If you want to raise money, your pitch deck is only half the job. The other half happens before you ever open the deck: The moment someone asks, “So what does your company do?” You have somewhere between one breath and one elevator ride to answer. And how you answer this question, word-for-word, often determines whether that person leans in –while maybe starting to think about handing you a check — or checks out to check the messages on their phone.
The term “elevator pitch” has a specific origin. As the story goes, a young bank employee named Duncan Williams found himself sharing an elevator with a senior executive in 1966 and used the ride to deliver a fast, confident pitch about a new financial service. By the time the doors opened, he had the executive’s attention — and shortly thereafter, a promotion. A local paper dubbed his impromptu sales talk an “elevator pitch,” and the term stuck. (Note: in the spirit of fair disclosure — Otis Elevator and Hollywood lore both offer different stories…but my “elevator pitch history” fact checks!)
Today, the research on ideal length varies by context, but by my observations formed while being present at over 10,000 CEO/Investor facing meetings over 30+ years, along with the consensus of most other experts, the sweet spot sits at roughly 30 to 60 seconds. This equates to somewhere between 60 and 150 spoken words, though investor-facing versions occasionally stretch toward 90 seconds. Going shorter may work, but you could risk sounding fragmentary. Going longer, you may risk losing the very attention you’re hoping to capture. Either way, the constraint is the same one your pitch deck* ultimately faces: you are competing for a sliver of someone’s attention, and you don’t get a second draft in the moment.
This is why the exercise below isn’t optional polish — it’s foundational. Having counseled hundreds of CEOs, CFOs, and others helming companies on route to the venture and/or public markets, I propose you carefully consider your Elevator Pitch as a two-part practice, and, like any practice, it rewards repetition. (*I’ll be addressing pitch deck/corporate presentations “musts” and perceptions in the next two newsletters.)
1. Start With the 50-Word Descriptor
Before you write anything longer, write something shorter. Using 50 words or less, describe what your Company does.
This isn’t a frivolous exercise, and frankly it’s not easy. As Blaise Pascual wrote in 1657, “If I had more time, I’d have written you a shorter letter.” Almost 370 years later — it is still a universal struggle for most to succinctly impart an impactful message and business offer in few words. Rambling and believing “well at least we got it all out” is a faulty perception and one that damages credibility and opportunity in untold ways.
For many reasons, beyond clarity and ultimate effect, being concise — before given the opportunity to elaborate more extensively — cannot be nailed down, edited, practiced, and rehearsed enough. We live in a text-obsessed, “sum-it-up-quick” world, and the professional financial world runs on the same philosophy — also known as the “time is money” clock — at least initially, when just assessing interest, or not. Bloomberg, the most respected source of financial information on publicly traded companies, allows only 50 words, which equals about five lines of copy, to describe a company. If your Company is public and you don’t know which descriptor people see when they pull up your ticker, check your profile on Bloomberg.com. That’s the public-access version of the screen institutional investors and analysts use for immediate access to company information, including the corporate summary, stock data, headquarters address, and the names of corporate officers.
Whenever we start working with a new client, we check Bloomberg, Yahoo!, and other financial information providers to see how their company descriptor reads. Clients are often surprised by the inaccuracies found. What if your corporate direction has changed but the descriptor hasn’t caught up? Worse — what if you’ve split your shares and the financial sites are glitched and still carry outdated numbers? Unless you actively monitor your listings on Bloomberg, Yahoo!, MSN, and the rest, prospective investors may be reading outdated news about your Company. The good news is that you can write or update your descriptor and submit it, as long as it’s factual and non-promotional — and, needless to say, this is very important, worth the effort and a must to stay on top of.
Before you draft your own 50 words, look at how Apple Inc., one of the most recognizable brands in the world, describes itself:
“Apple Inc. designs, manufactures, and markets smartphones, personal computers, tablets, wearables and accessories, and sells a variety of related accessories. The Company also offers payment, digital content, cloud and advertising services.” (Source: Bloomberg.com)
Not exactly thrilling — but it’s factual, thorough, and unambiguous. That’s the bar for this version: Precision over sizzle.
2. Expand It Into the Elevator Pitch
Once you have your 50 words, write the expanded version — the actual elevator pitch. It should take about as long as it might take to deliver it during an elevator ride, and/or maybe a short stroll across a hotel lobby. It needs to clearly and concisely describe what your Company does, with special emphasis on the benefits your product or service delivers to your target audience or market segment. This is where you’re allowed more adjectives, more color, more of the story behind why your market is lucrative and your Company is worth backing. Dwell on the benefits, and you’ll find yourself genuinely communicating your own passion and mission — which is exactly the tone you want.
Here’s my own stab at an extended pitch for Apple (Apple has not reviewed or approved this version — it’s illustrative only):
Apple Inc. launched on April Fools’ Day, 1976, founded in a Cupertino garage by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. Today Apple is one of the most recognized and valuable brands in the world. Tim Cook, who succeeded founder Steve Jobs as CEO in 2011, will step down in September 2026 and transition to Executive Chairman, with John Ternus taking over as Apple’s new Chief Executive Officer. Apple continues to design, manufacture, and market the coolest products in tech — both technologically and visually — starting with the iPhone, which redefined the smartphone category in 2007 and remains Apple’s single largest product line. Around it, Apple builds a full ecosystem: the Mac line of personal and business computers; the iPad line of tablets; and a growing wearables and accessories business spanning Apple Watch, AirPods, HomePod, and Apple Vision Pro. All of it now runs on Apple’s custom-designed silicon, giving Apple tighter control over performance, efficiency, and security than most of its competitors.
Apple makes using its devices easy — and keeps them that way through a services business that has become a major growth engine in its own right. The App Store lets millions of independent developers reach Apple’s global customer base with software designed to simplify life, add fun, and work seamlessly across the ecosystem. Beyond apps, Apple now offers payment services through Apple Pay and Apple Card, digital content through Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, and Apple News+, cloud storage through iCloud, and a growing advertising business built on its own platforms. Apple’s devices remain a favorite in the business world — for their security and reliability — as well as in the art, design, architecture, and music industries, where ease of use and build quality carry particular weight.
Apple sells its products and services worldwide through its own online and retail stores, its direct sales force, and a network of third-party cellular carriers, wholesalers, and resellers, reaching consumers, small and mid-sized businesses, and education, enterprise, and government customers alike. The relationship begins the moment you buy your first Apple product, and Apple keeps it going with AppleCare support and a steady stream of new services designed to deepen — not just maintain — that first purchase.
Notice the difference. The 50-word version is a factual anchor that a stranger to the Company, a journalist, or an analyst can quote accurately. The extended version is you story. Aim for about 350 words and make sure it’s something that makes a listener want to hear more. Both follow their own protocols, and both are necessary. So you’ll want to start taking your own stabs at each.
3. Memorize It. Word-for-Word.
Here’s the step most management teams skip, and it’s the one that costs them the most. Writing the pitch is not the same as owning it. If you have to search for the next sentence while you’re saying it, your audience feels that hesitation before they can name what they’re feeling — and hesitation, due to recall, reads as uncertainty about your own business, whether or not that’s true.
The psychology here is well established. Research on paralinguistic persuasion and perception shows that people who modulate their voice to sound confident are perceived as more confident without appearing less sincere — and that perceived confidence, even when the listener consciously notices the effort, still moves attitudes and choices in the speaker’s favor. You cannot modulate your voice, your pacing, or your emphasis with any control if you’re simultaneously trying to recall what comes next. Memorization isn’t about sounding robotic: it is what actually frees you up to sound natural, because the words are no longer the hard part. For a visual — imagine a Broadway performer who has memorized their lines so that they arrive on stage fully immersed in acting their part to transport you into their world of wonder — often suspending reality and doubt in the process
There’s a second effect at work, too: fluency. Research on message repetition has found that repeating a persuasive message can increase its persuasive impact up to a point — typically around three exposures — before diminishing returns and even a boomerang effect sets in. Applied to your own rehearsal. Saying your pitch out loud, to yourself, to your team, to a mirror, three or four times before it matters isn’t overkill: It is the mechanism by which a string of sentences turns into something that sounds like conviction instead of a recitation.
Practically, that means:
- Write it, then say it out loud. Sentences that read well on a page often trip on the tongue. Cut anything you stumble over twice.
- Time yourself. If your extended pitch runs past 60 to 90 seconds, you’re already losing the room. Trim ruthlessly rather than talk faster.
- Rehearse the transitions, not just the content. The moment people hesitate isn’t usually when talking about the facts — it’s the seams between ideas. Practice those seams until they disappear.
- Say it to a real person, not just a mirror. You’ll discover which parts land and which parts prompt a confused look. The feedback, often in the form of a questioning raised brow, is something that no amount of solo rehearsal will give you.
- Know it well enough to abandon the script. The goal isn’t a memorized monologue you recite verbatim under pressure. It’s internalizing the pitch deeply enough that you can compress it to ten seconds, expand it to two minutes, or answer a curveball question — and still sound like yourself.
A pitch deck can be revised if someone misreads it. An elevator pitch can’t. You get one delivery, in real time, with no slide to fall back on — which is exactly why it deserves the same rigor you’d give the deck itself, and then some rehearsal on top. Think of it as your moment on a Broadway stage. Certainly, you’d want to get it right so you get the rave reviews!
Note: This is a three-part newsletter series. I’ll start with breaking down the essentials of your elevator pitch — the 60 words or less that you’ll need to write and memorize — that describes your Company or offer in the most succinct yet inspiring way. This is primary and paramount to your success in the venture and/or capital markets.
In the 2nd article of this series, I’ll share the absolute essentials — and more — of a successful pitch deck, along with some facts about what you’re facing regarding attention spans if you’re trying to raise venture, private, or public funds.
In the 3rd newsletter article of this collective — which you will absolutely want to read — the focus drills down on perceptions of investors and on the psychology you must grasp and apply if you want to really understand how those with the money will be perceiving you, your company, your offer, your presentation, your value, and their potential investment.
If you’re struggling with this at any point, feel free to call me anytime if you want some help.
Dian Griesel Founder & President Perception Dynamics Inc. 212.825.3210
