Hello everyone,
Time flies for sure and it is the end of the semester.
Please feel free to check out my venture pitch here: Goal-Go.
GoalGo – Immersive Learning
7 responses to “GoalGo – Immersive Learning”
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REVIEW: Hi Mary, I enjoyed reviewing your OER. It was visually appealing and with a great deal of informative and relevant research/stats. I particularly liked the depth of the analysis section, which ties to your analytical/systems background. Additionally, you have done an amazing job explaining the “inspiration” behind the idea, it resonated with me on different levels. As an EVA, it proves to me that you have a passion for the concept and the knowledge to back up the idea. This would certainly give the investors, the assurance that they need prior to making any major investments. Well done. Couple quick questions, from 2020 to 2030, how much funding you think would be required for this venture? What plans do you have to secure such funding? Are you thinking about something like Angel Investors where you could 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%. The aforesaid fee is still within the acceptable range for such platforms, however recently other similar platforms moved to subscription-based pricing, and/or shifting the fee back to the investor.
Hi Mary! You touch on a topic close to my team’s OER area of interest: the classroom of the future, and I think you did a great job presenting existing solutions such a Gener8 and summarizing how they can act as a technological means to support connectivity and wellness for those in a time of crisis. In fact, I speculated in ETEC 540 on Text Technologies and the future of writing that a future classroom such as those you described (virtual environments where students can remain connected regardless of whether they are physically present or away) that such a classroom might occur in future, though my concerns now are the same as those I had then: if students cannot afford projector setups to join the class immersively, will it lead to a form of second-class student who doesn’t have access to the same learning experience that their more affluent peers have? While this might not necessarily concern the financial return (I couldn’t find it outlined in the pitch), it would be helpful to see your thoughts as to how this could be addressed so as not to undermine the social return. Thanks for exploring such an exciting summary of what future learning might look like!
REVIEW: Hi Mary. You have a lot of ideas to offer from the get go; I notice your emphasis on how the venture helps those that may have accessibility issues. The stats on unemployment and mental health reinforce the reasoning behind your target market. Working professionals is a large group, but I did appreciate how you focused the direction of that in your description. With the concept, I see how many other places are using immersive experience. I wonder if there is something you can put in to show how yours differentiates with them. I am interested in how much funding you think will be realistic for this venture, and I look forward to seeing how this could evolve in terms of its financial prerequisites.
REVIEW: Hi Mary, fantastic site design, really like how you included those interactive pixel banners at the top of each page. Your pitch is quite ambitious and I can definitely see where the intention/purpose comes from. Definitely agree that mental health is important as individuals of all ages need more opportunities to tune in with their inner calmness as a way to detox/destress themselves. My concern is, the focus of the pitch seems to be slightly shaky in terms of connecting/convincing investors the link between calmness/data tracking/VR. In addition, I’m curious to know from a psychological/scientific perspective whether VR is effective in helping individuals get back on their feet (eg: compared to socializing in real life or finding a place to meditate in the wilderness). Data tracking is also a sensitive issue as most individuals tend to be hesitant of third parties having the ability to know where they are. As an investor, I’m also curious to know the future development trend of VR (is it safe to invest?), potential risks, competitor info (eg: Metaverse) and what return I’ll have if investments are made according to your ask. Overall, great concept and direction! Good work!
FEEDBACK: Mary, great pain point you’ve identified here. Your personal connections to your ‘story’ are also compelling. I can understand the purpose of something like GoalGo as the “solution” to the pain points you’ve identified, but I think for many people there is concern about being ‘recorded’ that gives a bit of an “ick” factor. This was recently obvious in our internal class discussions during the AI OER about remote proctoring. I do believe that these types of environments will be more typical in future learning, but I’d want to know more about how you’d plan to combat this stigma starting out before I’d want to invest. Overall though, nicely done!
FEEDBACK: Thank you for putting this informative Venture Pitch together. I can appreciate the passion for gamification and its place in the healing of trauma and challenges as well as GoalGo’s function to creating peaceful spaces as well as its intention to offer skills to those who are impacted by negative circumstances. I think you’ve done some relevant research as a starting point to try to launch such a venture. One thing that I was cautioned by was lumping together the trauma of different groups. You had alluded to war and referenced survivors of the Residential School system and then the health impacts of the pandemic. As a Venture Capitalist reading this AND someone who is concerned about how society is constructed and dealt with, I would be very mindful of how we treat the trauma of our Indigenous relatives and those who have lived through war. Much thought, care and ally-ship needs to be at the centre of our consideration toward them. Putting these groups together and with other traumatic events unearths more and further trauma. On the topic of Indigenous Peoples, I would like to know more about how gamification and digital spaces enhance the well-being of the livelihood of the First Peoples. For example, if we understand the importance of the Earth and her resources to the First Peoples, we would be thoughtful of the images we include in the gamification. For example, in the first video of the “Existing immersive rooms- Learning through stories”, while telling stories is very much apart of Indigenous ways of knowing, some of the violent scenes where the Earth is in chaos (especially the scene of the monkeys in the forest where the forest suddenly burns up), can be very traumatic for young children, let alone Indigenous People who are watching an integral part of their livelihood being destroyed by angry flames. I would revisit this once the approach to trauma is further flushed out. I’m thinking it could be a good idea to link your venture and purpose of healing with the mental health profession.
FEEDBACK: Hi Mary, this is quite an innovative way to help cope with mental health struggles. I can see the appeal of this idea based on the severe shortage of mental healthcare professionals in this country. There is a lot of talk about seeking help if you need it, but the truth is that there really aren’t enough people out there who can actually provide that help at the moment, especially due to the increased levels of anxiety and depression caused by the pandemic. I don’t think anything can truly replace a human when it comes to mental health help, but this is certainly something that could provide at least a start on the journey towards feeling better. I think I would want a bit more information on what your product in particular would look like before investing, but I do think your idea fills a need in society.