Why an elevator pitch matters to a first-time founder
You will be asked what you do long before you have a deck. An elevator pitch is the answer that fits in the time it takes to introduce yourself: what you are building, who it is for, and why it is different.
Examples of elevator pitches
A founder building a coaching app for students might give this elevator pitch: “We help sixth-form students pick a university course in one sitting, so they stop paying for advice that does not fit them.”
Common misunderstanding
People mix it up with a value proposition. The proposition is the promise. The elevator pitch is how you say that promise out loud, in one breath, to someone who has never heard of you.
When to use it
Write your elevator pitch this month, before your next mentor call, customer interview, networking event or cold email to someone who does not know you. Test it on a few people outside your industry and ask them to repeat it back. If they cannot say who it is for and what changes for them, tighten it. If you cannot say it in under a minute without slides, it is not ready.