Alone in an Elevator. With a VC.
As a 3x startup founder, I’ve used the phrase “elevator pitch” at least a few hundred times, crafted dozens of them, and have used my elevator pitch at the various industry meet-ups, tech conferences like Disrupt, and even with family/friends during Thanksgiving dinner.
I’ve also heard plenty over the years.
However, I’ve never in 15+ years pitched an actual investor in an elevator until a few months ago.
This is how it went down.
I was heading back to our office after a quick lunch, as I was walking into the front door of our building, I could see Mark, Managing Partner at the largest VC firm in the Midwest also walking into the lobby from the parking lot entrance.
Mark has an office on the top floor of our building, but after being there for at least a year, this was my first time running into Mark in the building.
After a few pleasantries in the lobby, Mark and I entered the elevator together. I selected my floor, Mark selected his floor, doors close.
Then Mark asks the question…
“So what have you been up to lately?”
Looking up from my iPhone, I looked around the elevator and thought to myself…
Wait a minute. I’m alone in an elevator with a VC. And he just asked me what I’ve been up to.
I’m about to give my elevator pitch to a VC in an actual elevator.
How many times has an entrepreneur actually pitched a VC? In an elevator?
Mind. Blown.
Time to pitch!
If you ask any of my friends or colleagues, they’ll tell you that I’m not one for structure, and the same is true with my elevator pitch. Rather than having an overly concise timed spiel similar to the MadLibs pitch format (which makes us all sound like robots), I prefer a freestyle approach that considers the audience in order to help them not only understand what my startup does but why.
My pitch to Mark was casual, unscripted, and conversational. After our elevator ride up to the top floor (of course I didn’t bother exiting the elevator when it arrived at my floor), Mark, after a painfully long three-second pause, responded with…
“I… love it.”
Since that brief elevator ride, Mark invited me to properly pitch him and demo our platform. We’ve also had a handful of follow up conversations about our potential capital raise.
Looking back at that elevator ride, having been caught off guard required me to focus on the authentic story of our startup, why we created it, and the value it provides, rather than on a pitch script. And it resonated.
I have a friend who pitched me a blockchain concept several months ago… a concept that would disrupt the mortgage insurance industry. His pitch was over the top with technical terms and buzzwords, so his pitch was lost on me.
I watched that same friend on stage at a pitch competition a few weeks ago and his pitch started with:
“Our startup will use block chain to reduce the home-buying process from 30 days to 30 seconds.”
That pitch was polished and relatable, and it resonated with the audience and the judges, especially those who’ve been through the painfully slow home-buying process. It was actually so relatable, I can remember the pitch verbatim.
That friend won the pitch competition and a $100,000 investment that day.
Next time you have the opportunity to pitch, skip the rehearsed, technical elevator pitch and instead, consider your audience and go with a pitch that‘s authentic, conversational, and human.
Your audience will thank you.
By the way, it just so happens that Mark’s dad actually coined the phrase “elevator pitch” — you can read about it here.
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About Dave
David Hunegnaw is a decade-long, Columbus, OH-based entrepreneur, Partner at LOUD Capital and Founder of BYLINED, an on-demand photography platform built to connect brands with their fans for authentic, branded user-generated content. David is interested in all of the great startup activity happening in the Midwest, wheels that go fast, and a nice cold martini at the end of a good day.
This story is published in The Startup, Medium’s publication followed by over +256,410 people.
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