Elevator Pitch

Recently I went to a Pitching Bootcamp organized by Singapore’s Founders Institute (#SGFI). Basically its just a gathering of all founders and that we will all be practicing on pitching and the various things to note. So according to SGFI, the standard 10 second elevator pitch goes like this:

My company, [company name], is developing [a defined offering] to help [a target audience] [to solve a problem] [with a secret sauce].

Essentially, the hard part for the elevator pitch is the secret sauce. Many founders can do well in the first part of the pitch but when it comes to the secret sauce, they will screw up. Reason, there are too many secret sauces to one’s idea, too many features that they donno which one to start with, and which are the important ones to actually mention them. Also, SGFI also mentioned that the secret sauce has to be unique, which gave the example of “with automated matching system” as opposed to just saying “faster”. For the problem that you are trying to solve, when one is trying to do a elevator pitch, again, it is important to make sure that everyone can understand the offering, and that one can mention a bit about the revenue model.

A few brave ones went up and tried pitching their company and was given quite a lot of advices as well as a lot that were shot down. I think ultimately, the key takeaway point is that, you have to be sure about what you are doing, what problem you are trying to solve, and be able to convey that into something that is easy to understand. If you could not do that, you have to learn and make sure that you are able to explain what you are trying to do in layman terms and be able to do that in 10 seconds.

Only yesterday another friend asked me whether she should invest in a scheme that promise a good return (up to 49% ROI). I told her: “if you do not understand what you are investing in, don’t even go in.” As simple as that. Same goes for pitching, if your audience do not know what you are talking about when you try to sell them your product, they would most probably walk again, and when that happens, you know you have to work on your pitch.

So, know your problem that you are trying to solve, and identify your key secret sauce.

4 thoughts on “Elevator Pitch

  1. Jason H. says:

    Hey there,

    I was also present for the talk. But I cannot seem to recall what the most important thing about the secret sauce is.

    Do you remember any examples?

Anything to say to me?


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