First, a hearty congrats to our friends at Brand Thunder for their announcement today regarding initial funding from TechColumbus. Along with the announcement, their Founder dropped Three Unexpected Lessons Learned on us, and one immediately stands out:

The Story in 10 Minutes or Less – It’s got to be a refined story, and that happens over a lot of lunches and phone calls. It starts with close friends and family, evolves to the professional network and gets polished with the investors. Ten minutes is the most time we had in a formal presentation. It forced us to be clear and concise – and ultimately, it worked.

It doesn’t matter if you are trying to sell your widget, land a date for Saturday night, get hired for that great new job, or pitch a startup for funding, the Elevator Pitch is essential to success. Summarizing what you are passionate about is no easy task, so work on perfecting it over time, just as Brand Thunder did. Most importantly, find a hook that piques enough interest so you’ll have a captive listener for the next 10 minutes, 30 seconds, or at least until the elevator door opens.