Elevator Pitch Essentials
The information below was written by the Brandeis Science Communication Lab. Please seek permission before sharing widely.
Before You Start Writing
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What are you introducing? An elevator pitch can introduce a product, a project, a company, or yourself.\
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Who is your audience? An elevator pitch is just as much about the other person as it is about you. Consider who you are talking to and what they should know about you
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What is your goal? An elevator pitch can’t include everything. Use your goal (make a sale, recruit a collaborator, get hired) to decide what information to include.
Elements of an Elevator Pitch
- Who are you/your product?
- What do you do?
- What have you accomplished?
Guidelines
- Must be brief. The pitch should be 30 to 60 seconds long, or 60 - 100 words
- Must be understandable to non-experts
- Preferably flexible so that you can adjust based on the audience
Examples
Personal Introduction
My name is Alex, and I’m a senior graduate student at Brandeis. I’m interested in storing and transferring information using oscillating chemical reactions. If we succeed, the technology could be used for flexible, ultra-low power computers. I have a provisional patent on a lab prototype, but it isn’t very useful yet. After I graduate, I’m hoping to develop the idea in the start-up space.
Project Introduction
Your brain and your laptop can both store, modify and transfer information. Your brain uses less power, produces less heat, and runs much faster than the laptop. We’re using the chemistry of oscillating reactions to try to make computers that work more like a brain than like a laptop. Our prototype can store and modify one bit of information for several minutes with no additional energy input. While one bit won’t get you very far, we’re working on a massively-parallel design for a second-generation prototype.