What is the WOW! Statement?

The WOW! Statement concept was first introduced by the venture capitalist Bill Reichert in his viral article Getting to WOW!. He came up with this new solution to pitch a startup after witnessing countless CEOs bore potential VCs with the classic elevator pitch. So, we can say that WOW! Statements are "the elevator pitch 2.0".

A WOW! Statement might seem like a daunting task to achieve at first, but it's nothing if simple, really - definitely easier than learning a 60-second speech word by word. The concept lies in creating interest in your audience. 

To get a clearer idea of what a WOW! Statement is, let's quote its progenitor, Bill Reichert: "What are the three or four sentences that can be spoken by a normal human, and can be understood by a normal human, that really capture the essence of what makes your company so interesting?"

‍Is there a template to help me get started?

1. What you do (better than anyone else)
2. So what? What is the BENEFIT for the CUSTOMER? You can start this part with “The big idea behind OURCOMPANY is … “
3. How are you different and better than other companies? You can start this with “Unlike other companies who ...., WE …”

‍Here are some tips to create your WOW! Statement

1. Simplicity: By simple, we mean simple language (everybody should understand what you do, even if they don't know the niche or jargon) and straightforward explanations.
2. Clarity: What is it that you do? Think about answering this question as if you were talking to a random person in the grocery store.

Compellingness: The end goal with a WOW! Statement is to sell. Keep that in mind when you are explaining what you do. You want to instill curiosity in the listener, but avoid going too mysterious with your explanation.