The 5 Second Test

In business school, you learn about the elevator pitch when talking about your start-up. The idea is that if you're stuck in an elevator with a VC, you should be able to describe your business or what you do in 30 to 60 seconds. The problem is that you rarely get 30 to 60 seconds to describe your idea. Further, you may not be the one describing your idea or business. More likely it will be other people (friends, VC's, customers, journalists) talking about your business to other people.

So the real question is:

Can you describe your business in 5 seconds or less? Better still, can one of your friends who hears your 5 second pitch, describe it to someone else without diluting the heart of your message?

My friend - Chetan Dhruve - refers to this as the Five Second Test.

If there's one thing that separates Star businesses from other businesses, it is that you can describe them in 5 seconds or less. For example:

Google = Search
iPod = 10,000 songs in your pocket
iTunes = 99 cents per song / unbundled albums
Fedex = Overnight delivery guaranteed

The other thing that separates Star businesses from other businesses is that when you hear the 5 second message, a clear competitor in the niche category does not emerge in your mind. This is true at least at the time when the product is launched (although competitors may come along later thus strengthening the Star business' market leadership position.)

However, entrepreneurs being the ambitious kind that they are, will attempt to convey too many ideas with their 5 second statement and so they enter gobbledygook territory. And you get words like "synergy", "success" or "social" thrown in to the 5 second description. If you get an even more ambitious entrepreneur, you will get words like "biggest" getting into the 5 second statement. The word "biggest" should never figure in your tag-line (or anywhere in your business plan for that matter.) "Big" is a consequence of a significant business differentiator. Big is NOT a differentiator. Nike does not have a tag-line that says "We're earth's biggest shoe manufacturer." Google became earth's biggest search engine as a consequence of the superior (and most importantly differentiated) product that they delivered. One exception is the case of network-type businesses such as auctions, exchanges and ad-networks where biggest is an important reason why customers will want to use the product.

So, do you have your 5 second pitch ready?