1. Be VERY clear on
what it is you do. The person you’re talking to should know exactly what you do
as early in the pitch as possible. Try to pitch to your grandmother. If she
doesn’t understand it, your pitch is not clear enough. And it doesn’t matter if
you got a killer algorithm or baking muffins. Your pitch must be understandable
by everyone. Don’t let the listener wait to slide 10 to figure out what you do
(unless you are building up a story).
2. Skip the fancy marketing talk and (what you think) are intellectual adjectives. They have no purpose whatsoever. People don’t care about your DB being proprietary, disruptive, revolutionary etc. Stick to a clear cut value proposition and eliminate all the unnecessary words.
3. Don’t say you just need 1% of a 10 trillion dollar market. Your market calculations are probably off, and your competitive analysis doesn’t have to include obvious alternatives to your service. And getting 1% of any market is extremely difficult.
Checkout my pitch at TechCrunch Disrupt here.