An elevator pitch is, at its core, a short summary of your company, your product or service, or your goals. It’s a way to persuade investors to give you their time and money, and an opportunity to create lasting, positive first impressions. 

How can you guarantee that your elevator pitch is as attention-grabbing as possible? 

Highlight Your UVP

What’s your differentiator in your market? What are you trying to achieve? What problem will you solve? Finding the absolute center of your business goals helps create a lasting brand and develop an elevator pitch with impact. This is your unique value proposition or UVP.

If you have to over-explain your UVP during pitching, you’ve not whittled it down enough, or not expanded on it enough. Your UVP should be clear, concise, and exciting.

Great examples of smart UVPs include:

• Asana: The only platform that connects goals with the work needed to achieve them.

• Lyft: A ride whenever you need one. 

• Grammarly: Great writing, simplified. 

Even though these are all very short and simple, it’s clear in every case what the company does.                                                                                                                                                                   

Build it Out—But Not Too Much

Could those UVPs be elevator pitches by themselves? Perhaps, but for more impact, you could add in company background, personal information, data points, financial goals, or snippets of your growth strategy. Build out your UVP to create a bold picture of your company, but remember to keep it short. Investors pay the closest attention during the first minute of meetings, so the more concise you can be, the better chance you have of success.

Practice Your Pitch

Don’t go into an investor meeting cold. Practice your elevator pitch on potential leads, at industry events, and on videos to see what impact you get. If you can, get an industry peer to review your pitch and get some feedback from people you trust. 

Be open to criticism. A few changes now could mean a lot of funding later.

Final Word

Pitching to new investors is challenging, but you’re not alone. Book a free 15-minute introductory call with a member of the Arch Collective team and let’s see how we can hone your marketing and branding strategy.

Need more tech startup investment and marketing strategy insights? Subscribe to Arch Collective's newsletter.