An elevator pitch is one your most powerful tools. It’s critical for explaining your business to people you want involved, like investors, co-founders, employees, or business partners.  It’s also a great way to educate people who can spread the word about your company, like friends, family, and vendors. In all of these cases, people need to grasp the essence of what you’re doing quickly and easily – and feel that it’s viable and compelling. That’s a tall order given that you’ll only have about 15 seconds (It should probably be called a “revolving door pitch”). Here are some tips:

1) Create two versions. The short version usually includes the type of product or service you’ll offer, and your target customers. For UpStart, that might be “an online bootcamp for startups.” If you’ve got more time, you can add more details about the unique benefits you’ll provide for customers, and how you’ll make money. For UpStart, we’d add “we sell on-demand courses, coaching, and content that helps first time founders anywhere, across all industries, start up smarter.”

2) Anchor with something familiar. The key to describing your product or service is to start with something people already understand. Try using either a category (e.g. we’re an online store for x), or a well-known product comparison (e.g. we’re diapers.com for x).

3) Make it crystal clear. Lose the buzzwords and tech-speak. Make sure your mom would understand it. And strip it down until every word is necessary.

4) Don’t try to cram everything in. Your elevator pitch should whet appetites, and leave people wanting more. Forget about product details. You can get to those later. Focus on crystallizing your business down to its most important elements.

5) Create and iterate. You won’t get your elevator pitch right the first time, and you can’t nail it in a vacuum. Instead, test it on real people. Watch for visual cues (Squinting is bad. Nodding is good). Listen to the way people ask questions for clarification. Deliver it to someone outside your field, and ask them explain it back to you a day or two later.

What are your tips for giving a great elevator pitch?