Eventually you’re going to have to pitch your business idea at someone. It’s not easy to do this, and you’re likely going to have to keep trying, refining your pitch every time. To make matters worse, you’re likely going to have to do the infamous “elevator pitch”, which means you have to convince them to hear you out in under 2 minutes.

Practise will make perfect, but what to practise and focus on? Inc.com gives four super easy tips on what to focus on for when you’re up on the stage. Go to the article for the full thing, but here we’ll give you a quick summary.

1. Don’t talk about solving a problem.

Instead, clearly identify the market opportunity you intend to take advantage of, and build business around.

2. Review the key factors for building the business.

In your two-minute pitch, you’re auditioning to be a CEO in an investor’s portfolio. CEOs are precise when describing their businesses and ideas.

3. Keep to the essential elements.

Tell them, “I’m looking for X amount of money, this is what our business does, this is our go-to-market strategy, this is the competitive environment and here’s how we’re different.”

4. Be positioned for further questions.

If you can do everything above in a concise manner in two minutes, the panel will ask you product questions you want, and you can shine.

They give more to the bullet points, so it would be useful for you to read the “furthermore” part if you’re in this stage of development.