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5 tips on pitching your idea for an IdeaWarz tournament
As the host of IdeaWarz, I see a lot of idea pitches. Over time I noticed that the popular ideas use a few simple techniques to make their ideas stand out from the crowd.
Here are some tips I have gleaned from submissions that seem to resonate with the community.
#1. Pick a great product name
Nothing attracts attention and sparks interest like a cool, compelling product name. Names like Tummy Cruncher, Money Mentor, and Cover Girl say it all. They reinforce the fact that from all customers, hope springs eternal. Everyone would like to be thin, rich and beautiful. Choose a compelling name for your idea that is easy to remember and has the audience thinking it is exactly what they need.
#2. Avoid the tech speak
You are in danger of succumbing to tech speak when your pitch is filled with words like: Linux, AJAX, REST, API, or RubyOnRails, Java, Vista, .NET, etc.
This may come as a shock, but most people don’t care about technology.
They care about how your idea is going to make their life easier.
The guys at 37signals are masters at this. If you want to see some great marketing from a bunch of developers, check out their new product Highrise.
Focus on the benefits of your idea and save the tech talk for the local monthly chapter meetings. Unless your idea is so directly tied to a specific technology that it warrants mentioning, save it.
#3. Talk about benefits - not features
Features don’t sell - benefits do.
The 300 horse power engine and anti-lock breaks are nice features on a car. The benefit is that you can pass easily on the highway and break safely with your loved ones in snow storms.
Describe your idea in terms of benefits and not technical features. This will better position your product in the customers mind and make it clear why they need it.
#4. Keep it short
‘I would have written a shorter letter but I didn’t have time.’ - Blaise Pascal.
Writing short, powerful prose is tough, but important. People are inherently lazy and the last thing you want to do is turn a reader off because you made them work to understand your idea.
VC’s are lazy too. That’s why Guy Kawasaki encourages entrepreneurs to use the 10/20/30 rule when pitching their ideas.
Hit the audience with your best selling points early and drop all unnecessary text after that. Using the fewest words possible will make your idea easy to understand and digest for the reader.
#5. Formatting counts
Be sure to format your idea so it’s easy to understand in a glance.
Bold or italicize important points.
If you have long sections of information, try breaking them down using bullet points.
Make sure you effectively use white space.
Good formatting makes it easier for the reader to understand your idea, and increases your chances of getting a thumbs up. If you make the reader work, they will skip your idea and move on.
So there you have it. A few tips to help your idea punch above the noise. Try’em out and let me know what works. Effective use of these and other techniques will make your idea stand out and increase the likelihood garnering support. Hopefully we will soon see your idea in an upcoming IdeaWarz Tournament.
May the best idea win!
Special thanks again to the good people at 42squared.com for their financial support of the Reid Hoffman Tournament.
March 22nd, 2007 at 9:12 am
Great tips!
March 22nd, 2007 at 12:11 pm
Thanks Jill. I would love to hear if there are any people think I missed.
Do people find the elevator pitches handy?
Does it help to be able to distill your idea down into 1 or 2 sentences?
March 22nd, 2007 at 2:04 pm
> Make sure you effectively use white space.
I’m guilty as charged that I won’t even attempt to read text that isn’t well organized into paragraphs, lists, etc. I hated how Idea Explorer used to smash ideas into one big paragraph.
> Do people find the elevator pitches handy?
> Does it help to be able to distill your idea down into 1 or 2 sentences?
I have mixed feelings about the elevator pitches. On one hand, shorter and to the point is usually better. On the other hand, since most of the elevator pitch text is pre-defined, it’s so incredibly short that it doesn’t give an accurate enough description of some ideas.
It is also inflexible and hard to append to some ideas, making it sound trivial for what is supposed to be the most important section of your idea.
March 22nd, 2007 at 11:21 pm
I hear ya Cory - the elevator pitch is not always a perfect fit.
When it works though I have seen it work very well. It can reduce several paragraphs of verbose text into two very powerful short sentences.
People struggle with writing elevator pitches sometimes because it is hard to distill your idea down. If you can do it though it is usually well worth the effort.
March 23rd, 2007 at 11:44 pm
I think you are missing one very important point.
Revenue Model, Revenue Model Revenue Model
People absolutely want to know how your idea is going to make money. The more ways it can make money the more likely people are to vote on it.
March 24th, 2007 at 6:42 am
Woah - you are right techguy. How could we leave out how this idea makes money?
For the record, I agree with you 100%. Not knowing how your idea is going to make money however doesn’t mean you don’t have a good idea. If you have something that brings a lot of meaning to peoples lives, the money will follow (YoutTube).
I do agree though, it’s good to be able to articulate a few revenue models - even if it’s just advertising.
March 24th, 2007 at 10:30 am
Your YouTube example is still a revenue model. It’s the make something really popular that I can sell off for a lot of money. I think it’s being shown to be a very popular business model of late. Unfortunately, I don’t think most of the idea warz voters will be convinced.
March 24th, 2007 at 5:13 pm
Good point techguy - making something really popular that one can sell for a lot of money will never go out of style
March 30th, 2007 at 11:32 pm
Is this more what you are looking for?
http://www.cambrianhouse.com/idea-explorer/idea-promoter/ideas-id/kTA3iBW/
March 31st, 2007 at 6:22 pm
That is a great write up of an idea Gods_Light.
It’s clear, concise, but what really cinched it for more was you video. There is something about watching, and listening to people pitch that I find very powerful.
Great idea write up - hat tip.
July 18th, 2007 at 4:20 pm
Cool.
September 17th, 2007 at 8:52 am
Internet Business Promoter
Internet Business Promoter
February 16th, 2008 at 4:11 pm
I thought you enjoyed yourself…. Suddenly Jim can’t impede to anna kournikova nude videos his clothing anywhere.