# How to Perfect Your Elevator Pitch

An episode of [Earn Your Leisure](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1450211392), 25 Mar 2026, 8:10.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/8dbc4f54-a337-4481-9ef2-b355012b0a3d/4a5cbf43-6a93-4b89-8df5-b41400c1abbd/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=eac4c628-29cb-469a-b5c8-b355012b0a48

Welcome back to EYL! In this clip, we are joined by the incredible Ashaala Shanae, who provides invaluable insights on how to perfect your elevator pitch. Whether you're preparing for Invest Fest or any other pitch scenario, this video is packed with actionable advice to help you stand out and make a lasting impression. *Key Points Discussed:* 1. *Clear and Concise Messaging:* Rashad Bilal kicks off the conversation by emphasizing the importance of a clear and concise message. Knowing who you are, what you do, who you serve, and what you offer is crucial. 2. *Identifying the Problem:* Rashad explains that understanding the problem you aim to solve is fundamental. Your pitch should highlight the specific issue your product or service addresses. 3. *Providing the Solution:* Beyond identifying the problem, it's vital to clearly articulate the solution your business provides. This includes the methods and vehicles you'll use to solve the issue. 4. *Market Research and Competitor Analysis:* Knowing your market stats and competitors is essential. Investors are likely to ask about the competitive landscape, making this a critical part of your pitch preparation. 5. *Effective Use of Visual Aids:* Visual aids can enhance your pitch if used correctly. Keep them clean and easy to understand, ensuring they support rather than distract from your key points. 6. *Clear Call to Action:* Rashad emphasizes the importance of a clear and realistic call to action. Specify exactly what you're asking for, whether it's funding, partnership, or another form of support. 7. *Understanding Your Numbers:* Know your financials inside out. Be prepared to detail your budget, forecast, and return on investment, as investors will scrutinize these aspects. 8. *Practice and Preparation:* Troy Millings and Rashad discuss the importance of practice. Practice in front of a mirror, with family and friends, and even record yourself to identify areas for improvement. 9. *Mindfulness and Visualization:* Ashaala shares techniques for managing anxiety, including mindfulness exercises and visualization. Walking through your pitch mentally can help build confidence and reduce stress. 10. *Breathing Techniques:* Specific breathing techniques like the 4-7-8 method can help calm nerves and prepare you for the spotlight. 11. *Arrive Early and Familiarize Yourself with the Venue:* Visiting the venue in advance and visualizing your performance in the actual space can significantly reduce anxiety on the day of your pitch. 12. *Have a Backup Plan:* Always have a backup for your visual aids and other electronic materials to avoid last-minute hiccups that can derail your pitch. By following these steps and tips, you can create a compelling elevator pitch that captures the attention of investors and judges alike. Don't miss out on this jam-packed episode that could be the key to your next successful pitch! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: So okay, talk about elevator pitch, yes, and seven steps
[0:07] Speaker 1: to nailing your elevator pitch. Yeah. So first things first,
[0:11] Speaker 1: is anyone that's listening to this if you're going to
[0:14] Speaker 1: be pitching, whether it's at invest Fest or you're going
[0:16] Speaker 1: to be pitching at any place, the first thing is
[0:18] Speaker 1: you want to have a clear and concise message. Who
[0:21] Speaker 1: are you, what do you do, who do you serve?
[0:23] Speaker 1: What is it that you're actually giving to people? What
[0:26] Speaker 1: do you want the judges to know or the investors
[0:29] Speaker 1: to know? So have a clear and concise message. The
[0:33] Speaker 1: second commandment that I would say is make sure that
[0:34] Speaker 1: you know the problem. What's the problem that you're trying
[0:37] Speaker 1: to solve. Lots of times I've seen people come and
[0:40] Speaker 1: pitch Rashad and they really don't know what the problem
[0:43] Speaker 1: is that they're trying to solve. They just want to
[0:45] Speaker 1: sell a product to you or say, hey, can you
[0:46] Speaker 1: invest in my product? So you have to make sure
[0:49] Speaker 1: that when you're pitching with your message being clear and concise,
[0:52] Speaker 1: you need to make sure that you also know what
[0:55] Speaker 1: the problem is. And then third know the solution to
[0:58] Speaker 1: the problem. Right, what are you trying to solve? I
[1:02] Speaker 1: understand you want to be able to have a tech company,
[1:05] Speaker 1: but what is the what is the solution or what's
[1:08] Speaker 1: the problem that's being solved, Then what's the solution?
[1:10] Speaker 2: What are the.
[1:11] Speaker 1: Vehicles to solve that problem. The third thing is make
[1:14] Speaker 1: sure that you know your market stats, right, what's going
[1:17] Speaker 1: on in the market, in the industry right now. A
[1:20] Speaker 1: lot of people don't do their research on the industry stats,
[1:24] Speaker 1: which leads to the next one. Who's your competitor? Right?
[1:27] Speaker 1: I've seen people do pitches and we don't even know
[1:30] Speaker 1: who your competitor is. You just tell us all about
[1:32] Speaker 1: the business. But if we were to go deeper beyond
[1:34] Speaker 1: a sixty minute elevator pitch, a sixty second sorry elevator pitch,
[1:38] Speaker 1: and let's say you all were to ask more questions,
[1:41] Speaker 1: one of the questions that investors are going to ask
[1:42] Speaker 1: is who your competitors are? What's the market So because
[1:46] Speaker 1: of that, it's important for anyone that's pitching to do that.
[1:51] Speaker 1: Make sure that you're using proper visual aids. That's another
[1:54] Speaker 1: thing too. I'm not really sure how it's going to
[1:55] Speaker 1: be for investments when we get there, but if there
[1:58] Speaker 1: are going to be visual aids, make sure that your
[2:00] Speaker 1: visual aids are not all over the place. Make sure
[2:03] Speaker 1: that you're not using all these different fonts and colors
[2:06] Speaker 1: and everything like that. Keep it clean, keep it fresh.
[2:09] Speaker 1: But make sure that everyone, every judge that's looking or
[2:12] Speaker 1: any investor that's investing into what are interested in what
[2:15] Speaker 1: you have to say, can understand it clearly in your
[2:19] Speaker 1: visual aids. I will also say, just making sure that
[2:22] Speaker 1: as they go to their pitch that they speak clearly
[2:26] Speaker 1: that they understand. And also do a call to action.
[2:29] Speaker 1: We've had pitch I've sat and pitched up matches or
[2:32] Speaker 1: pitch competitions. Where so what are you asking for? You
[2:36] Speaker 1: never really say what you're asking for. Be clear and concise,
[2:39] Speaker 1: and make sure that whatever the call to action is,
[2:42] Speaker 1: that it is clear, it is realistic. I'm looking for
[2:45] Speaker 1: two million dollars to do what with? What's the budget?
[2:48] Speaker 1: What's the forecast? What's the numbers? That's another one. Know
[2:52] Speaker 1: your numbers right, What are the numbers going to? Where's
[2:55] Speaker 1: this money going to? When is it going to happen?
[2:58] Speaker 1: Most investors don't want to be married long term to something,
[3:02] Speaker 1: so we want to make sure that we understand. I'm
[3:05] Speaker 1: an investor myself, make sure that we understand what's the
[3:07] Speaker 1: return on investment? Do we get equity right? All of
[3:10] Speaker 1: these things are what people should be considering when it
[3:13] Speaker 1: comes to their elevator pitch, whether it's sixty seconds, two minutes,
[3:17] Speaker 1: five minutes, even up to a thirty minute pitch.
[3:20] Speaker 2: A tremendous insight because we get pitched all the time. Yes,
[3:24] Speaker 2: and so you actually have now just helped us and
[3:26] Speaker 2: I'm sure everybody that's listening will take those from it
[3:28] Speaker 2: as well. Yeah, you said that vocal health is important,
[3:32] Speaker 2: and so these things sounds like how I will prepare
[3:35] Speaker 2: as I'm going to the stage. Yes, but there's that
[3:37] Speaker 2: build up, And we talked to a lot of people.
[3:39] Speaker 2: We just had a pitch competition a few months ago,
[3:41] Speaker 2: and people were talking about the anxiety that it felt
[3:43] Speaker 2: leading up to the day. So what are some of
[3:45] Speaker 2: the type of things that you suggest for people leading
[3:47] Speaker 2: up to the event. What should they be doing at
[3:49] Speaker 2: home the week before, the month before to prepare themselves
[3:52] Speaker 2: for this moment, this five minute moment that could change
[3:54] Speaker 2: their lives potentially?
[3:55] Speaker 1: Absolutely, First things, practice practice, practice practics. There's there's a
[4:00] Speaker 1: couple ways in which a person can practice right Troy.
[4:03] Speaker 1: So the first thing I'll say is practice in the mirror.
[4:06] Speaker 1: See yourself, so you can see how your facial expressions look,
[4:09] Speaker 1: see if the nerves are taken over, right, see yourself.
[4:13] Speaker 1: And lots of times people do not like to see themselves.
[4:15] Speaker 1: They don't even like to hear themselves back. Right, You'd
[4:18] Speaker 1: be surprised that a lot of anxiety that happens on
[4:21] Speaker 1: the stage happens because of what people are going through
[4:24] Speaker 1: in their personal lives and it just comes over in there.
[4:27] Speaker 1: So practice, practice, practice, practice in front of family and
[4:30] Speaker 1: friends and peers, a mentor, a coach, right, and also
[4:33] Speaker 1: record yourself on video and watch yourself back with no judgment.
[4:37] Speaker 1: That's one of the ways in which you can actually
[4:39] Speaker 1: help yourself prepare for the pitch. Another one is actually
[4:44] Speaker 1: do what we call mindfulness, walk through the pitch without
[4:47] Speaker 1: you having to say something. So, how am I going
[4:49] Speaker 1: to enter the stage, How am I going to intro myself?
[4:52] Speaker 1: How am I going to speak what I need to say?
[4:54] Speaker 1: How am I going to exit the stage? How am
[4:56] Speaker 1: I going to leave?
[4:57] Speaker 2: Like?
[4:57] Speaker 1: All of that is what we call mindfulness, whether you're
[5:00] Speaker 1: performing as an entertainer or speaker, that's one of the
[5:04] Speaker 1: things that I'll tell people sit through in mind do
[5:06] Speaker 1: mindfulness of it. Another way to prepare is breathing techniques.
[5:11] Speaker 1: Believe it or not, there's a couple breathing techniques that
[5:13] Speaker 1: I tell people to do. One is the four seven
[5:16] Speaker 1: eight is you breathe in for four counts, you hold
[5:19] Speaker 1: it for seven counts, you breathe out for eight counts.
[5:22] Speaker 1: What this does is it triggers what we call the
[5:25] Speaker 1: parasympathetic nervous system, which is if you're having like a
[5:30] Speaker 1: warm bowl of super ice cream and you're kind of
[5:32] Speaker 1: like calm, where there's something called the sympathetic mode, which
[5:35] Speaker 1: is that fight or flight mode. The moment people get
[5:38] Speaker 1: on the stage, their palms get sweaty, they want to
[5:41] Speaker 1: use the bathroom, their knees want to buckle, their mouth
[5:44] Speaker 1: gets dry, and so mindfulness breathing helps them to trigger
[5:48] Speaker 1: that PMS, that parasympathetic mode. I always say too arrive early.
[5:54] Speaker 1: I tell people go to the venue, see what it
[5:56] Speaker 1: looks like like, look at the stage, sit down in
[6:00] Speaker 1: the chair, and actually visualize what it's going to look like,
[6:04] Speaker 1: the audience that's going to be there. Walk yourself through
[6:07] Speaker 1: it as you do. Mindfulness but be in the environment
[6:09] Speaker 1: as well. That's going to help a lot in preparing
[6:13] Speaker 1: and then also to making sure that you have a backup.
[6:16] Speaker 1: One of the up I had a pitch competition that
[6:19] Speaker 1: I was a judge at. One of the persons forgot
[6:22] Speaker 1: their visuals and so they did a whole entire pitch
[6:26] Speaker 1: asking for a whole bunch of money with no visuals whatsoever,
[6:30] Speaker 1: mess up their entire elevator pitch. And so I tell
[6:33] Speaker 1: those that are preparing, make sure you have a backup.
[6:35] Speaker 1: If you're going to be doing something where you're sending
[6:37] Speaker 1: something electronically, make sure you have something on a USB drive,
[6:41] Speaker 1: a Google drive, some sort of electronic drive so that
[6:44] Speaker 1: your anxiety can actually decrease, because lots of times people
[6:48] Speaker 1: kind of cause their own anxiety to because of lack
[6:50] Speaker 1: of preparation. So those are practical things that they can
[6:53] Speaker 1: do to prepare for their pitch.
[6:55] Speaker 2: Just a follow up, because a lot of times people
[6:58] Speaker 2: will confuse anxiety with nervousness. Yes, some people will say
[7:02] Speaker 2: it's healthy to feel nervous. So it's healthy to feel
[7:04] Speaker 2: aks before something because you're prepared for it. You want
[7:07] Speaker 2: to deliver it. Yeah, you want to do a great job.
[7:09] Speaker 2: Is it healthy or when does it not become healthy?
[7:12] Speaker 1: Absolutely, it's absolutely healthy to be nervous. I was nervous
[7:16] Speaker 1: coming here because I've never met you guys in person.
[7:18] Speaker 1: I'm like, what are they gonna ask me? I don't know.
[7:21] Speaker 1: So there's some called good nerves. You just can't allow
[7:24] Speaker 1: those nerves to take over and become your master. And
[7:27] Speaker 1: that's where anxiety comes in. Anxiety and angst really says
[7:32] Speaker 1: what if something happens, and what do I need to
[7:33] Speaker 1: do to prepare just in case what have happened? So
[7:36] Speaker 1: there's something between wisdom and then allowing anxiety to take over.
[7:39] Speaker 1: Wisdom says, you know what, let me have a backup.
[7:42] Speaker 1: That's not anxiety, that's just wisdom. But anxiety is like
[7:46] Speaker 1: all of the intrusive thoughts going through your head. That's
[7:49] Speaker 1: literally just thoughts. Two things that I've learned in life, guys,
[7:53] Speaker 1: no one owes me anything, and never create a story.
[7:56] Speaker 1: Anxiety is the culprit that helps people create stories that
[8:00] Speaker 1: literally don't even exist. And so because of that, absolutely
[8:03] Speaker 1: there's a difference between nerves and anxiety. Nerves is good, right,
[8:07] Speaker 1: but you don't have to let it master you.

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