Comments on: High concept pitches for startups

By: Roderick

Roderick — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 17:37:29 +0000

X of Y can be used when they are different products like: “iPod of vacuum cleaners.” It doesn’t mean you are not original.

You can also use it for similar products. We considered using “Facebook for schools.” It would not mean we are not original. It would mean we have differences that are important to our users.

Because many people are using Facebook pitches, we decided against it. We are probably going with “Schoolbinder: A safe and powerful social network for schools.”

By: Niyi

Niyi — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 13:35:23 +0000

I see your point, but what if the “Facebook” analogy accurately describes your product? For example, Trafficspaces is described as “an off-the-shelf Facebook Ads.” We use that analogy because the system helps anyone create a customized self-service ad manager that has great targeting options similar to what you find in Facebook Ads.

High concept pitches are great communications tools but they start to fall apart when the linkage being described is tenuous as best.

For example, “Facebook for kittens.” Okay I made that one up, but hey, everyone loves kittens.

By: Alexa

Alexa — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 20:58:20 +0000

Do you think there are downsides to relating yourself to another company in your pitch? Could it come across that your concept is not original if you’re the X of Y?

By: Mike

Mike — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 19:21:10 +0000

Just watch out for anyone that says “Facebook for blank.” I’ve heard a million of those and saying something like that could instantly turn someone off.

By: On Presenting At And Attending TechCrunch 50 and Demo - Standard Deviations

On Presenting At And Attending TechCrunch 50 and Demo - Standard Deviations — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 15:51:18 +0000

[...] a Hollywood pitch. Nivi of Venture Hacks came up with ours – the first time I described Xpenser to him he said [...]

By: High-concept pitches are not your friend | Insights into Startups and Entrepreneurship - nPost Blog

Thu, 26 Feb 2009 21:50:29 +0000

[...] Venture Hacks blog teaches us about something even smaller and tighter — the high-concept pitch. The idea is to boil your message down to a short phrase that references existing, successful [...]

By: Daryl

Daryl — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 22:59:51 +0000

“NewsCred: The Funded for the Media Industry.”
We also use “NewsCred: the Last.Fm of news”, Hearing that, I don’t know what NewsCred is/does/will do? so it doesn’t work outside your niche.

By: Micah Elliott

Micah Elliott — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 22:13:48 +0000

I’ve recently heard this called the “escalator pitch”:
http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/may2008/sb20080516_673078.htm?chan=rss_topDiscussed_ssi_5

By: Mark

Mark — Sun, 25 May 2008 08:19:36 +0000

Our start-up’s is:

“It’s like iTunes for online applications”

although depending upon who we’re talking to we might use this one…

“It’s like Salesforce.com for everyone else”

Pretty succinct methinks.

By: Luke G

Luke G — Fri, 23 May 2008 23:15:02 +0000

I think we ‘re headed in the right direction with this one…

Jowba
Startup companies. Startup jobs.

I’m hoping that a little clarity will help make up for the fact that no one knows how to pronounce “Jowba” at first (um it rhymes with “cowba”). Seriously, no one – we might need to look into that.