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Elevator Pitch Guideline

Please use the guidelines given below to come up with your verbal Elevator pitch whichshould not be for more than 1 minute, speaking at your normal pace. Then write this upand email it to us with your Executive Summary.

Bill Joos preaches the art of the pitch forGarage.com a venture-capital investment bankthat's helped more than 60 startups raise a total of $200 million since 1999. Joos, wholearned to sell in IBM's legendary training program, has adapted that experience to thenew, faster world of Internet startups. The soul of his sermon? Brevity brings the bestresults. Following is Joos's eight-point program for bringing your elevator pitch to newheights.

1. Assume short buildings.

Joos is fond of quoting Mark Twain's bon mot, "I didn't have time to write you a shortletter, so I wrote you a long one." Some elevator rides may last more than 60 seconds, but

don't allow your pitch to last more than a minute. Brevity requires effort -- you mustthink hard about the essentials of your message and ruthlessly cut away the unnecessarydetails.

2. Put a tag on it.

Joos recommends starting with a tag line -- a wordplay to pique interest in your pitch. Forexample, GE "brings good things to light," Archer Daniels Midland is "the supermarketto the world," and theNew York Times publishes "all the news that's fit to print." A tagline must encapsulate your business's core purpose or product, but, more important, itmust grab your audience's attention -- you'll fill in the rest a few sentences later. Joos'spersonal tag line? "At Garage.com, we start up startups."

3. Solve a problem.

Avoid sounding like a solution in search of a problem. Right after your tag line, launchinto an explanation of the need you plan to meet. If you aren't solving a problem or fillinga need, you're in for a tough sell.

4. Turn adversity into opportunity.

Every problem offers the opportunity for a solution. Once you've presented yourprognosis, lay out your prescription. Boil down the unique elements of your approachinto one or two sentences.

5. Lay out the benefits.Remember this subtle distinction: You're not pitching a great idea, team, or product ... atleast not in the elevator. You are pitching what your idea, your team, and your productwill do for investors and for customers. This is the time to lay out your mission statement.How will your business benefit the world?

6. Conclude with a call to action.

Always end your pitch with a call to action. Different audiences prompt different

http://www.garage.com/http://www.garage.com/

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requests. Ask friends and acquaintances if they know anyone who would be interested,who's working on something similar, or who's working in the investment world. Askangels and VCs if they'd consider investing, if they'd take your call, or if they'd be willingto set up a meeting. If you're really in an elevator, offer to walk straight back to the officeto talk more.

7. Make it tangible.

Throughout your pitch, talk in tangibles, not abstractions. Frame the problem, yourunique solution, and the benefits your company will bring to the man on the street.Keeping it tangible means killing MBA- and tech-speak. Joos fondly recalls one missionstatement he helped transform for a Garage.com client that makes a little box thatencodes digital signals -- plug your phone into it, call someone else using another littlebox, and you're on a secure line. The client's mission statement? "Utilizing the 20-48Diffie-Helman key exchange of 160-bit Triple DES ..." You get the idea. The newmission statement: "We safeguard your communications."

Keep your pitch short, and keep it at a level people understand viscerally.

8. Show your passion.

"A good pitch changes the pulse rate," says Joos. "When we look at a business plan, welook at the normal kinds of things -- the numbers, the competition, the market -- but wealso look for fire in the belly, a passion to succeed at something that's never been donebefore. That passion has to come across. You have to act like a new parent showing offpictures of your newborn. If you can't get me excited about your plan, we're done. Youhave to change my pulse rate."