Santa Clara University

Submit a video or audio recording of your Elevator Pitch in any standard Windows Media Player format (file name extensions: .asf, .asx, .avi, .wav, .wma, .wax, .wm, .wmv, .wvx). We recommend that your file be no larger than 1 GB for uploads and you should not submit promotional videos like a commercial.

Although there are many ways to go about creating an Elevator Pitch, we suggest proceeding in three steps.

First, create a one page PowerPoint slide that addresses the following:

• What the organization does. (What are your products or services?)
• Who the intended beneficiaries are. (Who benefits from your products or services?)
• If different from the beneficiary, who the economic buyer is. (Who pays for your product/service?)
• Why the organization’s product or service is important to the beneficiaries. (How, specifically, are the beneficiaries’ situations improved?)
• Why the organization is the best at what it does. (Why are you a better choice than the alternatives?)
• How the organization measures what it does. (What metrics do you use to know if you are successful?)

Second, turn the PowerPoint slide that you just created into a written document that tells a story about your organization. This is your Elevator Pitch. You do not have to use the same order of elements as in your PowerPoint slide. For example, you could begin with a story about the needs of one or more of your beneficiaries and how your organization fills the needs, and then generalize to describe how many such beneficiaries there are and how your organization works to help them.

Third, memorize your Elevator Pitch and make sure you can say it slowly and out loud in less than 3 minutes.

Finally, record it on video using any standard Windows Media Player format.

Background Resources 
O'Leary, Chris. Elevator Pitch Essentials: How to Create an Effective Elevator Pitch. [S.l.]: Limb, 2008. Print. (http://www.elevatorpitchessentials.com)

For an example of an Elevator Pitch, see the below video from GSBI 2008 Alumnus Meds and Foods for Kids.