| name | sys:five-finger-pitch |
| description | Walk through Chris Salter's Five-Finger Pitch framework -- a five-minute verbal pitch where each finger represents one minute of content. The AI guides you through each finger with probing questions and helps you craft a polished pitch script.
|
| argument-hint | [optional: company name or one-line description] |
Five-Finger Pitch
From Save Your Startup by Rick Manelius (Chapter 5)
Framework by Chris Salter, presented in the book
"You should practice enough times that you could drive your car and mentally step through each finger."
Why This Matters
Most founders either ramble for twenty minutes or freeze up in sixty seconds. The Five-Finger Pitch gives you a physical mnemonic -- one finger, one minute, five minutes total -- that covers every question an investor, partner, or customer actually cares about. No slides. No deck. Just you, your hand, and a clear story.
Five fingers. Five minutes. Five questions that matter.
How This Works
We will walk through each finger together. For each one, I will ask you probing questions to strengthen that minute of your pitch. By the end, you will have a polished script with talking points for each finger.
Hold up your hand. We are going finger by finger.
Finger 1 -- THUMB: Company and Product
One minute. What is this thing?
I will ask you:
- What is the company name?
- What is the main product or service?
- In one sentence, what do you do? (No jargon. If your grandmother would not understand it, simplify.)
- What problem does this solve, and for whom?
- What is the single most important thing someone should remember about what you do?
The thumb sets the foundation. If this minute is muddy, the rest falls apart.
Finger 2 -- INDEX: Money and ROI
One minute. How does this make money?
I will ask you:
- What is your business model? (How do you charge? Who pays?)
- What does your unit economics look like? (Even rough numbers help.)
- What is the ROI story for investors? (What does the upside look like?)
- What is your current revenue or traction? (Zero is an honest answer.)
- What are you raising, and what will you do with the money?
The index finger points to the money. Investors need to see a path to returns.
Finger 3 -- MIDDLE: Team and Feasibility
One minute. Can it actually be done?
I will ask you:
- Who is the leader? Why are they the right person for this?
- Who else is on the team? What makes this group uniquely qualified?
- What have you already built or shipped?
- What is the hardest technical or operational challenge, and how are you handling it?
- What is your unfair advantage in execution?
The middle finger is the reality check. Ideas are cheap. The question is whether this team can deliver.
Finger 4 -- RING: Sales and Scale
One minute. Can it be sold? Can it scale?
I will ask you:
- How do you acquire customers today?
- What does your sales process look like?
- What is your current pipeline or customer base?
- How does this scale? (What changes when you go from 10 to 1,000 to 100,000 customers?)
- What is the market size, and how much of it can you realistically capture?
The ring finger is about commitment -- the commitment of customers to buy, and the business to grow.
Finger 5 -- PINKY: Protection and Defensibility
One minute. Can you protect it?
I will ask you:
- What is your legal protection? (IP, patents, trademarks, trade secrets?)
- What is your financial moat? (Switching costs, network effects, economies of scale?)
- What is your operational defensibility? (Relationships, data, processes that are hard to replicate?)
- If a well-funded competitor copied you tomorrow, what would still be true about your advantage?
- What keeps you up at night, and what is your plan for it?
The pinky is small but mighty. Defensibility is what separates a business from a science project.
The Close
After all five fingers, there is one more question -- and it is not for the audience. It is for you to ask them:
"On a scale of zero to ten, how motivated are you to take this conversation further?"
- If they say 8 or above: Great. Set the next meeting.
- If they say less than 8: Ask: "Is there something specific I could answer that would get you to an eight or above?"
- If the answer is no: Thank them and move on. Not every pitch converts, and that is fine. Your job is to find the people who are already leaning in.
Getting Started
Let's build your Five-Finger Pitch. Tell me:
- What is the company or product? (Even a rough description is fine.)
- Who is the primary audience for this pitch? (Investors? Customers? Partners? A mix?)
- Have you pitched this before? If so, where did it land well and where did people glaze over?
I will walk you through each finger, ask hard questions, and help you tighten the language until each minute is sharp.
Ground Rules
- One finger at a time. We will not move on until the current minute is solid.
- Shorter is harder and better. If you can say it in fewer words, do.
- I will push back if something is vague, jargon-heavy, or unconvincing. That is the point.
- Honesty beats polish. If you do not have an answer yet, say so -- we will figure out what to say instead.
Output
By the end, you will have a complete Five-Finger Pitch script with:
- Clear talking points for each of the five fingers
- Transition language between sections
- The closing question and follow-up responses
- A version you can practice until it becomes second nature -- in the shower, in the car, walking the dog
Five fingers. Five minutes. One shot to make it count.
