founders paras chopra, chapter by chapter
37. Your 30-Second Pitch Shouldn’t Be About You
Begin with the listener’s world and introduce the product only as a bridge to a better one.
People politely ask what a founder does, but they care most about their own goals and obstacles. A feature-led answer loses them. A strong pitch names a change in their world, the pain or risk it creates, and a desirable future before presenting the product as the means of reaching it.
Write separate pitches for customers, candidates, and investors because each wants a different outcome. Try mentioning the product only near the end. If the opening does not make the listener recognize a meaningful problem or aspiration, no amount of product detail will recover their attention.
Original sketch and model by Paras Chopra. Read the source chapter.