This pitch runs from 5:30 to 9:40 of the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WG7Ry77kKU
SEL (social-emotional learning) is an important focus area for many schools right now. This company claims to do SEL one better (on their website they say, “Advance beyond SEL”). The platform, targeting school districts in the U.S., offers both mental health screening for students as well as mental health curriculum for schools. The C.E.O. notes a growing demand and a market opportunity as more states legally require mental health screening for students. The company aims to provide “wraparound services” – coordinating support for students across education, healthcare, and home settings. They have a partnership with Thread Health, a healthcare provider, to offer doctor consultations. One concern I have with this company is the risk of improper screening or misdiagnosis since this uses technology rather than in-person psychiatric evaluations. I also wonder how their curriculum represents an improvement over traditional SEL curriculum.
Yes, I would invest in this venture. Student mental health is (sadly) an area with enormous room for growth. The data collection, data analysis, and communication infrastructure provided by Maro is sorely needed by many school districts and communities. I concur with David that false positives and false negatives could be a large hiccup, but as the screening, analysis, and amount of data all increase, I hope those issues are reduced. I think other investors will agree implementing Maro can save youth lives, and this product provides more services towards that cause than any competitor.
YES, I would invest in this venture (as I pretend to be a Canadian principal that places value on equitable access and a sense of belonging at school).
With a product like Maro — designed to proactively aid in supporting students with mental health challenges — the CEO won me over with her calmness, humility, and democratic values. Beyond that, partnering with local and clinical support offers impactful, relevant help embedded in the design of their service. The inclusion of families in the service is an attractive feature and speaks to the positive impact the service may offer communities. The venture would likely witness significant success due to word-of-mouth alone, if designed and supported well. Mental health is a growing global concern and its impact on learning and development is a current and major focus in education in North America. The product demonstrates a clear and focused understanding of today’s educational settings and needs.
The only question I have is how the service plans to grow globally, while still being able to offer local and clinical supports while appreciating cultural values yet maintaining clinical integrity in supporting mental health challenges.
YES, I would invest in this venture. Mental health is such a huge issue in schools right now and is only growing. We have two councilors in our 7-9 school, and their caseloads are completely full, with more on the waiting list. According to our councilors, it is even harder to get ahold of counseling services through the government over the summer when school is on break. As such, this is a significant issue in our own school, which matches the statistics provided about how 50% of mental illness starts before 14 years of age. They mentioned many things I would have been concerned about, and some of the other things were on their website, such as robust protection of student privacy, automated parent consent forms at the beginning of the year, and ongoing support for students and parents. Additionally the staff of the project is very good, with experts in many fields. Finally, Sidecut is one of the companies that invested in Maro and mentioned that when they had hard discussions with the founders, they set about improving it, rather than fighting change. This is a positive sign that the founders want to improve on their project and genuinely care about its success above pride or stubbornness. One concern I had is about its compatibility with different languages, as our community speaks hundreds of different languages, which could affect the use of this program.
Website – https://www.meetmaro.com/
About Sidecut investing in Maro – https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-we-invested-maro-mike-ma-moxue
YES! I would invest in Maro
I found Maro to be one of the most compelling pitches examined to date. Its founders have clearly identified and articulated a growing need in education: a means to address mental health concerns, declining attendance, and school systems that are too often forced to be reactive rather than proactive. From the perspective of both an educator and an Educational Venture Analyst, this venture addresses a significant pain point for which I believe there is growing and sustainable market potential.
What resonated with me most was how closely the venture aligns with Dr. Ross Greene’s philosophy of not “showing up late”—that is, intervening long after a student is already in crisis. Maro’s focus on early identification, along with its claim of reducing the average identification gap by 11 years, is particularly intriguing. The ability to recognize concerns before they become a crisis has the potential to alter the landscape of our current education systems, where attendance has plummeted, behavioural concerns have escalated, and student mental health needs often extend beyond educators’ expertise and capacity to manage effectively.
From an investor’s perspective, I see several strengths. First, student mental health represents a large and growing market. As it continues to remain a priority for schools, governments, and healthcare systems, demand for effective solutions is unlikely to diminish. Second, the founders clearly articulated Maro’s value proposition: helping schools move from crisis response to crisis prevention. Finally, the venture appears highly scalable. As a digital screening platform, Maro has the potential to serve a large number of schools and districts once established without requiring substantial increases in human resources, making growth more achievable and sustainable.
Perhaps most importantly, I would invest in Maro because it offers a promising solution to a genuine problem that educators feel keenly. Rather than creating technology in search of a market, Maro is responding to an existing challenge that schools are struggling to address. The founders presented a clear problem, a practical solution, and a market with growing demand. For those reasons, I believe Maro has both educational value and strong venture potential.
YES, I would invest in this venture. This pitch does many things that I feel others don’t. The founder is on stage speaking, they are confident, and they end their time with an actual ask of $250,000.
Their pain point is hard to ignore too, especially presented early on in their pitch. An 11 year gap between a child showing symptoms and getting help is a powerful number, and the pitch builds everything around it rather than just mentioning it and moving on.
What also stood out to me is that this is not just sold to one school at a time, but it can scale by community, which means the reach goes well beyond one classroom, counselor, or community.
The exclusive partnership mentioned also gives this venture something competitors could not easily replicate.
My only hesitation is that the pitch does not clearly explain what investors get back and when. While the social case is strong with this pitch, as an EVA, I still need to know how this becomes a sustainable investment. I feel that this pitch sells that venture.