Rockway is the last pitch to present in the Youtube clip below which is from the Education Startup Pitches at Slush.Org, a European “platform that allows startups from all over the world to connect with investors, mentors, partners, and each other.”
As I could not edit the clip, nor could I find a stand-alone clip of Rockway‘s pitch, forward to time stamp 11:17 of the clip to view.
I would invest in Rockway based on the following:
1. Clear and Engaging Content with Data and Proof of Concept
Rockway positioned their online music learning platform as a solution for customers with limited access to music lessons. Now that we are in a pandemic, there is even greater, global pain with regards to music instruction that Rockway seeks to solve. They differentiate themselves by not restricting lessons to 1 instrument as most of their competitors do, but provides instruction on various instruments primarily found in rock bands; they also offer additional training such as music recording and songwriting and use celebrity instructors. The Award for Innovation from the President of Finland doesn’t hurt either.
Clear numbers were shared showing traction and growth backed-up by the fact they have established their business over 7 years, have 50k users and have growing revenue. They had a clear ask (strategic partners, 1M Angel funds), and while they did not get into the potential return on investment, they disclosed 1.4M in revenues with 50% growth in revenues that year.
2. The Overall Message
After reviewing dozens of companies and pitches, I understand the need for clarity, brevity and relevance of information to the investor. I noted not only how quickly I needed to get to the point and decide if the venture was worth my time, but how significant the presenter’s ability to engage eases the pitch fatigue setting in. Rockway CEO and co-founder Nikolas Lindholm is a confident and likeable communicator who is a musician working in music and media. His background and start-up story provided credibility and passion, without being car-salesy slick. The pitch emphasized that Rockway is not a straight-up start-up, making it a less risky proposition for an EVA and investor.
There are still questions about whether Rockway, while apparently established in Finland, could compete in the global marketplace in English. In the end, however, the pitch gave me enough to go to the next step and take a deeper look at their offering.
Hi Alice,
I agree with your two comments about how Rockaway has clear and engaging content with data proof of concept. It offers eLearning with over100 professional teachers
including professional musicians and stars like Nevada, David Lee Roth, Santana, Paul Simon, Ozzy Osbourne. Today, they have over 50,000 users with over 1.4 million dollars in revenue and this year we will have a 50% growth in revenue so now it’s time to expand globally though our passion lies in music and teaching people how to play.
When I do a simple google search of Rockaway, I cannot find the platform. Can anyone share a link? Does anyone know the latest about how or if this company expanded to capture an English market? As a musician and educator, I’m very interested in learning more about this company especially as public funding for elective courses (which includes music) has decreased throughout the U.S. and Canada, so there is a real need to make learning music equitable. I also wonder if the company has investigated teaming up with administrators or selling licenses to schools as a way to familiarize students to the product before they become subscroption-based customers.
Hi, Tara!
Here’s the link to their website http://www.rockwayworld.com/about-us/
And it’s Rockway, not Rockaway:) I couldn’t find them either until I added the founder’s name Nickolas Lindholm with the name of the company.
I’m not sure how they’re doing with their expansion as I as haven’t seen any press releases for funding, etc., but their site is in English:)
Conditional YES – The major selling point in my mind is their interest in developing their product in multiple languages. I think that they may have more success if they target some of the less common language markets. The English market is very saturated on YouTube, where most of the content is free.
The second part that I appreciate is that their teachers seem to offer individual lessons as well as prerecorded video. That ability to interact with a real person makes the product better, which could be a significant sales driver. It does, however, increase their expenses and relies heavily on the professionalism of the teachers that they have interacting with students.