Online elevator pitches, courtesy of TechCrunch
One of the hottest buzzwords in business-speak these days is “elevator pitch.” The concept refers to a concise, attractive business plan that an entrepreneur could present to a potential investor, client or partner during an elevator ride. These spiels have to be catchy and fascinating from the start, and many new businesses are incorporating the elevator pitch into their initial planning processes.
TechCrunch is taking the proverbial elevator pitch to the next level. Their site, TechCrunch Elevator Pitches, allows anyone with an idea to put it out there for the whole world to see. The loyal readers of the technology blog can then help weed out the good from the bad. As the site says, “Vote the best pitches up and the stinkers down, and tell them exactly what you think of their businesses in the comments.”
The project was started so that entrepreneurs would have a large audience to vet their business plans. Anyone can submit an elevator pitch by creating a YouTube video (no longer than 60 seconds), tagging it with “tcpitch”, and submitting a form to TechCrunch. The format is simple, the commitment is minimal, and the potential feedback is invaluable. TechCrunch readers can comment on the idea presented, and vote their favorite business plans to the top of the stack.
One popular pitch comes from robotics company UGOBE, which has created a life-like robot of a dinosaur called Pleo. Their TechCrunch pitch video shows the “reactions” of the creature when petted or held from its tail.
Another pitch comes from Loudclick.net, a service allowing anyone to create and manage multiple websites from a single login, without any programming knowledge. Their CEO keeps the TechCrunch video short and sweet.
Many more interesting and unique ideas await readers at TechCrunch Elevator Pitches. The forum is a great way for both business people and techies to come together to refine and work on new business ideas. Commenters frequently offer useful feedback and constructive criticism of both videos and content. TechCrunch has truly created a revolutionary community on the web, and my guess is we’ll see more ventures of this kind, where users and innovators can interact and influence each other.
By Haley January Eckels
