This guy wants to get rid of the elevator pitch, so he created the ‘Twitter of pitching’

A photo of Ryan Foland.

This article is part of Tech in Asia’s partnership with The Jay Kim Show where we publish the revised transcripts from the show’s podcast interviews with top entrepreneurs. This is heavily revised from the original show transcripts. For the full interview, go here.

I recently met Ryan Foland, a communication strategist, in Shenzhen, where we were both speakers at a marketing conference. He was so articulate and I thought I needed to get him on my podcast.

Foland helps people talk about their businesses and personal brands more effectively. He uses the unique 3-1-3 coaching system which lets people concisely discuss the value proposition of their brands or businesses to anyone in any situation.

Here’s his story and a demo of his method.

Who is Ryan Foland and what do you do for a living?

I solve probably the biggest problem that early-stage entrepreneurs have—the inability to communicate what they do or what their idea is in a very short time.

I want to eliminate the elevator pitch. I want to replace it with a conversation pitch or what I call permission-based pitching.

I also work at a university and help solve the problems of about 25+ units and departments on campus. We’re trying to communicate what they do to a large number of students amid a lot of noise. Then, outside the university, I work with people to help them communicate who they are in the world with an extreme amount of noise.

Tell us about your background

I went to the University of California, Santa Barbara. I was a gaucho. I grew up in Huntington Beach. My parents were educators, so if I’m not on land, there’s a good chance I’m in the ocean, sailing, or at the beach. That’s a huge part of me and even my brand today. I’m a communicator, an innovator, and a sailor.

I went to make a whole bunch of money in the mortgage industry, and I fell in love with sales and sold my way to the top. (Drawing stick figures was actually a key way of how I made that happen. But that’s a side story.) Then, I decided I could make more money on my own. So, I went and started my own brokerage firm, but the market crashed.

It was a humbling time. I lost my house and my car. I was working a construction job just to make ends meet. And then it all got to a point where I actually filed for bankruptcy. But two weeks later, my application returned, unopened, because I was 32 cents short on my postage. So right there in front of the mailbox, I ripped it up and worked my way through it.

Then, I was asked by University of California, Irvine to start their entrepreneurship program for undergraduates. I was on campus, boots on the ground, starting a startup at a major university, and within the first two years, we crushed it.

I got pulled into my boss’ boss’ office, and I thought I was getting fired. I was doing all kinds of stuff. I got reprimanded a few times and had to ask for a lot of forgiveness. I was like, “Somebody just fire me already.” But they said, “We really like what you’re doing, Ryan, and we want you to multiply it by 25 times.”

So, I’ve been running that ever since. I have been implementing step-by-step directions from the one and only Tim Ferriss and his 4-Hour Workweek. I’ve negotiated a remote work agreement on campus, so I’m only there a few days a week, which allows me to hustle from everywhere to explore and craft my ability to help people communicate more effectively.

What is the 3-1-3 method all about?

Can we do an example of 3-1-3?