In a sentence

I have always been a big fan of keeping things simple.

While it has been said that the elevator pitch is a 30 sec summary of the business, what actually matters is the 1st sentence.

Does it raise an eyebrow or invite nods for the audience to want to hear more? More often than not, when I go to networking sessions, entrepreneurs will reply "oh basically, my company does XXX" and they continue on for the next minute or so.

However, more often than not, do we actually pay attention to the audience if they even bother to continue listening to what you have to say after the 1st sentence? Why bother to continue pitching to someone who has completely no interest or are unable to value add into the industry that you are in.

With that said, I worked my pitch to be a sentence long, only when prompted by the audience that "oh, tell me more" or "that sounds interesting, how does it work?" then I will continue the elevator pitch of 30 secs.

It is all about the hook of the 1st sentence.



The Young CEO