Saturday, January 5, 2008
Networking and Elevator Pitches
In the past few months, I've been to a number of great tech oriented networking events in the metro D.C. area. It is great to see a vibrant and dynamic local entrepreneurial community and I've enjoyed meeting many entrepreneurs. I'm flattered that many of them have shared their elevator pitches and business concepts with me. I'd like to share some ideas on how to capture my attention and the attention of other angels/vcs at these events:
- Draw me in to the conversation by telling me about the problem you're solving
- Convince me that its a real problem
- Tell me how your company is solving the problem
- Direct me to your website and invite me to see a demo of your product
Often times I'm approached by an entrepreneur who wants to lead with the product/service they've built. While I enjoy learning about cool products and services and thinking about how the product/service meets a market need, in a networking setting where I'm having conversations in succession it will be more effective to spoon feed the information to me. If you set the stage for me, I'll be more likely to engage in a thoughtful discussion.
I look forward to seeing you at future local networking events.
Labels: Advice, elevator pitch, investors, networking
