What is “Elevator Pitch”?

Last night was my first time learn “Elevator Pitch” from a Internet Marketing & SEO class at school,
This is kinda difficult to me to understand the terms of “Elevator Pitch” and the instructor wasn’t explain enough, and the funny thing is students can explain even better than him in class. This is kinda disappoint me.

Okay, what is “Elevator Pitch” ? Here you go:

From Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elevator_pitch
An elevator pitch (or elevator speech) is an overview of an idea for a product, service, or project. The name reflects the fact that an elevator pitch can be delivered in the time span of an elevator ride (say, thirty seconds or 100-150 words).

The term is typically used in the context of an entrepreneur pitching an idea to a venture capitalist to receive funding. Venture capitalists often judge the quality of an idea and team on the basis of the quality of its elevator pitch, and will ask entrepreneurs for the elevator pitch to quickly weed out bad ideas.

It is said that many of the most important decisions made on the floor of the United States’s House or Senate are made “within the span of an elevator ride” as a staff aide whispers into a Congressman or Senator’s ear while they head down to the floor to cast their vote.^{[citation needed]}

A variety of other people, including entrepreneurs, project managers, salespeople, evangelists, job seekers, and speed daters commonly use elevator pitches to get their point across quickly.

From Business know-how http://www.businessknowhow.com/money/elevator.htm
An “Elevator Pitch” is a concise, carefully planned, and well-practiced description about your company that your mother should be able to understand in the time it would take to ride up an elevator.

What an “Elevator Pitch” is not:
It is not a “sales pitch.” Don’t get caught up in using the entire pitch to tell the Investor how great your product or service is. The Investor is “buying” the business, not the product. Tell him/her how you will run the business.

Creating the “Elevator Pitch”

Six questions your “Elevator Pitch” must answer:

1. What is your product or service?
   Briefly describe what it is you sell. Do not go into excruciating detail.
2. Who is your market?
   Briefly discuss who you are selling the product or service to. What industry is it? How large of a market do they represent?
3. What is your revenue model?
   More simply, how do you expect to make money?
4. Who is behind the company?
   “Bet on the jockey, not the horse” is a familiar saying among Investors. Tell them a little about you and your team’s background and achievements. If you have a strong advisory board, tell them who they are and what they have accomplished.
5. Who is your competition?
   Don’t have any? Think again. Briefly discuss who they are and what they have accomplished. Successful competition is an advantage-they are proof your business model and/or concept work.
6. What is your competitive advantage?
   Simply being in an industry with successful competitors is not enough. You need to effectively communicate how your company is different and why you have an advantage over the competition. A better distribution channel? Key partners? Proprietary technology?

Tags: Elevator Pitch, Internet Marketing & SEO