Elevator Pitch

Elevator Pitch

Overview

An elevator pitch is 1-2 sentences that clearly explain who you serve, what problem you solve, and why you're different. Geoffrey Moore's famous template (from Crossing the Chasm) provides a proven structure. This skill helps you craft and test elevator pitches for products, features, or entire companies.

When to Use

• Defining or refining product positioning
• Writing a website hero section or landing page
• Preparing for investor, customer, or partner pitches
• Aligning the team on a shared value proposition
• Onboarding new team members to the product's core value
• Don't use for: internal feature descriptions (too narrow), technical documentation

Instructions

1. Use the Geoffrey Moore Template

For [target customer]
Who [need or opportunity],
The [product name] is a [product category]
That [key benefit / reason to buy].
Unlike [primary competitive alternative],
Our product [unique differentiator].

2. Fill Each Slot Carefully

Target customer: Be specific. "Mid-market engineering managers" not "anyone who manages teams."

Need or opportunity: What job are they trying to do? Focus on the problem, not the market.

Product category: The category sets expectations. Choose carefully.

• "Project management tool" → compared to Asana, Jira
• "Async status tool" → compared to standup bots, Slack
• New categories create headroom but require education

Key benefit: One clear, customer-focused benefit. Not features.

Primary competitive alternative: Be honest. The alternative might be "doing nothing" or "spreadsheets."

Unique differentiator: Your defensible advantage. Not "we have better UX" (everyone says that).

3. Test Your Pitch

Check against these criteria:

• Clarity: Would someone outside your company understand it?
• Specificity: Is it precise enough that you couldn't swap in a competitor's name?
• Memorability: Can someone repeat it back after hearing it once?
• Differentiation: Does it describe what makes you special, not just what you do?

Test by reading it to someone who doesn't know your product. Then ask: "What does our product do?"

4. Create Variations

• 10-second version: One sentence, maximum impact
• 30-second version: The full template with one example
• 60-second version: Full pitch with customer story

Sample Output

10-second version: "For engineering managers at growing teams, Uthy is a project tracker that replaces status meetings. Unlike Jira and Asana, it works inside Slack and GitHub where you already live."

30-second version (full template): "For engineering managers at growing teams who struggle to know what's actually done without daily standups, Uthy is a lightweight project tracking tool that gives you a real-time status dashboard without changing how your team works. Unlike Jira and Asana which require teams to add yet another tool to their workflow, our product works inside Slack and GitHub — where your team already lives — so adoption happens naturally."

Common Pitfalls

1. Generic differentiation — "We're easier to use" isn't differentiation. "We work where you already work" is
2. Feature dumping — "We have AI, analytics, and automation" ≠ value proposition
3. Too many audiences — Trying to serve everyone means you resonate with no one
4. Forgetting the alternative — What are they doing NOW? That's your competition
5. Jargon overload — If you need a glossary to understand your pitch, it's too complex

Verification Checklist

• [ ] All 6 template slots filled with specific, non-generic answers
• [ ] 10-second version is under 30 words
• [ ] Differentiation is defensible (not "better UX" or "cheaper")
• [ ] Primary competitive alternative is honest (includes "doing nothing")
• [ ] Passed the "tell a stranger" test

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: uthumany
• Source: uthumany/uthy-legacy-os
• License: MIT
• Homepage: https://uthumany.github.io/uthy-legacy-os/

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.