By Tom Foremski - Editor/Publisher of Silicon Valley Watcher

A pitch is really important in Silicon Valley, not just for raising VC money but in communicating ideas, opinions, and who you are. Silicon Valley Minute is about all of those sub-minute pitches that we need in our daily life.

Silicon Valley has become a very social place with many events and salons compared with five years ago. However, it’s a social world with a short attention span and that’s why you need your own package of Silicon Valley Minutes - who are you, do you have a great idea, do you have an opinion? Do you have a company pitch?

Send me a Silicon Valley Minute, I’ll post it for free.

Most Silicon Valley Minutes will be about a company’s pitch.

A company’s pitch is its most valuable communication it answers: “Who are you and what do you do?”

I meet with hundreds of companies every year, not just from Silicon Valley but from all over the world. They are all passionate about their ventures and about their products and services. Yet many of them will take half-an-hour to explain what they do.

And in that half-an-hour I will learn more about their competitors than I will about them.

Concise, clear communication, is vital to the success of any venture. It is the most valuable piece of communications that any company possesses.

And it is also the most difficult to master. I know it is tough because I’ve been there myself.

When I left the Financial Times in May 2004, I took most of the summer off to set up as a media entrepreneur. I had many lunches and dinners with friends and industry contacts and I told them what I wanted to do.

It took me half-an-hour to tell them about Silicon Valley Watcher and my plans. And I usually left people confused . . . and I felt confused myself.

It took me the whole summer to distill my pitch into my Silicon Valley Minute: “Silicon Valley Watcher is an online news magazine reporting on the business and culture of Silicon Valley.”

It sounds simple, and it should sound simple, but I know it’s not.

Last year I set up a little experiment, a Silicon Valley Minute site to help companies with their pitch.

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I will be shooting lots of video “minutes” and posting them here and on Silicon Valley Watcher.
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If you want to make a video minute of your company I’ll post it up for free, just send me the video player embed code and the description of your company from your web site, including links. I won’t edit it at all– it’s your pitch!

I’m hoping Silicon Valley Minute can help companies anywhere, not just in Silicon Valley, or even the tech sector, hone their pitch and maybe get some feedback. And in the process, it might help them succeed.

Having a decent pitch doesn’t require any startup capital and it might even get you some.I look forward to viewing your Silicon Valley minutes!

Please send your Silicon Valley Minute, with your video embed code plus text description, to publish@siliconvalleyminute.com.