Originally posted by MET student Jason on 25/05/2019
The PocketLab company has been around since 2015, with a number of successful products under their belt. PocketLab has found consistent success with the Kickstarter community, and returned with their 3rd product the PocketLab air. Their target market this time around? Citizen scientists, and people of the world concerned with climate change. This is their most intriguing pitch yet, with the focus not being so much on the product but its potential role as a tool for real world Science. Take a look.
No, I would not invest in this venture.
I don’t think this is a very well-targeted pitch. It seems to do a poor job at exciting both customers and investors. Wearing either hat, my question was still “so what?”
As a potential investor, I had very little information about what was needed by the venture and what would be promised as a return.
As a potential customer, I was bored. Cool, I buy this and then… strap it to my bike and ride around? I buy this for my students and then they watch numbers stabilising on a meter?
It measures air quality. So what?
Do scientists need the data? What’s going to keep customers engaged and excited to use it? Have they produced classroom guides and activities to supplement the device? How much money do you need and what’s your plan? Is the goal to make a profit or to collect data? There are other measurement gadgets for science classrooms that are modular to collect a range of data beyond air quality. Why would this be better to buy?
It all seems too vague and too fad-like. I am confused who their target market is, why they would buy it, and why it would be worth investing in.
Personally, as an investor I see great potential for this product. First off, with so much focus on emissions and the environment there is a lot of market potential with this technology. Not only could I see people wanting to use something like this for personal use, to see what is going on in the air around them, I could also see the potential market of classrooms everywhere using this. Unlike social studies, where the market can be limited geographically due to the content, studying the environment is more global, meaning the potential market is quite large.
NO, I would not invest in this venture, but let’s begin with some positive aspects to the pitch. Since this company has brought successful products to market previous to the PocketLab Air, I have some confidence in the company. I also believe this is an incredibly important topic where allowing individuals to participate through citizen science can be the beginning to large-scale change. Though Pocket Lab founder, Clifton Roozeboom delivered a passionate pitch, I still have a number of questions about this venture. I am unsure they really know who the target user of their product will be. I see the most opportunity in using these devices in schools, inspiring the next generation of passionate scientists. However, most of the video and discussion was about citizen scientists, often showing adults collecting data. I found this messaging very confusing and thought it took away from the powerful message they were trying to convey.