The 4-sentence pitch format that works for any age

Q: What is the 4-sentence pitch format?

The 4-sentence pitch is: who has the problem, what the problem is, what your solution does, and why now. Four sentences, in that order. It works for middle schoolers, college students, and Series A founders because it forces clarity on what actually matters.

The story

Most pitch coaching loads beginners with too much structure: 12 slides, three frameworks, hero's journey beats. The version that lands at every age is simpler. Sentence one: who has the problem. Sentence two: what the problem is. Sentence three: what your solution does. Sentence four: why now. That's it. Anything else is bonus. SideHustle LIVE Labs uses a version of this with 4-5 students per team in the 90-minute Labs format, with rounds of brainstorm, pitch, score, rotate, judged on Funny + Fundable. Teachers and educators have independently used the free SideHustle game in their classrooms. For the deeper teaching method see how to teach pitching to high school students. The 4-sentence pitch is the entry point.

What it means

If you teach pitching, replace your current opening structure with the 4-sentence pitch for the first two weeks. Students will hate it for ten minutes and love it for the rest of the term. Once they have the spine down, complexity can layer on without losing the core. For the full educator playbook, see the educator guide to teaching entrepreneurship through play.

Try it

• Play free at playsidehustle.com
• See us live: Sept 25 at Pershing Hall in Austin. luma.com/playsidehustle
• Email team@playsidehustle.com