It’s Saturday morning at the Prime Tower, Zurich - one of two locations (the other one being the Messeturm in Basel) where Swiss Startup Invest have organized an elevator pitch challenge for startup companies as qualification for a Pitching Battle during the Swiss Startup Day on October 25, in Berne.
The rules are very simple: one startup company representative goes on a real elevator ride with three or four investor judges, and has about one minute to present their company. Neither slides nor prototypes nor demos are allowed. The ride is followed by a short question and answer session before the investors then give their verdict - go ahead to the Pitching Battle or try again next year.
What is an elevator pitch?
According to Wikipedia an ‘elevator pitch, elevator speech, or elevator statement is a short summary used to quickly and simply define a process, product, service, organization, or event and its value proposition.’ The name comes from the idea that it should be possible to deliver the summary within the time span of an elevator ride, so anywhere between 30 seconds and 2 minutes, which means the key points need to get across quickly.
The Pitch
To do well in the competition, the presenting company needs to understand what investors are looking for – typically, they want to get information about the uniqueness of the business model, market potential, competition, technology or intellectual property, and the management team.
With this in mind the presentation should focus on a brief explanation of:
- Who the presenter is and some personal background,
- What the problem is and how it was discovered, in a way that the audience can easily understand,
- What solution, product or service has been developed and how it is different from other existing solutions - without going into too many technical details,
- What or who does the startup need – including money, other resources, brainpower, developers, or marketing.
It is best to start or finish the presentation with a catchy sentence, phrase, or slogan that sums up the essence of the company and will easily be remembered by investors. However, the “we are the Airbnb of …” has been used so often that it’s become almost a useless cliché.
Successfully presenting the company in the elevator is only one part of the exercise and the following Q&A session is equally important.
The rules are pretty straightforward: first listen and understand, and only then answer. Answers should be concise and honest, and should not start with ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ If someone does not know an answer to a question, it is not seen as a problem to be honest and say so!
All of the above is textbook advice and if followed properly, will result in a very good elevator pitch.
How to Stand Out
The difference, however, between a very good elevator pitch and an outstanding and memorable one is the way the presenter comes across and gets perceived. An outstanding presenter leaves an impression of authenticity and passion.
Authenticity means that he or she is humble, open-minded and ‘real’- not trying to act as a different person but be natural. This shows in the little details, such as if someone is not used to wearing a suit, it probably would be noticed if he or she does so for the first time during a pitch.
The most powerful impression, however, that someone can give is if the audience can feel true personal passion throughout the pitch - is the presenter full heartedly believing in, and excited about, the solution/product /service being presented? Can he or she convey this passion in a way that the potential investor also shares that excitement and creates that gut feeling that an investment in this particular startup will be great?
What then is the key lesson from the Saturday elevator pitch competition? Well, it is incredibly difficult to assess and judge a startup company based on a 60 second presentation. In the end it is gut-based decision about how one is feeling about the company and the presenter, and not really a fact based decision.
Sources : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elevator_pitch
Photo credit: varaphoto via iStock (licence standard)
