The 60-Second Pitch

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Research shows consumers love the products for their refreshing look and pleasant smell—and cats devour them. Petite Cuisine is 100% nutritionally complete for cats and is made from products you would buy at the meat and fish counter. The line currently has eight items including whole tuna, red snapper filets, baby shrimp, and rock crab. [The pitch demonstrates an understanding of the industry and consumers, and differentiates the product from its counterparts.]

I launched and ran Fancy Feast, the largest competitor in this space nationally and ran one of Nestle's international pet food divisions. I know this market well. [Here's the "magic dust." In this case, the entrepreneur's experience is enough for investors to want to learn more. If he failed to highlight this part of his background, he would have missed the magic moment.]

Orders are in from Ralph's grocery chain with additional distribution commitments totaling 500 stores. [Demonstrates some traction and demand in the marketplace.]

Capital is being raised in two stages—$500,000 in initial launch capital for 500 stores and then a round of expansion capital of $3 to $5 million for 3,000+ stores. [The entrepreneur is very specific about how he will use the funds.] Check out the samples in the back and see if you agree, too. [A little humor doesn't hurt.]

Man on the Street

This fast pitch competition reminds me of a conversation I had with San Jose Mercury tech columnist Dean Takahashi. Takahashi often attends competitions in which entrepreneurs are given only a minute or two to pitch their ideas. He looks for some of the same qualities as Koffler, but adds one very important method of capturing the attention of your audience—explain why regular people would use your product, service, or idea.

You can imagine how many pitches Takahashi gets from tech companies, many of which have complicated products. Takahashi says he can make up his mind in less than a minute about whether he wants to learn more about a pitch, but he has to understand why regular people would want the product and how they would use it.

A fast pitch shouldn't be reserved for capital investors. Media reporters, new customers, prospective employees, and others want to know whether your idea has merit and whether they want to learn more. Think about how best to articulate your story in 60 seconds or less (no more than 150 words), and be sure to capture the magic moment.

Carmine Gallo is a communications coach for the world's leading brands. He is a speaker and author of the new book "Fire Them Up"