You've given pitches before in your life, because a pitch is just any type of persuasive talk where you want your listeners to adopt your idea and give you something. You pitched to your parents when asking to attend sleepovers as a child. A first date is a pitch of sorts (and you might find yourself giving pitches on first dates!) Giving pitches as an entrepreneur can be a little different, though, so we'll walk through some things you'll want to know and think about.
The elevator pitch is an oft-talked about part of much of business, not just entrepreneurship. The idea is that you'd be capable of delivering the pitch in the time it takes to ride in an elevator with your audience, because this pitch isn't planned; it happens as a matter of serendipity. The best way to keep an elevator pitch ready is to have a succinct description of your company that's easily understandable, a brief update on where you are funding-wise, and knowing what your ask will be at the end of the pitch$^1$. (More on that in a moment.)
Compared to an elevator pitch, formalized presentations are much easier to be ready for. You'll know how much time you have, whether you can bring slides, who's in attendance and what their background is, etc. In these instances, you want to arrive with more information than you can reasonably deliver in the time allotted, and let the questions from your audience guide your pitch.
One of the most important parts of any pitch, whether impromptu or planned, is knowing what you're asking for. Not every pitch is about acquiring funding. Let me say that again:
Not every pitch is about acquiring funding.
In the case of elevator pitches, nobody is opening up their checkbook after 60 seconds of description. But they may well give you their contact information and let you send them a two-page executive summary, or come give a full-length presentation, or put you in touch with their network.
For longer and more formalized pitches, it's possible that you'll be seeking things other than money: mentorship, partners, connections, contracts, etc$^2$. As we've talked about in effectuation, it's always worthwhile to ask for things and expand your means, so be strategic in who you pitch to and what you ask for.
We'll talk more about funding later on, but a large part of the process of acquiring money for your venture is pitching. Guy Kawasaki, an accomplished writer on entrepreneurship, prescribes the 10/20/30 Rule for any slide-deck for your pitch. That's no more than 10 slides, no more than 20 minutes long, no less than 30 point font on the slides$^3$.
<aside> 🏇 Many entrepreneurs will tell you that investors prefer to "bet on the jockey, not the horse" meaning that one of the most important things to include in any pitch is who you and your team are, and why you're the best people to turn your vision into a reality. (More about this here.)
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Overall, you want your pitch to highlight the strengths of your team and your ideas, the analysis you've done on why it will work, and how your investors can help you succeed.
Once you've gone and gotten some great partners or connections or maybe even funding, you can use those new resources to start actually selling your product!