The Secrets to Delivering a Winning Elevator Pitch Investors Love

Here’s the thing about Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch: Startup founders and inventors who nail their 60-second pitch might think they have victory in the bag, but that’s just the beginning. They next have to face a grueling Q&A session with investors who will want to know everything from sales traction to costs to marketing planning. Things can quickly turn on a dime — sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse.

In this week’s episode, the inventor of a medical device’s pitch is going great until one investor brings up the dreaded F-word: FDA approval. See how the conversation flows from there on this feisty new episode of Elevator Pitch!

This week’s main takeaways:

• Seeking investment very early in your business presents challenges to investors. “I’m always hesitant to invest in something so that the entrepreneur can find out if it works or not,” Netflix co-founder Marc Randolph says.
• You want a focused market — investors don’t like a shotgun approach when acquiring customers. “I want to know who your customer at scale will be,” Kim Perell says.
• Don’t leave investors guessing about how you see their role in your future operations. “Why do you need us investors? That’s got to be clear in the pitch,” Joe De Sena says.

Season 10, Episode 3 Board of Investors

• Marc Randolph, co-founder and first CEO of Netflix, master of scaling
• Kim Perell, CEO of 100.co, serial entrepreneur and investor
• Joe De Sena, CEO and Founder of Spartan and Death Races

Season 10, Episode 3 Entrepreneurs

• David Fleming, founder of Releevum, a headache relief device that replicates the benefits of suboccipital release therapy.
• Alexander Wesley, founder of Arovia, a large portable display using a pocket projector and a flexible screen.
• Amy Keller, founder of Climate Candy, a company that turns imperfect food into candy.

How to Watch

Season 10 of Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch is presented by Amazon Business with support from State Farm. New episodes stream on Wednesdays on Entrepreneur.com. Follow the show on Facebook, YouTube and IGTV.