for a $1M to invest in our team and grow the company"
Here are some excellent tools and resources to help you craft a better pitch.
