Hi everyone. For my future venture, I am presenting myself as the new CEO of Grammarly, the well-known language assistance company. I am introducing a novel revolutionary English learning product to the market. The new e-learning tool is called G-Go, a set of intelligent earbuds that integrate AI technology and complex algorithms to monitor speech and provide feedback for the user.
G-Go will help millions of users around the world to effectively improve their speaking skills without the need for English courses or ESL teachers. It operates efficiently by pinpointing the language gaps and suggesting the optimal ways to bridge them.
You can see the elevator pitch here.
The detailed venture pitch can be viewed here.
Enjoy!
Hi Feras,
Great idea! Your elevator pitch showed a big problem and addressed it with a viable product. On me, it was successful as I wanted to learn more – to dive into the venture pitch.
Hi Adrian, I am glad that you find the elevator pitch intriguing. I am curious to see your feedback on the product after checking the venture pitch.
Hi Feras,
G-Go are such a great idea and you presented it in a fantastic manner. Feedback on real life conversation would be so helpful. (I only recently started using Grammerly and so far I love it!) One concern, is I wonder if instant feedback would be distracting during conversation? My biggest concern would be about privacy – there is a loot of heticency with some digital assistants ‘listening’ all the time such as Amazon Alexa. Some competitors worth looking at are the online ‘conversation’ platforms, where students just converse with a native English speaker. This isn’t a direct competitor but I imagine the student experience may be similar.
Hi Feras,
I really like the idea and it definitely identifies a huge gap in the market. I spent a number of years as an ESL and an Arabic teacher and speaking is by far the most difficult skill for students to master. In fact I am currently trying to learn Mandarin using Duolingo and I find myself using the speak option to answer the questions simply so that I can practise the intonations. I found your venture pitch clear and detailed enough to give me a sense of what you intend to do. I do have one concern though, and maybe I have misunderstood, around the idea of the earphones being worn all day and recording interactions – do you think a person would do this? It is one thing practising while alone but I think I would find it odd to be wearing earphones while engaged in a conversation. Maybe the possibility of the AI playing the part of the second person in the conversation, rather than recording real-life interactions? Again maybe I have misunderstood but it was not clear to me. If you made this product for Mandarin I would definitely buy it!
Hi Siobhan! I did not know that you teach Arabic too! Many people think that writing encompasses many subskills, but I think that speaking puts you on the spot. Speaking also requires the learners to monitor their speech WHILE producing output, which is not necessarily the case in writing. Your concern about wearing earbuds all day makes sense as it would be dull and wary. However, G-Go earbuds are portable, and the user does not need to put them on all day long. Simply put, when the user feels like he/she wants to visit the cafe for some coffee, the earbuds can record the conversation with the server and they can be taken off after the targeted dialogue is finished. It is totally optional. In my venture, I tried to stay away from staged artificial conversations as it defies the purpose of the tools building on authentic encounters and real everyday needs. The end-user might discovers many errors he/she was never aware of before. So the G-Go helps to reveal the weakness and grow from the interaction with others. Good luck with learning Mandarin; I heard it is hard to grasp. it is definitely part of our future plans, as the market in Asia is enormous too! Thank you for sharing your thoughts, Siobhan.
Hi, CEO of Grammarly! Your new product concept is fantastic. This appeals to me as someone who speaks English as a second language. If such a product exists, I would be willing to be the first to purchase it. You’ve done a good job of analyzing the present market’s pain concerns. For adults, there are a lot of things to do, and most people wouldn’t like to spend lots of time and money to have English tutoring. Existing English learning software is unable to accurately determine a learner’s true level to provide effective lessons. The most appealing feature of this product, in my opinion, is its ability to correctly track user levels, record, and provide feedback. Considering that wearing earphones all of the time is unrealistic, I believe it would be more practical to separate the product into two parts. For example, if users don’t need G-Go to provide real-time suggestions in the earphones, it can be turned into a wearable neck or ear ornament to aid sound recording. An earphone is needed if the user requires real-time language assistance. Your product is quite comprehensive. I would gladly invest in this product if I were an investor. Thank you very much.
Hi Menghan! I am glad to see you here, giving your opinion on G-Go. Being a speaker of English as a second language as well, I understand where you are coming from. Even the best interactive mobile apps are still behind when it comes to the productive skills of the language: writing and speaking. As for speaking, I believe that automatic responses and artificial conversations are rarely effective in terms of providing feedback and valuable support. It is also that I see many professionals or even newcomers struggling with English as they either do not have the time or the money to commit to effective English courses. I love the idea of turning the earbuds into a wearable ornament, particularly a necklace! It can serve as an aesthetic gadget and a recorder. However, the earbuds also receive phone calls, play music, offer translation, and suggest proper replies. They do not need to be worn all day long though, they can be used only when the user desires to, just like any Bluetooth earbuds. Thank you for the suggestion, Menghan. I think it is brilliant and can open doors for some fancy designs of G-Go other than the conventional earphones.
Hi Feras, your idea can help English language learners tremendously. I thought your venture pitch was laid out well and the information in it was accessible and thorough. I particularly liked your video on how G-works, as it gave a clear understanding of how the app aids users. Returning to Korea, I am amazed at the differences in mobile use as compared to Canada. Although your target audience is that of native English speakers, it might be interesting to pilot your venture in Korea in English-only speaking environments, like a classroom where instruction is only given in English, given that this country is leading the way in offering 5G technology, the home of a joint-collaborator of your app (Samsung), and the country’s emphasis on English. I don’t like the idea that these wearables have the potential to lead users to become distracted as they incessantly view their mobile. Moreover, I think another valuable point to oppose your idea is the power of other-than-verbal communication. From what I have read, only about 7% of messaging is delivered verbally, leaving about 93% of communication is delivered through non-verbal or paralanguage.
Hi Shaun, thank you for the post. The market in Korea is a potential target as well, given the fact that the status of English in Korea is second, not foreign. I have learned that the residents in Korea use English in many formal environments, which poses a need for ESL learning. As you said, the 5G orientation in Korea will help to facilitate seamless connectivity with the emergence of the internet of things. Basically, the targeted audience is not native speakers but rather a learner who live in native-speaking countries. The rationale behind this is that one of the G-Go’s features is learning from the natives’ output in different situations and building suggested learning opportunities upon that authentic output. Again, this can be feasible in certain contexts in Korea where the ‘English only’ policy is applied. Also, the app records data and saves through-day conversations which allow the users to check their mobiles whenever is convenient for them; this is not necessarily an instantaneous experience. Regarding non-verbal communication, I agree that humans prefer the convenience of texting rather than recording voice. However, from an educational perspective, informal texing ruins the learner’s English proficiency as it shortcuts expressions and ignores grammar. Grammarly has already been addressing textual competencies, and G-Go is created to complete the circle by focusing on how English learners can improve their speaking skills based on their real-life needs and daily encounters. I also think that 7% of our verbal communication is spoken words while 93% is how we deliver them through body language, tone, intonation, sentence stress, pitch, etc. (I think that’s what was meant by non-verbal communication). Thank you Shaun for the invaluable contribution; your points pushed me to think deeper into the matter, and now I am thinking about Korea and the idea of expanding in Asia. That’s really thoughtful.
Hi Feras, you did a nice job in presenting your venture concept, G-Go. Your elevator pitch was effective and it got me hooked to look at your venture page to learn more. I appreciated the “How G-Go Works” video as part of your venture pitch. It was informative and allowed me to better understand the product. It is an amazing concept that can help English language learners with so many areas including spotting grammatical mistakes, enhancing vocabulary, checking fluency, suggesting phrases, and recording others’ speech. In your venture pitch, you mentioned that new immigrants and refugees would benefit from using G-Go. I wonder if you could partner with non-profit or government agencies to provide funding in helping with the costs for using G-Go. The G-Go earbuds cost $250 and usage costs $11/month for the premium plan. This all adds up to quite a lot of money. One thing I am concerned about is the the length of time that users will be wearing the earbuds. It is recommended by health professionals for people not to use earphones or headphones for more than an hour at a time and that users should take a break for at least 5 minutes every hour. Also, earbuds could actually cause noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL). For people who are concerned about the use of earbuds, you could perhaps provide alternatives such as the use of G-Go headphones or the use of G-Go bluetooth speakers.
Hi Joyce, I am glad you found the elevator pitch catchy because I tried to uncover the product without revealing too many details to the audience. Your idea about partnering up with non-profit or government agencies to aid the refugees and new immigrants is very interesting! I think the part of the targeted audience can benefit from this partnership and enjoy the services of G-Go as part of the blending programs that the government provides. I am not sure that the cost of the product is too much; Samsung Galaxy earbuds are basically $150, which is without the distinctive advanced features of Grammarly. Plus, most of the translation earbuds are priced around $200 and let’s not forget here that translation is only one feature of G-Go, which can be purchased as part of the premium plan. So, I think it is not really overpriced if we examine the value and features it provides compared to the other products. I totally agree with you that wearing earbuds for a long time can be physically challenging, and that’s why I was thinking of Menghan’s suggestion to design a modified version of the product that can be worn as an ornament such as a necklace. Furthermore, there is no actual need to put on the earbuds for long hours anyway. I like the idea of G-Go blutooth speaker or maybe a watch or ring. I am thinking in that direction now. Thank you for sharing your ideas with me.
FEEDBACK
I loved this presentation, what a great idea. Maybe for future iterations include a little more about what the user experience would look like.
Hi Feras, I really like your idea of using G-Go to combine AI with education. As you mentioned, the speech/verbal output (speaking) may be the hardest skill out of reading, writing, listening, and speaking. I see great potential in your idea, as it is a lightweight “buddy” to help people on the go. As English is still (currently) the dominant language used commonly around the world, there is certainly a market for your product. Good luck & godspeed! Joseph