SAT

Consider your chances of communicating in a way that people will understand:

Identify your professional background:

Consider your chances of communicating in a way that people will understand:

How long have you been working in the field of your innovation?

Is there someone on your marketing team who fundamentally does not understand the technology that underlies your idea?

Which gets you more excited?

Can you describe your idea in the way Hollywood directors often pitch their movies, with a simple analogy? (E.g., the movie that became Alien was pitched as “Jaws on a spaceship.”)

If an outsider asks anyone in your company a question about your company’s strategy they reply by telling them to ask the founders.

How long is your PowerPoint slide show for your idea?

When you describe your innovation, do you get a reaction of surprise? (E.g., The iPod stores your entire album collection in a thing smaller than half-a-deck of cards!)

Great Hollywood script-writers and great science teachers keep us on the edge of our seats by identifying mysteries or gaps in our knowledge (Who murdered the rock star? What are the rings of Saturn made of?). In your last presentation you:

In your last pitch, what came first?

Trader Joes, a grocery store that carries a small assortment of exotic but cheap products (e.g., the red pepper soup for $2.49) describes its customer as an “unemployed college professor who drives a very, very used Volvo.” If you asked anyone in your company to describe your customer their answer would be more like:

When Boeing was planning the 727 they described it as a plane that would “seat 131 passengers, fly nonstop from Miami to New York City, and land on Runway 4-22 at LaGuardia” (4-22 was too short for existing passenger jets). If you asked anyone in your company how to describe the goal for your product their answer would be more like:

Who’s your ideal expert endorser?

In Wendy’s famous “Where’s the beef?” campaign they encouraged their customers to verify for themselves that Wendy’s had more beef. In your last presentation, your main emphasis was on:

Certain terms are so overused in business that they have been leached of their ability to create any emotion other than amusement in a Dilbert cartoon. Subtract one point for each of these terms that feature in your mission, strategy, or advertisements:

Below is a picture of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Click to give yourself half-a-point for each level you appeal to in the bottom four. Click to give yourself one point for each level you appeal to in the top four.

How many stories did you tell in your last pitch?

You receive an email with a charming story about how someone has used your product and how it has transformed their life. You...