If you’re starting a business, want to start a business and/or have an idea for a business, I can’t stress to you enough the importance of the five-second soundbite.

This is a process.  Honing your concept into one crisp, cogent sentence doesn’t happen right away, and it may take a few weeks for you to become truly comfortable with communicating the concept to others.

When I first started communicating Groupvine to people, I was one part nervous, one part unconfident and one part embarrassed because I couldn’t communicate it well.  My first attempts ended in that awkward side glance — the universal “I-don’t-get-it-but-I’m-being-polite” look. 

So in time and with practice, Groupvine’s 5-second soundbite went from “a project management tool that runs campus organizations” to “an online tool for campus organizations” to “we make it easy to run campus groups.” 

It’s certainly not perfect.  It will probably change.  But people get it, and they’re intrigued.

The beauty of the 5-second soundbite is that it’s simultaneously easy to understand and vague — specific enough for someone to “get it,” but general enough that that someone wants to know more. 

Next time someone asks “what do you do?” — have your 5-second soundbite ready.  And if you’re still struggling to find that perfect balance, just keep practicing.  It’ll happen soon.