Pitching your product in a social setting
I have been at SXSW for a few days and have heard hundreds of products/ideas being pitched. It was often painful, so much so that I wanted to pull people aside to give them advice. Unfortunately, I don't think I could have pulled it off without being a dick, so I will summarize my thoughts here.
Get to the point
You have a limited amount of time to get your point across before someone's attention will start trailing off. The first thing out of your mouth should be a simple and powerful sentence about what you do. Just like the first sentence of a story, it needs to hook the listener. Once they are hooked, then you can expand on your vision.
It's also important to realize that networking events are just another form of socializing. Keep your pitch casual, but informative. You should leave all of your buzz words at home and just be straightforward. Seasoned entrepreneurs don't have the patience for bullsh*t.
Don't be afraid to be simple
The simplicity of your pitch reflects your product's viability. If you can't explain it in layman's terms, then you should be worried about your product and not your pitch. I find that people inadvertently obfuscate their product descriptions because they are worried that their core idea won't be compelling enough. Discard those fears and talk to me like I'm eight years old.
You can't make an uninteresting product better by adding more features, just as you can't make your pitch more compelling by throwing a slew of big words and buzz words into it.
Bad: "Our company enables users to propagate video content to Twitter via our scalable cloud-based encoding system and URL shortening technology"
Good: "Our service lets you send videos to Twitter from any device. We're like TwitPic, but for video."
Make it personal
The best way to drive it home is to explain why someone would use your product or how people are currently using your product. Even better, tell them how it adds value to the listener's life. Tell a story that creates a context which makes the value of your product extremely clear.
You should be able to illustrate the value of your product within the first 60 seconds of conversation. If you can't do that, then it may not be your pitch that is the problem.
Now go out and "get it"
The most satisfying moment for an entrepreneur with a new idea is the moment when someone "gets it". Your ultimate goal is to figure out how to make people "get it" in the shortest amount of time. Use analogies, use cases, stories, demos, just about anything at your disposal to make them understand. It's like Pictionary, except you're the only one who sees the vision that you're trying to illustrate.
You should also read Dave McClure's post about pitching the problem and not the solution.
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