INTRODUCE THE ANTAGONIST 71
The Ultimate Elevator Pitch
The problem need not take long to establish. Jobs generally
takes just a few minutes to introduce the antagonist. You can
do so in as little as thirty seconds. Simply create a one-sentence
answer for the following four questions: (1) What do you do?
(2) What problem do you solve? (3) How are you different? (4)
Why should I care?
When I worked with executives at LanguageLine, in Monterey,
California, we crafted an elevator pitch based on answers to the
four questions. If we did our job successfully, the following pitch
should tell you a lot about the company: “LanguageLine is the
world’s largest provider of phone interpretation services for com-
panies who want to connect with their non-English-speaking
customers [what it does]. Every twenty-three seconds, someone
who doesn’t speak English enters this country [the problem].
When he or she calls a hospital, a bank, an insurance company, or
911, it’s likely that a LanguageLine interpreter is on the other end
[how it’s different]. We help you talk to your customers, patients,
or sales prospects in 150 languages [why you should care].”
The Antagonist: A Convenient
Storytelling Tool
Steve Jobs and former U.S. vice president turned global warming
expert Al Gore share three things in common: a commitment
the category and the problem before introducing the solution,
Fleiss created the cup to pour the coffee into.
Investors are buying a stake in ideas. As such, they want
to know what pervasive problem the company’s product
addresses. A solution in search of a problem carries far less
appeal. Once the problem and solution are established, inves-
tors feel comfortable moving on to questions regarding the
size of the market, the competition, and the business model.