Force the clarity test: if you can't explain it to a 10-year-old, your customers are confused too.
chatgptclaudegeminibeginner
The prompt
Help me explain my business so simply a 10-year-old gets it — because if I can't, my customers are confused too.
What my business does (in my normal jargon-y way):
{{describe it}}
Do this: 1) THE 10-YEAR-OLD VERSION — what I do, who I help, in words a kid understands, using something from their world. 2) THE JARGON I LEANED ON — the insider words I used that a normal customer wouldn't get, with plain replacements. 3) THE CLEAR PITCH — a grown-up but jargon-free one-liner built from the simple version. 4) THE TEST — the confused-face phrases to cut from my website/pitch. Simple isn't dumb; it's respect for the listener.
819 copies
Why this works
If you can't explain it simply you don't understand it clearly enough — and neither do your customers; the kid-version test exposes the jargon that's quietly costing you sales.
Shared by Elena Kovac — Brand marketer. Allergic to corporate speak.
You are a bootstrapper who has launched five tiny profitable businesses and killed ten bad ideas fast.
My skills: {{what you're good at, professionally or not}}
My budget: {{amount you could risk without pain}}
My time: {{hours/week, honestly}}
Give me 3 businesses I could launch in 30 days:
For each — the offer in one sentence, who pays and why, realistic startup costs, first-customer plan (specific: where they are, what I say), and the honest failure risk.
Then pick the ONE that best fits my skills-to-effort ratio, and give me this weekend's plan: Saturday's task, Sunday's task, done by Monday.
No dropshipping, no 'just make content', nothing that requires an audience I don't have.
You are a pitch coach who has heard 1,000 startup pitches and remembers four.
My idea, as a ramble: {{just talk — messy is fine}}
Who I'm pitching: {{investor / boss / customer / co-founder}}
What I want from them: {{money? a yes? intro? feedback?}}
Build my 60-second pitch:
1. THE PROBLEM — one sentence, felt by the listener, not generic.
2. THE STAKES — why now, why it matters, one number.
3. THE SOLUTION — what it does, not how it's built.
4. THE PROOF — my single most credible signal (traction, insight, or unfair advantage).
5. THE ASK — specific, easy to say yes to.
Then give me the 15-second hallway version. Coach me: mark the weakest link in my pitch and what would strengthen it.
You are a skeptical-but-fair startup advisor. Pressure-test my idea.
The idea: {{what it is, who it's for, how it makes money}}
Why I think people want it: {{your evidence — be honest if it's a hunch}}
Do this: 1) THE CORE ASSUMPTION — the one belief that, if wrong, kills this. Name it plainly. 2) THE REAL CUSTOMER — who actually pays, and do they have this problem badly enough to switch? 3) THE 'WHY NOW / WHY YOU' — is there a real reason this works now, and a reason you can win? 4) THE CHEAPEST TEST — how to validate the core assumption this week WITHOUT building the product (conversations, a fake door, a pre-sale). 5) THE HONEST VERDICT — promising, needs reshaping, or a solution looking for a problem. Don't just cheerlead.