When someone says to me: ‘Give me the elevator pitch for your idea, you have thirty seconds’ I always feel sorry for that person. If all you have for me are those thirty seconds, how are we ever going to work together. In fact, if that is the way you live your life and try to find the right ideas to invest in, work on or work with, I am sorry but that is not going to happen. Human connection is made in a different way and so are great companies (I also discussed this topic with Dave McClure on Twitter during Startupbus 2012).

In the startup community there is just too much focus on preparing the right pitch, saying the right things on stage at a Startupweekend or creating awesome slides. I start doubting more and more the purpose of pitching. In my opinion startups would benefit more from thinking about their first customer and actually creating an awesome product instead of putting a lot of time and energy in preparing the perfect pitch. A good pitch means you can sell, a happy customer means your doing something meaningful, what would you rather do? People remember you for the actions with which you make their dreams come true, not all the business school stuff you do or say.

In other words: commit acts not ads!