Marc Andreessen, the founder of Netscape, has written the perfect elevator pitch for his recent start-up Ning. He just doesn’t know it yet.
But Babak Nivi recognizes a punchy pitch when he encounters it. So he combined the salient points from
Andreessen’s recent writings about Ning to craft an exemplar elevator endorsement. Read his How to Write an Elevator Pitch on Harvard Business Publishing to see the perfect pitch Nivi created out of Andreessen’s raw ingredients.
According to Nivi, your sales message must answer the following questions:
- What’s the high concept pitch?
- Who is the customer?
- How does the product help the customer?
- What’s the metaphor?
- What’s the big problem or opportunity?
- Does the idea have traction? What’s the social proof?
- What’s the team’s track record and fit with the potential investor?
- What’s the call to action?
Who Needs a Business Plan?
Nivi declares that “with a good introduction and elevator pitch, you don’t really need a business plan or executive summary.” Um, we won’t go that far. But a sales presentation you can make to a trapped moneybags between the first and eighth floors is always worthwhile to have on hand.
What’s the best elevator pitch you’ve heard or given?
My BNET colleague Geoffrey James offers his own skillful analysis on the subject in How to Rewrite an Elevator Pitch.
