The document provides guidance on creating an effective elevator pitch. An elevator pitch should be 2 minutes or less and get a conversation started about an idea, product, service, etc. It should include a pain statement describing an important customer problem and a value proposition explaining your unique approach to addressing that problem and the superior benefits compared to alternatives. The core of the value proposition can be captured using the NABC framework of Need, Approach, Benefit, Competition. The elevator pitch structure includes an attention-grabbing opening, the value proposition, and a call to action. Iteration and feedback are important to refine the pitch.

1. GET YOUR POINT ACROSS

2. Your Elevator Pitch
 It’s a communication tool
 Get your point across in the
time span of an elevator ride.
(2 minutes max)
 An elevator pitch is an
overview of an idea, product,
service, project, person, or
other solution and is designed
to just get a conversation
started.

3. Elevator Pitch Basics
A good elevator pitch is made up of two key elements:
2. The pain statement
3. The value proposition
Every great elevator pitch must be:
 Succinct
 Greed-inducing
 Low in tech talk
 Irrefutable

4. Elevator Pitch Structure
Your elevator pitch should have 3 parts:
3. Gain attention & hook !
– Introduce yourself and your background
– Introduce your idea
– Start with something catchy, a story
§ Your value proposition.
§ Actions to get to the next step:
– What do you need to get started:
• People
• Skills
• Technology

5. The Core = the Value Proposition
A statement of an important client problem
[Need] that proposes the unique way [Approach]
you will use client resources (€€€) to deliver
superior client features per unit cost
[ Benefits]compared to others in their market(s)
[Competition] .
You don’t define value - Customer’s do !

6. It’s a simple as NABC
Example of NABC:
“John, I understand you’re hungry as I am
[Need]. Let's go have some lunch at the company
café [Approach], instead of McDonald’s
[Competition] because, for the cost of
McDonald's it has great food, its quiet and we
can continue our conversation [ Benefits per
costs]. “

7. Four Fundamental questions :
N Customer/Market Need
A Your unique Approach
B Client/Customer Benefits
C Alternative approaches Competition
“NABC” captures the essential, defining
ingredients of a Value Proposition

8. A Typical First Value Proposition
N A BC

9. A Typical First Value Proposition
N A BC

10. Creating what customers want:
N ABC
“ Work on what’s important, not just what’s interesting-
there’s an infinite supply of both”

11. NABC example – Video on Demand
– Need:
• Movie rental is a 500 Mio Euro business. The part people dislike is to
return tapes and late fees.
– Approach:
• We will provide VOD via the cable system with access to all the tittles
of IMDB. The system uses existing channels and hardware. Customers
need no new investments and pay the same price for a movie as in the
rental shop.
– Benefits:
• End-user: no need to return movies; no more late fees. Same
functions as with a DVD player: fast forward, trailers, ..etc.
• Customer: Higher revenue per movie with higher margin; 20% market
share expected.
– Competition:
• competition : we have patented the distribution and VCR like features
for VOD
• alternatives : on-line rentals have higher handling costs (0.75 Euro per
movie). Sending the tape back is as inconvenient as returning it.
11

12. Quantitative not Qualitative
Need
–Not: The market is growing fast
–Rather: Our market segment is £2M per year and growing at 20% per year
Approach
– Not: We have a clever design
–Rather: We have created a one-step process that replaces the current two-step
process with the same quality
Benefits
– Not: The ROI is excellent
–Rather: Our one-step process reduces our cost by 50% and results in an expected
ROI of 50% per year with a profit of £3M in Year 3
Competition
– Not: We are better than our competitors
– Rather: Our competitor is Evergreen Corporation, which uses the current two-step
process. We own the IP for our new process

13. Passionate Storytelling
 Not just about NABC
 What is the “hook” that will excite someone
 Structure with beginning, middle and end
 Add a spark

15. Iterate Often & Collect Feedback
 Focus on Important Client Needs
 Write down the Value Proposition (NABC)
and Elevator Pitch
 Iterate often – every week
 In a group (Watering Holes)
 Get out of the office
 Use pictures, simulations and visuals
 Protect any IP generated

16. Who stops at the watering hole ?
 People with different backgrounds take on
various roles.
 Negative criticism is banned at water-hole
meetings.
 There are three typical roles at a water hole:
– Those who concentrate on everything that
makes an idea seem good
– Those who concentrate on everything that can
improve an idea
– Those who take on the user perspective

17. NABC References
 NABC process: Easy method to quickly analyse and develop
value propositions for projects
 NABC: An important client or market need addressed by a unique
approach with compelling benefits when compared against the
competition or alternatives.
 Introduced by Curtis Carlson & William Wilmot
 (Stanford Research Institute- SRI, US)
“Innovation – The Five Disciplines for Creating What Customers
Want” (August 2006)