The first thing I always tell entrepreneurs and sales leaders to nail is their startup elevator pitch.
Your pitch needs to be verbalized, not memorized. It’s a critical component. Everybody inside your company, from your board of directors and executives to your office manager and receptionist, must be able to pitch your startup with confidence.
What Is an Elevator Pitch?
An elevator pitch is the story entrepreneurs tell about their market, industry, values, technology, customers and use cases. It’s the overview of your company, and it needs to be succinct and thoughtful, and to clearly articulate your business strategy.
Nailing the pitch is what separates the good companies from the great. Let’s take a look at what makes a good pitch and examine some real-world startup elevator pitch examples for entrepreneurs.
How Do You Write an Elevator Pitch for a Startup?
To write an elevator pitch for a startup, answer these five questions:
- Who are you?
- What do you do?
- How do you do it?
- Who do you do it for?
- How can people contact you?
Your pitch will show up in many different places: on the About Us section on your website, in your social media profiles, on your company profile on third-party websites and more. It’ll also be the message all of your constituents will share with the world.
Startup Elevator Pitch Examples for Entrepreneurs
Check out these real-world examples created by using our startup elevator pitch template:
York IE pitch example
Here’s how we at York IE put together our pitch:
- Who you are: a vertically integrated strategic growth and investment firm
- What you do: reshape the way companies are built, scaled and monetized
- How you do it: through Fuel, our SaaS platform, plus hands-on advisory services and selective early-stage B2B SaaS investments
- Who you do it for: ambitious entrepreneurs, operators and investors
- How to contact you: york.ie
We then took that information and turned it into this fully formed pitch:
York IE is a vertically integrated strategic growth and investment firm helping reshape the way companies are built, scaled and monetized. Through Fuel, its SaaS platform, hands-on advisory services and selective early-stage B2B SaaS investments, York IE supports ambitious entrepreneurs, operators and investors on their quest to scale startups and disrupt markets. To learn more, visit york.ie.
Blustream pitch example
Our advisory services team worked with client Blustream to craft its pitch, following the same outline we used ourselves:
- Who you are: a SaaS-based, after-sale product engagement platform
- What you do: build active, ongoing connections between product companies and their customers using personalized product messages
- How do you do it: by providing a real-time view of product usage for brands to engage their customers with personalized product messages including tips, alerts and purchase recommendations at exactly the right time
- Who do you do it for: CEOs, CMOs and product executives
- How to contact you: blustream.io
This outline resulted in the following elevator pitch:
Blustream is a SaaS-based, after-sale product engagement platform that builds active, ongoing connections between product companies and their customers using personalized product messages. Blustream’s Product Engagement Platform provides a real-time view of product usage for brands to engage their customers with personalized product messages including tips, alerts and purchase recommendations at exactly the right time. Today, CEOs, CMOs and product executives use Blustream to create a direct channel with their customers to drive revenue, retention, and referrals. Stay connected to your customers: blustream.io.
MentorSpaces pitch example
And here’s a startup elevator pitch example from another advisory services client, Mentor Spaces, a mentoring platform focused on diversity, equality and inclusion. Note how it hits all of the same points described above.
Mentor Spaces is a community-driven mentorship platform designed to help companies scale DEI efforts while advancing the careers of underrepresented talent. The platform facilitates career conversations between employees and prospective candidates to streamline diverse talent acquisition and retention. Different from point-in-time, transactional approaches to recruitment, Mentor Spaces allows companies to cultivate relationships with underrepresented talent before and after formal recruiting events. Join the Mentor Spaces community today: mentorspaces.com.
Watch this video to learn more about how entrepreneurs can nail their startup elevator pitch:
