Valley Legend Ron Conway's best and worst pitches, and 'the one that got away'

Editor's Note: The accompanying video was provided exclusively to Yahoo Finance by OZY.

Ron Conway is a bona fide legend in Silicon Valley. Currently a special adviser at SV Angel, Conway was an early investor in some of the biggest names in tech — including Google, Facebook, Twitter, Zappos, and many more. In 2010, Vanity Fair named Conway one of the 100 most influential people in the Information Age, and Forbes dubbed him "arguably the most uber-connected guy in tech, political and celebrity circles in the Bay Area."

In the accompanying video, Conway tells OZY host Carlos Watson how the Valley justifies giving startups such as WhatsApp much bigger valuations than established companies including The New York Times Co. (Full disclosure: Conway is an investor in OZY, a daily digital magazine.)

"Investors have always loved growth," he says. "If a company is growing a couple 100% per year, that's proof of principle, proof consumers love the product. When that's happening, it's a sign investors should...hurry up and get on board the sooner the better before the train leaves the station."

Watch the accompanying video to see Conway reveal the best pitch he ever got, the "one that got away," and explains why the "elevator pitch" is so critical to startup entrepreneurs (and the venture capitalists they're pitching).

For more of OZY's interview with Conway, check out: Ron Conway's favorite company, and the low-key founder behind it.