Pitching your product's benefits is so 2010

Explaining what your startup does is a constant nightmare of mine. Here is a framework that I've learned along the way 👇

Whether you are a founder, new exec, or new hire of an early stage company, people will ask "what does your startup actually do?"

You start, and then the advice starts rolling in

• "You need to pitch the benefits."
• "I don't get it, its too jargony"
• "I don't get it, its too generic"
• "So you are X" (smug smile)

You pitch the benefits, but then it sounds like the market leader. You talk specifics, and its jargony.

Today, I use the following framework to get around these problems.

1️⃣ Avoid the 'HOW'

If you are in the startup, chances are, you are focused on making the product, or at least very close to how the product is made. There is often no guarantee that you can deliver on the product at all, so all your energy is focused on how to make the product deliver on your marketing messaging.

Since that's top of mind, the BIG temptation is to explain how things are made. "We use GPT to mine your Google Drive" "We use the cloud to store your spreadsheets" etc.

Avoid this temptation. You can explain this when your audience is REALLY interested.

2️⃣ Start with the 'WHAT'

Talking about the "What" is somewhat uncomfortable. It feels like you are putting yourself into a box. "But we are different! It's a new category" I hear you say.

However, I have found that this helps people relate to your idea. It's unlikely that your startup came out of a random startup idea generator. There is usually a founding story of the founders trying an existing solution, and innovated from there. This is your "What" – you want to tell the founding story very concisely by starting with the what.

eg

• Slack is an internal chat tool
• Salesforce is a CRM
• Tactic is an AI tool

3️⃣ Close with the 'Why'

Here comes the main course: why should someone use/buy your product?

The best way I have found to do this is to visualise an argument. How would a user argue with their boss about using your product?

If they said "We should use XXX because ... " - what would be the "why"?

eg

• Slack is an internal chat tool that is delightful to use
• Salesforce is a CRM that's on the cloud
• Tactic is an AI tool that is more accurate than GPT

By iterating the 'how' and the 'why', you will stay simple in your messaging, and eventually getting a few phrases that ALWAYS work.

What is your favorite way to think about messaging?