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When introducing yourself, your business, or a new project, you have a limited amount of time to make an impression. You need to find the best words to describe what you do, and you need to do it quickly.
\nThis is where a compelling elevator pitch comes in—a quick, 30-second pitch that immediately grabs somebody’s attention. Finding the right words and also holding the attention of your audience can, however, be tricky.
\nThroughout this article, you’ll learn more about an elevator pitch and how to write your own—plus, you can snag one of our three templates to help you get started.
\nAn elevator pitch is a short summary of yourself or your business. It can also be used to introduce a new project idea to your team.
\nEssentially, you want to create a quick pitch that offers an immediate understanding of what you or your business does, who it helps, and why it matters.
\nYou can use an elevator pitch to:
\nAn elevator pitch should be around 30 seconds long, or 75 words. It got its name from the idea that an elevator pitch shouldn’t take longer than a ride in an elevator.
\nYou can always take more time after your pitch to dive deeper if the people you’re speaking to are interested, but an elevator pitch itself should be a surface-level introduction. It’s meant to keep attention for 30 seconds—then the person or people you’re speaking to can decide if they want to learn more.
\nA job seeker, a salesperson, and a business owner will each have different goals in mind when it comes to delivering an elevator pitch—but the basic ingredients of an effective pitch are similar.
\nUse the following guidelines to craft the perfect elevator pitch.
\nYour elevator pitch will likely be in a place where many people are competing for your listener’s attention. Whether interviewing for a job, speaking with investors, or pitching your business at an event, there will be a lot of competition.
\nIt’s a good idea to start your pitch with an attention-grabbing statement. An effective hook should be flexible and dependant on how well your audience knows you, if they do at all.
\nAccording to Monroe’s Principles of Speech, a time-tested guide for persuasive public speaking by psychologist and Purdue University professor Alan H. Monroe, this can be done through sharing humor, compelling statistics, or astonishing information.
\nFor example, you might start with a known statistic about a pain point your product solves, or crack a joke about how annoying something might be without your product. Or, you can start your introduction with your company name in the hopes that it sticks in your listener’s brain.
\n“Lead with the name of your brand,” says Cindy Gallop, advertising executive and founder of MakeLoveNotPorn. “This may sound ridiculous, but you’d be amazed at how often I’ve been pitched someone’s startup where they tell me what it does, but spectacularly fail to tell me what it’s called. You need a brand name that’s compelling, memorable, and intriguing in itself. ‘MakeLoveNotPorn’ always lands straight away. ”
\nIt’s easy to sound robotic with your introduction, so try to personalize your approach for the listener and their existing knowledge in order to hook them from the get-go.
\nOnce you’ve made a splash with your hook, it’s time to reel the listener in by explaining who you are and why you’re making this pitch. For example, you might say something like, “I founded XYZ Zippers” or “I’m a salesperson with ABC Cosmetics.”
\nLeading with your name and your position immediately lets your audience know who you are, how you’re affiliated with the company, and what’s likely to come next.
\nThe last part of your introduction needs to share what you do, why you do it, and how. In other words, share your company’s mission. This should immediately follow up your personal introduction.
\nFor example, you might say, “I’m Sarah, the founder of Formula One, a company dedicated to creating and providing the best formula for babies, regardless of their food sensitivities.”
\nYour hook, who you are, and what you do should take up the first one or two sentences of your pitch. By the end, your audience should know:
\nThe next step is to demonstrate product-market fit—in other words, you need to illustrate who your target customer is and the opportunity you’re tapping into.
\n“Follow up with one quick, simple, straightforward soundbite that sums up what your brand does,” says Cindy. “In the case of MakeLoveNotPorn, I use our tagline to say, ‘We’re pro-sex. Pro-porn. Pro-knowing the difference.’ Immediately, without knowing exactly what we are and how we do that, my audience understands our purpose and why we exist.”
\nIdentify the need for your product. The goal here is to make the listener open to your ideas. Prove that there’s demand for what you’re doing by considering:
\nYou can illustrate these needs with facts, testimonials, and statistics.
\nThe listener is more likely to hear your idea when presented with a clear picture of how it solves a problem. Once you establish the need, show how your solution will work based on real-life examples.
\nWhat is the goal of your elevator speech? To land a job with a company? To generate investment in your business? To make a sale? Simply to grow your network?
\nWhatever it is you’re hoping to achieve with your elevator speech, make sure to mention it. This might look something like:
\nBy including why you’re pitching yourself or your company to your audience, your call to action at the end will be a lot more compelling.
\nInstead of glossing over your competition, acknowledge it—especially if you’re pitching to someone who knows your industry or market. Drawing attention to the competition gives you an excuse to explicitly differentiate your business from others.
\nEmbracing the competition is a great way to incorporate why your business is better, right inside of your 30-second elevator pitch.
\nHowever, you don’t necessarily need to call out a specific competitor. You can simply mention an existing alternative, even if it’s just the status quo or “the way things are done now.”
\nAsk yourself why your solution is unique. What’s the competitive advantage, and why is it superior?
\nThis helps you start a conversation with a one-up position over the competition. Be sure to avoid buzzwords, and include key points about what makes you the best solution.
\nWhat good is generating interest if you’re not converting that momentum into some kind of action? End your elevator pitches with a strong, contextual call to action based on who your audience is.
\n“Sum up what you are and what you do in a couple of sentences,” Cindy says. “But the important thing here is, you don’t have to inform your audience of absolutely everything about your brand and business. You want to tell them just enough so they really want to find out more, and want to book that meeting or call where you can go into more detail, or are prepared to make time immediately to talk in more detail. But what you do want to make sure you land within that elevator pitch is how your business makes money.”
\nNext steps can include:
\nOnce you’ve written out your pitch, practice it. Practice in the mirror, in your building elevator, with your team and friends. It’s the only way to get better at delivering a smooth elevator pitch.
\nBetter yet, record yourself. Pull up the audio recording app on your phone so you can track the length of your pitch in real time and easily listen back to it to make sure it makes sense.
\nSpeak with enthusiasm and excitement. Pay attention to the listener’s reactions and body language as you pitch. Collect feedback from people. If a few parts in your pitch sound “off” or unconvincing, go back and fix your pitch accordingly.
\nTemplates offer a good starting point, but you want to make it your own as much as you can. As always, practice makes perfect, and the more feedback you get over time, the more you can improve your pitch.
\nBut to start, here are three basic templates, with hypothetical examples, that will help you touch upon your major talking points in a natural way.
\nYour generic elevator pitch, this format provides you with a clear and intuitive way to cover all your talking points, letting you easily add and cut out parts depending on your audience.
\nTemplate:
\nMy name is [YOUR NAME], founder of [YOUR COMPANY]. We offer [PRODUCT/SERVICE] for [TARGET MARKET] to [VALUE PROPOSITION].
\nUnlike [THE COMPETITION], we [KEY DIFFERENTIATOR]. And we recently [RECENT MILESTONE].
\n[CALL TO ACTION].
\nExample:
\nMy name is Braveen Kumar, a marketer at Shopify. We offer a platform that enables both the early entrepreneur and the large enterprise to build and run their own stores.
\nUnlike most marketplaces where you can sell your products, Shopify lets you build and brand your own online store with the tools to sell across a variety of channels, manage inventory, start small, and scale fast.
\nToday, over one million entrepreneurs use Shopify to power their businesses.
\nIf you’ve got a product to sell, visit Shopify.com to start your three-day free trial.
\nThis pitch is aptly named because it invokes the traditional storytelling structure—something Pixar excels at.
\nStories are all about transformation and empathy, and if you can explain the journey your customer takes from point A to point B, you can get your audience to step into your customers’ shoes, even if they’re outside your target market.
\nTry this approach if your product solves a relatable pain point for your customers.
\nTemplate:
\nOnce upon a time [INTRODUCE CHARACTER AND CONTEXT].
\nEvery day, [ESTABLISH THE WAY THINGS WERE].
\nOne day, [INTRODUCE PROBLEM/INCITING INCIDENT].
\nBecause of that, [CHALLENGE].
\nBecause of that, [SEARCH FOR SOLUTION].
\nUntil finally [FINDS SOLUTION].
\nNow, [ESTABLISH THE WAY THINGS ARE BETTER NOW].
\nExample:
\nOnce upon a time, there was a full-time blogger named Andy.
\nEvery day, you could find him happily typing away on a computer, rushing to meet his clients’ deadlines.
\nOne day, he started experiencing chronic joint pain in his fingers and wrists, a consequence of the years he’d spent typing for hours on end.
\nBecause of that, he couldn’t write as comfortably or as fast, and it was affecting his ability to deliver to his clients.
\nBecause of that, he needed a better way to support his wrists to continue making his livelihood, but he could only find temporary fixes.
\nFinally, he came across Type-Aid, a therapeutic glove that supports his wrists and combats the joint pain in his fingers due to extended typing.
\nNow, Andy can resume his work with confidence, doing what he loves, distracted less by the pain in his hands and focused more on working magic for his clients.
\nSometimes you find yourself speaking directly with a potential customer. In this case, you know that focusing on them and their needs is the best way to position your product.
\nOpening with a rhetorical question lets you establish how qualified they are as a prospect from the start, potentially tease more information from them by actively listening, and personalize your approach according to how they identify with the pain point for which you’re proposing a solution.
\nTemplate:
\nHave you ever [SITUATION AUDIENCE CAN RELATE TO]?
\n[COMPANY NAME] offers [PRODUCT] for [TARGET MARKET] such as yourself to [BENEFIT].
\nUnlike [KNOWN ALTERNATIVE/COMPETITION], [YOUR PRODUCT] is [KEY DIFFERENTIATOR].
\n[CALL TO ACTION].
\nExample:
\nHave you ever found yourself up at night reading and starting to nod off, only to realize you still need to get up and out of bed just to turn your lights off?
\nBrightLight offers more control for the smart homeowner, such as yourself, to turn on and off all the lights in their home from any device with our app installed.
\nUnlike other smart lightbulbs, BrightLight is designed to consume 30% less energy, saving you money in the long run.
\nYou can buy them now in our online store.
\nThe above templates above shouldn’t be used as rigid structures—a pitch, above all, needs to be persuasive and compelling. It should entice your listeners to want to learn more.
\nThe following communication strategies can help you spice up your pitch.
\nIf you’re associated with any big brands, have celebrity customers or investors, have influencer endorsements, or can weave social proof into what you say, you can really raise some eyebrows.
\nWhy? Robert Cialdini, Regents’ professor emeritus of psychology and marketing at Arizona State University, and author of bestselling book Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, defined social proof as people doing what they observe others doing.
\nPeople are more likely to engage with what is already popular. Think of it as safety in numbers.
\nSocial proof is used in advertising all the time. Say you’re someone with three young kids who struggles to get them into the car without slamming doors. You see an ad with a happy family driving around in a minivan with automated doors and extra protection features. You may feel compelled to experience the same.
\nPeople want to belong and command the respect of others. It results in people copying what’s already popular. If you propose that your ideas are already accepted, the listener is more likely to engage with it.
\nWays to incorporate social proof into your elevator speech include:
\nRemember that your elevator pitch is only 30 seconds long. You don’t have time to reel off an entire testimonial, but name-dropping some big brands can go a long way.
\nThe appearance of authority aids more convincing arguments for your ideas. If you can provide hard numbers and appear to believe in your product, so will your listener.
\nHard numbers appeal to any logic. How many units have you sold or how much funding have you secured? What’s your customer acquisition rate? Significant numbers add an extra layer of credibility to your pitch.
\nIn Made to Stick, brothers Chip and Dan Heath discuss how some of the most memorable pitches are grounded in analogies. A lot of movies get made simply because the pitch successfully anchors the premise to one that’s already well-known.
\nFor example, the writers of the movie Alien first pitched it as “Jaws in space” and had little trouble generating interest in the film. From those three words, you can understand that it’s a horror movie, involving an unseen threat that leaves death in its wake, set in space.
\nTry developing an analogy to use something familiar to explain the unfamiliar and complex, or embrace an obvious comparison to focus more on differentiation instead of basic features.
\nCommon analogies for businesses include things like “Uber for boats” or “Netflix for books.” Think how you can get a potential customer or investor to understand what you do in just a few words.
\nStories are a naturally persuasive vehicle: they grab attention, demonstrate change, and evoke empathy. Neurobiologists have shown that stories can act as a conduit for understanding pain points that make them a valuable asset in the business world.
\nA general rule in storytelling: The bigger the gap you can create between the beginning and the end, the more impactful your story will be. So don’t be afraid to start off unremarkably normal or even when your character is at rock bottom.
\nIt’s all the better if you yourself are the main character in the story—you’ve got a personal stake in solving the pain point.
\nAlliteration, rhyme, rhythm—there are a ton of ways to wield words so they roll off the tongue. And when most memorable expressions stick because they’re pleasing to the ear, you’ve got a good reason to put some art into your articulation.
\nGive your pitch a unique style with a certain charisma that’s hard to imitate, even amongst your direct competitors.
\nA modern spin on the traditional elevator pitch, video pitches give you a chance to speak directly to a listener and inspire them. They basically pack your elevator pitch into an online presentation.
\nYou can post your video elevator pitch on your businesses website, Wellfound, Product Hunt, social media, or other websites where investors search for new content.
\nFollowing the same principles as pitching in person, you have a bit more leeway in length with a video pitch. You’ll want to keep it between 30 and 60 seconds long. Show your passion and excitement quickly and provide numbers that prove you’re the best solution for an audience’s problem.
\nConversation-starters help you increase the number of people you’re able to deliver your elevator pitch to. By coming to the event or interview ready to network and start conversations with a wide range of people, you’re able to increase potential interest in what you have to say or what you’re selling.
\nThese don’t have to be complex. They simply just have to start up a conversation. Consider starters like:
\nBasic questions about the event are perfect conversation starters. Or, if you know of the person, you can mention that their background has impressed you, or you like what they’ve done in their work, etc.
\nCome prepared to start plenty of conversations. Switch up your icebreaker so your conversations don’t feel too forced or redundant. And be prepared to deliver your elevator pitch, catered to what each person does and if you think your company could help them.
\nLearning how to write an elevator pitch for your business, a project, or a job interview doesn’t have to be daunting. Follow along with our eight-step guide and get started with one of the three free templates we’ve provided.
\nJust remember:
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A new AI service for “parsing” music tracks.
\nThe Mikrotakt neural engine can split any track into vocals, instrumentals, bass, drums, and other audio tracks.
\nIn addition, you can upscale vocal tracks to clean up the voice and adjust the pitch. This feature is ideal for musicians and content makers.
\nThe new Chinese model DeepSeek-V3 becomes a competitor to ChatGPT:
\n– registration requires only your email and password
\n– the neural is quite fast: answers are generated in seconds
\n– Thinking mode, where AI turns into an academic on any topic
\n– the model can read diagrams and generate any texts
\n– files of different sizes can be uploaded
\n– the neuron is good at working with code
\n– absolutely free
\nHailuo AI from China can clone any voice without censorship in a few seconds. Its library includes more than 300 voices in different languages and intonations. The model also allows for full customization: you can change the tone, speed, and timbre and add sound effects.
\nThe Chinese have released a worthy competitor to ChatGPT.
\nThe Qwen2.5-Plus chatbot provides accurate answers, can read documents and images, and is completely free of charge.
\nKrea allows rotating models in its “Photoshop”
\nKrea developers have come up with an incredible feature for their neuro-Photoshop: you can drop any object and edit its position in 3D space.
\nThe Upscayl neuron has received a 16x upscale, so now it can save even the most hopeless photos. The download is free.
\nThe Wegic neural network has become even cooler.
\nNow websites are generated in seconds, and all your edits can be made with simple queries.
\nYou just throw in a promo and you have a perfectly(?) designed website.
\nA working AI meme generator.
\nThe Brainrot neuron follows trends, selects relevant images, and produces memes that are even funny to read. And all this is free.
\nGoogle has released a top free guide to AI agents.
\nIt contains everything: basic knowledge, tools, architecture, training methods, and a step-by-step recipe for creating agents on LangChain and LangGraph.
\nIt is a cool service for learning languages with an AI interlocutor.
\nThe Lingocat neuron imitates the native speaker, gives feedback, and has tasks to improve skills. And all this is free of charge.
\nThe free neural from the Chinese outperforms(?) ChatGPT.
\nA new model called R1 has been released that outperforms the best version of ChatGPT. R1 is twice as powerful as the previous version and it has literally everything you need: programming, math, rewriting, and everything else. It’s worth noting that if you look at the graph of how it “outperforms”, it doesn’t encourage you to switch from OpenAI to the Chinese neural.
\nUniversal AI photo editor.
\nGenerating, replacing, or deleting details, styling, changing the background, and upscaling – and this is not the whole list of functions of the new and free Dzine neural.
\nPrompt generator for ChatGPT
\nPromptEngine works according to the official recommendations of OpenAI. The service also supports other language models: Claude, Gemini, LLama, and Mistral, which can be selected from a list.
\nOpenAI President showed a feature for the o1 model.
\nAccording to Greg Brockman, the o1 model works a bit differently than other types of AI, and to achieve high performance, you need to follow a certain plan in writing promos:
\nthe goal, response format, warning, and context.
\n(The Anatomy of an o1 Prompt attached an example image)
\nChatGPT can now write first.
\nThe neuron will remind you of important things like a real assistant. For example, in the morning, it can provide a ready-made excuse for being late for work, and in the evening, a convincing explanation for a deadline shift.
\nSo far, only 10 regular tasks are available, but by the end of the week, all paid users will receive the new feature.
\nOpenAI offers free tokens for ChatGPT.
\nHowever, there is a caveat: in exchange, they ask for permission to use your promos to train models.
\nThe offer lasts until the end of February. Pro users can get up to 1 million tokens per day, and mini-version users can get up to 10 million!
\nTrump has canceled Biden’s decree on control over AI development.
\nThe document, signed in 2023, required developers to share test results with the government to reduce risks. However, Republicans insisted that this restricted freedom of speech and hindered progress. Now, AI development is unrestricted again.
\nChina will organize a competition between robots and humans
\nIn April, China will host the world’s first half marathon where people will compete with robots. The race will involve 12,000 runners and dozens of androids. Technology versus biology is a real race of the era.
\nAI tokens soar after the Stargate project announcement.
\nOn January 23, Trump announced a $500 billion investment from the private sector in the development of AI infrastructure in the United States. As part of this project, OpenAI, SoftBank, and Oracle will create a joint venture called Stargate. Immediately after this announcement, the AI and big data token market showed significant growth:
\n– AI16Z and AI Rig Complex (ARC) grew by 30% per day
\n– GRIFFAIN and ZEREBRO tokens doubled in price
\n– MetamonkeyAi (MMAI) showed an increase of 152.25%
\n– FLock.io (FLOCK) – by 57%
\nThe smartest o3-mini model will be free!
\nSam Altman said that this neural will be able to solve complex problems in programming, math, and data analysis – all for free.
\nFeatures of o3-mini:
\n– advanced analytical abilities
\n– accelerated data processing speed
\n– ease of use for everyone
\nThe release is planned for the near future.
\nOracle founder supports AI totalitarianism
\nBillionaire Larry Ellison stated that the total surveillance system with artificial intelligence based on cameras, drones, and police recorders will force citizens to “behave in the best way possible”.
\nOracle has recently entered into a partnership with OpenAI and Softbank. Digital dystopia is becoming a reality.
\nThe first Chinese base for robot training was opened in Shanghai
\nThey will learn to help around the house, play football, and assemble cars.
\nThe data obtained in the process will be shared with various companies.
\nCurrently, the center has more than 100 androids and plans to expand to a thousand by 2027.
\nChatGPT can now create any kind of application – a new Canvas feature has been released that runs the code right in the browser.
\n– There are no limits to ideas – we invent and ask AI to draw up a detailed project description.
\n– Copy and paste the request into the chat with the neuron, but add the “/canvas” command at the end.
\n– AI will produce a fully working application in React and HTML in a second – you can test it right away!
\n– There are no limits or restrictions – you can even clone YouTube in your browser.
\nThe feature is free.
\nTop 5 promos for working with any amount of information – the neural will squeeze out all the “water” from the source and give you only concise, verified facts:
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