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6 Rules for Nailing the

Perfect Elevator Pitch
Chances are, you'll never deliver a pitch in an actual
elevator. But it never hurts to master the art of describing
your company in 40 seconds or less.

The elevator pitch: It's something every entrepreneur is expected to be good at but almost none
will ever have to attempt. Sure, trying to close a funding round or sale while the clock is ticking
is part of the work of starting a company, but literally pitching someone in an elevator? Doesn't
happen.

For the eight semifinalists in Salesforce Ventures' Dreampitch contest, though, it did. On Sept. 4,
founders of all eight startups took turns riding the elevator in the new Salesforce Tower with Bret
Taylor, the enterprise giant's president and chief product officer. During their rides, they had 40
seconds (approximately the time it takes to rise from street level to the 61st floor) to pitch him,
with the three best pitches earning a chance to win a $250,000 investment, to be awarded as part
of the upcoming Dreamforce conference.

Immediately following their rides, I talked to the founders of the three finalists--CarServ,
Draiver, and Radius8--as well as the five runners-up, to hear what they learned from the process
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and their best advice for other entrepreneurs seeking to nail the elevator pitch, real or figurative. I
also got some tips from Taylor. Read and learn.

1. Say one thing.

The biggest difference between an elevator pitch and any other kind of pitch, I heard from almost
everyone, lies in what you don't say. A conventional pitch is expected to include information
about the founders' backgrounds, the addressable market size, the competition, and so on. In an
elevator pitch, you have time only to explain one thing: the nature of the problem you're solving
and how you're solving it. "When you have the luxury of a longer pitch, you can tell a fuller
story," said Katie Vahle of Carevoyance, which connects patients and medical providers with the
products and services they need. "I found us taking out stuff about how we do stuff and focusing
on why we do stuff, really homing in on the value and the so-what."

Salesforce president and CPO Bret Taylor (left) and Radius8 CRO Jenna Flateman Posner as she prepares to
deliver her Dreampitch in a Saleforce Tower elevator.CREDIT: Courtesy Company

2. Practice on strangers.
A polished elevator pitch requires a lot of rehearsal, and friends and mentors make for the most
convenient audiences. But to find your blind spots, it's crucial to also practice it on people who
don't know anything about your company, said Josh Lowy of Hugo,
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which develops collaboration software to make meeting notes more shareable. "There's a ton of
assumptions we have when we're in the weeds all day, thinking people care about these things or
understand those things," Lowy said. "We just got as many people to sense-check our pitch as
possible and strip out the assumptions."

3. Memorize, but don't panic.

When you have only 40 seconds, you can't waste them showing slides in a deck. You have to
memorize your patter more or less word for word. "You can't wing it," said Jenna Flateman
Posner of Radius8, which helps retailers bridge the gap between online and offline. Loop & Tie
founder Sara Rodell, whose company won last year's Dreampitch, said she rehearsed her pitch
while cleaning the house to make sure she could do it even while distracted.

But that doesn't mean screw-ups are fatal. Your audience understands it's a high-pressure
scenario and is likely to be more forgiving than in a different setting. Zarif Haque of Draiver
completely blanked on his closing line. "It was kind of funny," he said afterward. That didn't stop
Draiver, which helps companies manage their vehicle fleets, from nabbing one of the three
finalist spots.

4. Take it down a notch.

Another thing that makes elevator pitches different is the intimacy factor. If you're trying to blow
your audience's hair back with your dynamism and charisma, as you would onstage, it will come
across as shouting. "You have to realize you're having a simple conversation," said Anthony
Diaz of Health Hero, which makes software that improves patients' abilities to follow doctors'
orders and reduces hospital re-admissions. "You can't just go in there and expect to be a
motivation and enthusiasm extravaganza." To practice playing to the small space, Diaz
performed his pitch while facing into a corner of the room.
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Draiver CEO Zarif Haque in front of the Salesforce Tower elevators.CREDIT: Courtesy Company

5. Communicate, don't sell.

Along similar lines, don't ask too much of your audience. If you've only just met them, the best
you can ask for is a sympathetic hearing, not a commitment. Deepak Boggavarapu of Seva,
which makes eco-friendly coffee pods, turned for help to a friend who's a theater coach. Her
advice: "Have fun and realize the purpose of this is to communicate your message. Think about
that. Don't think about it as a competition."

6. Embrace the constraint.

Trying to communicate your life's work in 40 seconds can be frustrating, but it's also a powerful
forcing function: If you really can't do it, there's a chance it's because you have more thinking to
do--about your messaging, if not about the business itself. "Going through the experience was
really valuable," said Posner of Radius8. "Now we have an output we're going to use with our
entire team across the board." Not to mention a new skill that applies to so many other facets of
your work. "So much of the job of an entrepreneur is about selling the vision of your company,"
said Taylor. "When you're a startup, every employee you talk to is skeptical your company will
exist in a year. Investors haven't heard of your concept. With every stakeholder, whether it's a
customer, investor, or employer, you end up having to make a pitch. As much as it's challenging,
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it's an important skill to learn. How do you distill down the vision of your company in a really
precise way?"

The three Dreampitch finalists will present their pitches onstage during Dreamforce on Sept. 26.