The Art of the Elevator Pitch or Avoiding Long Elevator Rides

One of my interests is serving as a mentor to Boston College student entrepreneurs, who create technology start ups and then enter their ideas into the Boston College Venture Capital Competition (BCVC). It's fun and it's not insignificant - there's the $10,000 prize and access to a long list of prominent Boston College alumni venture capitalists and angel investors. We recently had the first round of our competition - Elevator Pitch Night. Twenty-seven teams competed, and in the interest of establishing some credibility on the topic, my team finished third.

Everyone knows the basics of the elevator pitch - what's the product or service; who is it for; why is it different; and how are you going to make and keep making money. It's art and science, and here's some tips on creating a really good pitch:

1. Crystallize your vision. There's a reason BCVC kicks off its year long competition with Elevator Pitch Night. The elevator pitch is core to your vision, and becomes the kernel for the product, strategy and business model. Create a great elevator pitch first, and the rest of the work is made easier and more effective.
2. Think of the elevator pitch as a progressive story, albeit a brief one. Start with something compelling that is grounded in fact. My team noted that 73% of all adults cite nutritious meals as key in their dining out experience. Then build the story with a simple definition of the product and who it's for, followed by what needs to be a powerful differentiator. None of these elements should be soft in tone, good stories maintain attention at every turn.
3. Simplicity, yet specificity, is critical. The winner of Elevator Pitch Night was a bricks and mortar product. It's for pre-adolescent girls who seek to express their individuality, fashionably, by accessorizing their shoes with collectible charms that make a statement about their interests, an occasion, a season or their mood. Think of it another way - complexity does not signify sophistication or value.
4. The powerful differentiator is key. If you don't have it, keep working on it till you do. Incremental enhancements to existing products and services are of little value, and won't get funded. My team's initial differentiator combined a location-based service with accessibility to nutritious dining at anytime and anyplace. 
5. Frame your business model around repeatable, sustainable and scalable, and make it integral to the product and strategy. If you've done a good job with the first part of the elevator pitch, the savvy investor will immediately get the business model.
6. Now you're ready to write the pitch, so work it hard. Cut out jargon and extraneous wording. Know the language of your audience. Transform it into something simple, and above all conversational, for your primary investor audience, and later, customers and partners.
7. Make it a living pitch. Continue to refine and evolve it, but most of all, stay true to its core. After all, it's your vision, and eventually it'll be your baby.

All entrepreneurs spend inordinate amounts of time on product, strategy and business model, as well they should. Think about how that time can be made more effective, by spending the right time up front on the embodiment of the kernel of your business - the elevator pitch.