Himanshu's Blog - Technology, Entrepreneurship & Business » Elevator Pitch

SPEED PITCHING : An interesting concept

Himanshu — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 18:45:00 +0000

18th July,2008 [i.e tomorrow] would be a memorable day for Vijay Anand and the team behind Proto since, it will be the first time that close to 500+ enthusiasts would be present at the event. Kudos to the organizers of this wonderful COMMUNITY event !!! And guess what, I would be missing all the fun and most of all the Live Blogging competition

We have come across Speed Dating and Elevator Pitches but wouldn’t it be exciting to see a bunch of entrepreneurs in a room pitching their ideas to investors in just 7 minutes[also termed as Speed Pitching].Makes me remember of the days where there would be panel of interviewers interviewing a bunch of guys in a single room . Check out Speed Pitching in action below.You can know more about Speed Pitching & Funding Universe [the ideators of Speed Pitching] here & here

Just a Thought:
Though Speed Pitching is not a novel concept, it can be something that can be turned into a Mini-Proto !!! The only drawback being “Speed Pitching does not involve wannabe-preneurs, so does not help much in building a BETTER ecosystem, which Proto does very well !!!”

These are my thoughts on Speed Pitching and would like to hear “WHAT DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE ENTIRE CONCEPT”.

What do INVESTORS look for ?

Himanshu — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 18:44:00 +0000

Many times meeting investors becomes similar to applying for a job in a company.There are some set of basic questions which are repetitive and many times, the answer to these decide your fate.The only difference being in a job interview, the mistake may turn out to be less costly[since,it is only YOU who is affected] whereas any mistake while pitching to an investor won’t only affect YOU but everyone CONNECTED with you in the STARTUP.

Just came across an interesting and a worthy presentation which gives an insight into the basic questions and the answer to simple those simple questions

| View | Upload your own

Reader Contribution:

Lakshman Srikanth shares this insights on OpenCoffee Club dated 21st June,2008 here

Business Gyan : First step to a successful Business Person

Himanshu — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 18:49:00 +0000

Had a look the latest issue of Business Gyan and came across an interesting article titled “First step to be a successful business person“. As the author Shivaji Sengupta says the first step to being successful is: To develop a powerful Elevator Pitch

Note:
The article has been taken from Business Gyan and the credit for the it goes to the author.The article has excellent information and hence, has been posted on the blog

Below is the 5 step formula to create a successful Elevator Pitch:

List out what is unique about what you do and why you are special :
An Elevator Pitch is an ice-breaker and a marketing pitch-all rolled in one.The elevator pitch must have a hook “I own a flower shop downtown” does not hold up to a “I am a speciality florist who deals in rare, South American tropical flowers that bloom in the winter”.

Make it intriguing :
A superior elevator pitch increases your heart rate.It speaks about who you really are and what excites you about your business.It has integrity.What is it about your business that really motivates you?

KISS Concept – Keep It Simple Stupid :
A good elevator pitch doesn’t try and be all things to all the people.Rather, it conveys a clear idea in a short amount of time.It might be few sentences, but no more than a paragraph or so.Keep it under 30 seconds.

Who your customer is :
Be specific enough that people see the market, but not so specific that people wonder if there are more than five of these people in the world: “We even have flowers for boardroom romances”

Write it down & practice a lot :
Use the guidelines above and take a stab at it.Write down your pitch, say it out loud, write it, and then re-write it again.The first few times you try it out, your elevator pitch may be a bit uncomfortable. After a while it will become second nature to you.