Why a short pitch is hard to write
An elevator pitch is a spoken answer to "so, what do you do?" that fits in about 30 seconds. That length is a habit, not a rule. No study found for this page shows that 30 seconds works better than 20 or 45. What matters is that the listener can repeat the point after hearing it once.
That is harder than it sounds, because you know too much. Economists Colin Camerer, George Loewenstein and Martin Weber named this the curse of knowledge in the Journal of Political Economy in 1989. In their experiments, people who held extra information could not set it aside when guessing what less-informed people would think, even when getting it right paid them money1.
Chip Heath and Dan Heath made the idea famous in Made to Stick (2007). They retell a Stanford study by Elizabeth Newton in which one person tapped out a well-known song on a table and another tried to name it. Tappers expected listeners to get about half. Listeners named 3 of 120 songs2. The tapper hears the tune in their head; the listener hears knocking. A pitch full of your own terms is the same knocking.
How to write an elevator pitch that lands
Start with the problem, in the listener's words. Name a pain they already feel, not your product. "Small shops lose a weekend a month to receipts" gets a nod. "An AI-powered expense platform" gets a polite smile.
Say what you do in one plain sentence. Describe what happens, not what category you belong to. If a 12-year-old could not repeat it back, it still has jargon in it.
Give one concrete proof. One number, one customer, or one result someone could check. One proof is remembered; three proofs blur into a list. Use only proof you really have. A made-up figure is worse than none, because it falls apart at the first follow-up question.
End with a clear ask. Decide before you speak what you want to happen next: a 20-minute call, an introduction, a trial. A pitch with no ask ends in "cool, good luck."
Borrow a positioning template
Geoffrey Moore's Crossing the Chasm, first published in 1991, gives a fill-in-the-blanks positioning statement and calls it a test you should be able to pass in an elevator ride3. In short form it runs: for a named customer who has a specific problem, the product is a category that delivers a key benefit; unlike the main alternative, it has a clear difference3. It was written to test positioning, not to be read aloud word for word. Fill it in first, then say the same thing the way you would talk.
A weak pitch and a stronger one
This uses the receipt app shown in the example above. The business, its numbers and its customers are invented for illustration. The listener is the owner of a small accounting firm.
| Weak | Stronger | |
|---|---|---|
| Problem | Expense management is broken | Your clients hand you a shoebox of receipts every quarter, and your staff types them in by hand |
| What you do | An AI-driven, end-to-end spend platform | Clients photograph each receipt, and the app sorts it into the right category and sends it to you |
| Proof | Customers love it | A 12-person bakery that used it this year sent its accountant zero loose receipts at quarter end |
| Ask | Let me know if you are interested | Could I show two of your clients how it works next week? |
Every line on the right is about the listener's day. The weak version could describe fifty companies, and it asks for nothing.
Say it aloud before you use it
A pitch is heard, not read. Sentences that look fine on a page can be hard to say and harder to follow. Before you use one of the drafts above:
- Read it out loud and time it with your phone. If it runs long, cut words; do not talk faster.
- Break up long sentences. A listener cannot go back and reread. One idea per sentence.
- Test it on someone outside your field. Ask them to repeat it back in their own words. Whatever they drop or garble is where the curse of knowledge is hiding12.
- Keep two lengths. A one-sentence version for a passing hello, and the full version for when someone asks a follow-up.
- Change the ask for the room. An investor, a customer and a possible hire each need a different next step.
What a pitch cannot do for you
A pitch compresses decisions you have already made. It cannot make them for you. If you cannot say who the customer is in a few words, the problem is not the wording. It is that the choice has not been made yet, and no template fixes that.
- Who you serve and why they pick you. Work that out with the value proposition generator, then shorten it into a pitch.
- Why your organization exists. A pitch is about the listener. Purpose is about you. The Golden Circle and the mission statement generator cover that side.
- Whether the proof holds up. A pitch promises something. The work behind it has to keep that promise, which means a plan, owners and measures, not better wording.
Frequently asked questions
- What is an elevator pitch?
- An elevator pitch is a short, persuasive introduction (about 30 seconds) that explains who you are, what you do, and why it matters, in the time it takes to ride an elevator.
- How long should an elevator pitch be?
- Around 30 seconds, or 2 to 3 sentences. Long enough to land the hook and what you do, short enough to keep attention.
- Can I use this for a startup or a job?
- Yes. Describe your company, product, or yourself, and the generator adapts. Add your audience for a more tailored pitch.
- What makes a good elevator pitch?
- It starts with a problem the listener already feels, says what you do in one plain sentence, gives one proof they could check, and ends with a clear ask. The hardest part is leaving out what only you understand. Researchers call this the curse of knowledge: once you know something, it is hard to imagine not knowing it12.
- What is a good elevator pitch template?
- Geoffrey Moore's positioning statement from Crossing the Chasm is a common starting point: for a named customer who has a specific problem, your product is a category that delivers a key benefit; unlike the main alternative, it has a clear difference3. Fill it in, then say the same thing the way you would talk.
- How do I end an elevator pitch?
- With one specific next step, such as a 20-minute call, an introduction or a trial. Pick it before you start talking, and change it for the listener: an investor, a customer and a possible hire each need a different ask.
- How many words is a 30-second elevator pitch?
- There is no fixed count, and no study sets 30 seconds as the right length. Write a draft, read it out loud, and time it with your phone. If it runs long, cut words instead of talking faster.
Sources
- Colin Camerer, George Loewenstein and Martin Weber, "The Curse of Knowledge in Economic Settings: An Experimental Analysis," Journal of Political Economy 97(5), October 1989, pp. 1232 to 1254. doi.org
- Chip Heath and Dan Heath, Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die, Random House, 2007. heathbrothers.com
- Geoffrey A. Moore, Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling Disruptive Products to Mainstream Customers, HarperBusiness, 1991 (revised 1999 and 2014). geoffreyamoore.com
Written by Tom Olajide, Founder. Last reviewed September 24, 2026.