Multimedia Gallery
Elevator Pitch (Episode 1): Real people. Real elevators.
What if you had just a few seconds to sell an idea? Entrepreneurs encounter this situation every day.
Often, so do people funded by the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer programs. These awardees receive R&D grants to help commercialize their high-risk technological innovations.
Part of turning an idea into a commercially available product or service means being able to tell a prospective investor, partner or customer exactly what it is and why it's important – concisely and memorably.
For these small business innovators, practice makes perfect.
During the 2015 NSF SBIR/STTR Phase II grantee conference in Atlanta, real people from real NSF-funded companies on real elevators made their pitches.
Praveen Sinha from HealthMyne Inc., Robin Ihnfeldt from General Engineering Research LLC, and NSF AIR grantee Aviral Shrivastava from Arizona State University each stepped up and onto the elevator to give it their best shot.
Watch to see how they did and get a few tips for YOUR next elevator pitch.
Learn more about the NSF SBIR/STTR programs: nsf.gov/eng/iip/sbir/home.jsp
Watch the next video in the series for more tips: youtube.com/user/VideosatNSF
Date originally posted: Dec. 30, 2015
Credit: NSF
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