2.1 Creating your own elevator pitch
The idea of the elevator pitch has, ostensibly, been around since the inventor of the elevator, Elisha Otis, ‘sold’ an elevator safety mechanism to an audience while demonstrating it during an elevator ride. Today, these kinds of ‘pitches’ are even more refined, with consultants recommending 30-second pitches, and in some cases, just single lines with the key to make a connection with your audience (Gilbert, 2023). While such short encapsulations of your idea may be helpful in some situations, a well-thought-out pitch containing just the right amount of information is an invaluable tool to get people interested in your idea.
Activity 1
This activity is split up into two tasks, which will take you through the process of understanding what an elevator pitch is, how to develop it, and then to practise it.
Task A
Using YouTube or another favourite video sharing website, search for ‘elevator pitch examples’. Note that college and universities, particularly those in the US, routinely hold student competitions, so you may want to filter these with other terms, such as ‘business’.
To get you started, here are two different resources from YouTube.
Entrepreneur Tashi Dorjee from The Failed Founder channel (Dorjee, 2024) provides examples for three types of pitches, from the shortest and simplest to one pitched at an industry expert level.
- Spanish–American educator and venture capitalist, Mar Hershenson, gives advice on how to tailor your pitch to the person you are pitching to for the TEDTalk series, The Way We Work (Hershenson, 2023).

Transcript: Video 2
[TEXT ON SCREEN: Step 1: Know your audience]
[TEXT ON SCREEN: Step 2: Think about the hero's journey]
[TEXT ON SCREEN: Step 3: Shore up your weakest point]
Take note of some of the key messages suggested by the videos and examples.
Discussion
Your will have compiled a list of key messages from the examples you found. From the two videos listed in the activity, you might have identified the following points:
- A pitch can be a powerful story or narrative about your idea. Mar Hershenson called this a ‘hero’s story’, which you can use to capture the imagination and interest of your audience.
- Both Mar and Tashi talked about how important it is to tailor your message to your audience. Tashi explained that you can build on your pitch message from a very simple single statement all the way to a more detailed pitch, depending on who you are speaking with.
- You also want to make sure that you are prepared to deal with any potential pitfalls in your idea. Mar explains that you should deal with these directly in your pitch and show how you will deal with them.
- Finally, both videos talk about the importance of passion in how you communicate your ideas. Now, you may want to carefully consider whether all of Tashi’s advice is useful in this regard (with respect to his ‘urinal pitches’), but it’s clear that passion is a big part of his approach.
Task B
Watch the following video where Mackenzie Baert, Project Manager at reframe.food, discusses what she looks for in a pitch for ICAERUS Open Calls.

Transcript: Video 3
- What key information do you look for in concept pitches from Open Call applicants?
- What are the top three characteristics of a good pitch?
- What are the top three characteristics you think people should avoid in their pitches?
- Could you give an example of a recent pitch you were impressed by? What made it impressive to you?
Review the application template [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] for the ICAERUS Open Call (note: although this call may be closed to further applications, the template is still available to view). Compare the information that the template covers with the information in the sustainable business model canvas (CASE, 2018) (replicated below in Figure 4 for ease of access). What is similar? What is different?
What seem to be the key priorities of the Open Call, and what areas of the sustainable business model canvas might you draw on to respond to them in this kind of open call application?
In the next section, you will begin drafting your own elevator pitch for your business idea.