Welcome to my Venture Pitch for WEBOTCHU.
This idea stemmed from all of you! I got stuck on the chatbot track after A2, as many of you commented that you would like to use a chatbot in your schools and classrooms, however, were concerned (and rightfully so) with the skills and time required to effectively implement one.
WEBOTCHU provides AI chatbot design and training programs for K-12, and Higher Education. WEBOTCHU offers customized chatbot eLearning development packages to educate teachers and instructional designers about creating their custom chatbots, relevant to their classes and curriculums.
Please find the elevator and venture pitch for this imagined venture hosted on the site below:
https://sites.google.com/view/etec522-a3-meaganstrome/the-pitch
I would love to hear your questions or comments on this pitch.
Enjoy! đ
FEEDBACK: Thanks for the pitch! One strength I recognize is the venture opportunities section. I liked how you recognized the threat of imitation and offered the solution of penetrating the market quickly. I’m surprised there are so many education-related chatbots already. I feel for some people getting started with chatbots, having life examples of how chatbots could be applied in the classroom or education would be useful. You mentioned how it may help clarify instructions and I would love to know what other scenarios it could work in.
Hi Jackson, thanks for your feedback. I too was surprised at how many chatbots for education are out there already, however, most are used for higher education institutes for course selection and administrative tasks rather than curated by teachers for instructional purposes. I agree that including all the benefits of chatbots in education is important but for this assignment didn’t want to repeat what was already said in A2.
REVIEW: Hi Meagan, I enjoyed reviewing your OER; it was visually appealing, easy to navigate, and answered all the questions that I had as an EVA. I find the whole idea of using chatbots for education/tutoring purposes fascinating, and I believe it has a positive long-term outlook. As an EVA, I find creating custom chatbots relevant to individual classes, in particular now that learners are seeking 24/7 support, quite appealing to any investor. I see that you have requested 500K in order to prove your concept and plan to offer equity in exchange for financing. Kickstarter has helped thousands of startups to secure funding and I highly suggest you look into it. The only downside is that Kickstarter applies a 5% fee to the collected funds. There will also be processing fees between 3-5%.
Hi, thanks for your review! The evaluation and equity return portion of this assignment I redid a few times, as I don’t have a lot of experience in this area. I have not really looked into Kickstarter or similar platforms, however, see the appeal of crowdfunding a start-up.
Hi Meagan! I can definitely appreciate the value of your product, and having a “do-it-yourself approach to designing chatbots for assisting students could indeed be incredibly useful! The greatest potential improvement I could recommend is the company valuation, as the $500,000 as for 2% of the company suggests a current value of $25,000,000 and I’m unsure how you arrived at that evaluation. Nevertheless, I think you have a really original idea here, and I hope you pursue it further! Cheers!
Hi Brendan, thanks for your comments. I appreciate your suggestion for improvement, while I tried to show the math involved in my revenue projections these are very rudimentary figures. I redid this section a few times however, further research is required and I could have done a better job of describing where the numbers for the evaluation came from.
Review: Hi Meagan, I found your elevator pitch to be all encompassing and I liked that you introduced yourself right at the beginning of it as well, giving credit to your background in relation to the idea. When reading through your venture pitch, I also appreciated the sample outline of training provided and the on-demand support offered alongside this product. I liked that you generated this idea from other teachers feedback as this shows youâve heard their voice and want to provide what teachers are looking for. I did get a little confused on the part where it mentions it is customized training but then there was a specific 8 hours of training and âready to useâ. Perhaps clarifying this point for the future investors would help. I also thought perhaps including more information on the competitors and differentiation would have added a bit more information to view the competition in the marketplace. I would be happy recommend funding for this product pending the clarification of the points listed above.
Hi Alexis, I appreciate your review. I’m glad you found the sample training helpful. Thinking of this only now, but I could have provided more samples. Sorry for the confusion, I could better clarify what the training looks likes. Being customizable, I should have said up to eight hours of training provided, and ready to use in the sense that the company would have the training plan based on the school division’s size and needs. I thought about including more about competitor pricing etc but didn’t feel that offered the same services, so felt it wouldn’t be a fair comparison.
FEEDBACK: Meagan, great job on your concept, you definitely found a true educator pain point to solve! Overall your pitch and website are nicely laid out and obvious. One thing that comes to my mind are your tiers: I wonder if you could offer a tier that is for less than 500 creators, especially in the early stages of your venture?
Hi Ally, thanks for your feedback. That’s a great point, adding an additional lower tier can’t hurt!
FEEDBACK: This is a neat idea for educators who want to implement more automated tasks for the upper grade levels. One thing I am cautious about is that a Chatbot should not replace a teacher. I am also very wary of justifying the use of chatbots for grades K-3 who are in their developmental years not just socially but in their literacy. I would like to see flushed out- the issues surrounding the use of AI in young children and the content about teachers having âtoo much workâ. I could see a Chatbot being used for simple tasks such as âsign inâ for attendance that even a primary student could navigate via pictorial representations but even this stage of the instructional day is a time to bond with your students and the student with the teacher. As a VA who might be scouting for a school district and forgive me for what might sound callous toward teachers, I think teachers still âcost lessâ to do the work a Chatbot would cost to do.
Hi Cindy, thanks for your feedback. I 100% agree that the intent here is not for chatbot use to replace teachers. Instead, the aim is to assist teachers to learn how to make their own chatbot that best supports their instruction and the learning of their students. The figures I used assume that the chatbot technology training and adoption packages are sold to divisions to educate teachers in high schools (grades 9-12), as the use and need in the early years are not as relevant. I would argue that teachers are more valuable being used for things you mention such as bonding and relationship building, rather than spending time on tedious administrative tasks that a chatbot can easily do? Also, the salary of teachers is far greater than the per-user fee of chatbots.
FEEDBACK: I like that 1. This helps to create chatbots specific to each teachers’ needs and 2. Empowers teachers to learn how it works while designing it, so no time is wasted, and they get a better understanding of what they have created. I think to nudge me into investing I would need to be a bit more assurance of the income. I think schoolboards would need to see more clearly how these chatbots will be improving learning before investing the money as well as them having to tell their teachers to take the 8-hour course (I’m wondering if school boards would want to buy in to this, or if it would be better marketed to individual teachers somehow?). I do remember the conversation coming up in several different weeks’ discussions that new technologies are hard for teachers to adopt because they are so difficult to learn, so thank you for addressing this need!
Hi Hayley, I appreciate the feedback. I too agree that empowering teachers to learn and understand how these emerging technologies are built and work is really important. You raise a great point regarding what school boards would need to see, however, for this assignment I didnât want to repeat what was already said in A2. I should have included a link to all the educational benefits of chatbots, made a summary page, or made a note stating that it was assumed this investor audience was already well aware of the affordances of chatbots in education. I do think that school boards will want to see that this training could be completed in one PD day and that every participant will come away with something that can be immediately implemented. Although you are correct, in that marketing to teachers as well would likely be more effective!
[FEEDBACK] One question I kept asking myself throughout your deck was whether or not chatbots are currently in schools/boards around Canada, and if so how many? What is the uptake like, and can you prove that traction would persist to your venture. You have outlined a need, though I would have liked to see more strength in your assertion that teachers need this perhaps anecdotes from other teachers, or some stats to support the efficiency they provide to the classroom experience? How are you going to capture new customers, and what continues to make your chatbot better than the next one on the market?
Hi Kyle, thanks for the feedback! Great question – from my limited research it seems that chatbots are not yet used in many high schools, however, are becoming more popular in higher education institutes for course selection and administrative tasks rather than curated by teachers for instructional purposes. I should conduct more research and include these findings in my pitch. As mentioned in above comments, I should have included a link to all the educational benefits of chatbots, made a summary page, or made a note stating that it was assumed this investor audience was already well aware of the affordances of chatbots in education. I didn’t want to repeat my A2, but after multiple comments realize I should have!