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Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch Season 4 Episode 4: 'It Hit All the Ingredients Except a Good Product' This episode of our weekly pitch show features all sorts of strategies, with different rates of success.

By Matthew McCreary

Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch invites ambitious entrepreneurs to step into the Entrepreneur Elevator, then gives them 60 seconds to pique the judges' interest. It's a high-pressure, fast-paced environment in which startup founders need to race the clock while maintaining their composure to make a clear, deliberate pitch that covers at least three essential components:

  1. Defining the company
  2. Making the request
  3. Specifying what the investment money will be used for

The investors watch the pitch through a video livestream while the elevator ascends to the boardroom floor. Once the 60 seconds are up, the group votes on whether to open the doors or send the founder back down and pass on investing.

Related: Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch Season 4 Episode 3: 'There's No Crying in Baseball'

The first entrepreneur of this episode presents his patented design for outdoor furniture, which wows the judges despite a pitch that David Meltzer calls "so bad" and leaves several important questions unanswered. Once inside the boardroom, it's up to the founder to assuage the investors' fears and clear up any confusion. Can he manage it, or is he stuck with a good idea and a bad business?

The next pitch has investor Peter Goldberg asking, "Is this an Instant Pot for pot?" While many entrepreneurs overvalue their businesses, leading to unrealistic asks, this pitch finishes by asking for a small investment in exchange for a large share of equity, making the judges uncertain about the company's potential.

After that, the investors switch up the format of the show when a particularly fun pitch creates a deadlock in the boardroom. After a split vote, the judges choose to let the co-founders in but make them pitch again -- this time on a specific aspect of their business.

Click play to hear what the judges ask and how the co-founders respond.

Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch in partnership with Sports 1 Marketing streams Wednesdays on entrepreneur.com. Follow Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch on Facebook, YouTube and IGTV.

Matthew McCreary

Entrepreneur Staff

Associate Editor, Contributed Content

Matthew McCreary is the associate editor for contributed content at Entrepreneur.com.

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