Give your ideas a lift with an elevator pitch

NEW DELHI: You might have a great idea, but if you are looking for an investor, you have to make sure you sell it well. Like everything else in life, first impressions count, and that���s why an elevator pitch is crucial too. The 1,000 shortlisted participants in the ET Power of Ideas campaign will be making elevator pitches to investors soon.

Starting April 8, we move into the next phase where a distinguished group of mentors will coach these entrepreneurs on how to make powerful and effective elevator pitches to investors and get them excited.

ET caught up with a few seasoned professionals to bring you a low-down on what goes into making elevator pitches work for you. To begin with, elevator pitches were literally made inside elevators and that���s how the term was coined. One had only those precious few minutes with a prospective investor to pitch one���s idea and get him/her interested. ���It���s your first meeting with a potential investor, and the goal should be to excite him,��� says Sachin Maheshwari, principal at Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ).

Needless to say, good communication skills are critical to a successful elevator pitch. Do not try to show that you are doing everything. Focus on a few aspects. You could also compare your proposed venture with other similar businesses or draw comparisons across sectors to highlight why your idea is a step ahead. As this is your first meeting with the investor, the presentation should not be long.

Concentrate on the top five salient points instead of elaborating on all aspects. ���The team should try and show how its idea provides value to the customer, and not just show the technology,��� says Mr Maheshwari.

An elevator pitch forces the entrepreneur to be precise and think very hard about what matters most. ���The investor wants to understand the most important things. If you cannot tell me your great idea in a few minutes, you are not clear about your idea/service/product,��� says Saurabh Srivastava, founder, Indian Angel Network. Mr Maheshwari advises asking some basic questions around the idea and preparing to answer them during the pitch.

���Why will I succeed; why should you invest; how is our idea different; who is the customer, how will we monetise; our strong team ���these are points that an entrepreneur should be very clear on,��� he says. Remember, investors may not make their funding decisions in those first few minutes of the elevator pitch, but they surely decide whether they want to meet the entrepreneur/team again.