FREESL Blogging – A Blogging Community Exclusively for ELLs
Hi! I’m Sheza Naqi, an experienced ESL teacher and CEO of FREESL Blogging. Watch our 1 minute Elevator Pitch to get a sense of this venture in educational technology:
Participating in an online language learning community is a good way for ESL students to improve speaking and writing skills.
FREESL Blogging allows English Language Learners to join a social network where community members share the mutual goal of improving their English.
FREESL Blogging is the real-world English Language Learning web 2.0 tool.
To learn more about this exciting venture, view the complete Venture Pitch Prezi.
[Note: All images courtesy of Creative Commons Licensing]
Posted in: Venture Forum
Jody McKinnon 3:08 pm on July 30, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
HI Sheza. I appreciate your enthusiasm for this venture. I think it is a great idea to try and link ELL learners together and your idea is one worth pursuing. However, I’m confused by the title of your venture FREESL when in reality, you’re hoping for about half of the users to pay, so then in the end, it’s not really free? I wonder if this would confuse or frustrate users and drive away potential customers. Your elevator pitch is quite well done and your Prezi is very detailed.
In the end, while the idea is intriguing, I’m not sure that I’m ready to invest at this time. Good luck!
sheza 8:13 am on August 2, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Dear Jody,
Thanks so much for your valuable feedback. The title FREESL is not meant to be confusing; the primary service is blogging and this will remain a free service on the site. The additional pay-features are available to enhance the language learning and are completely optional to the user. We are expecting that the users of this site would be interested in pursuing their goal of fluency in English, therefore they are likely to opt-in for the service if they can afford it; and it is quite affordable!
Hopefully this pricing plan will not frustrate customers as there are many sites where the initial or main service is free with some optional features available for purchase as add-ons. Even Prezi works in this way.
I would hope to be able to convince you to invest at a more in-depth meeting where we could discuss the venture further 🙂
Thanks,
Sheza
Ronna Hoglund 5:40 pm on July 30, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Sheza,
Thank you for allowing me to view your pitches! Your personal connection in the elevator pitach drew me in so that I was interested in viewing your prezi. Perhaps I missed your “ask”? But I think this is a viable venture and I would invest. I am quite used to working with tools (e.g. Voicethread) that allows some capabilites for FREE and demands $ for “extras”.
All the best,
Ronna
sheza 8:14 am on August 2, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Dear Ronna,
Thanks for your positive feedback. It is very encouraging! The ask was indicated in the venture pitch: $1,000,000 over two years.
Thanks again,
Sheza
dmcinnes 11:40 pm on July 30, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Sheza,
Thanks for sharing your pitches. Both were excellent! During your elevator pitch I was thinking “you must have done this before”. I became totally intrigued. Your Prezi was also excellent, and I thought that was a great way/tool to present your venture. Though I feel you might have some real competition with social network tools already available, I could see this service being very beneficial to adult ELL students. I’d invest,if not for the idea, but your professionalism and enthusiasm!
Super Job!
David McInnes
sheza 8:32 am on August 2, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi David,
Thanks so much for your encouraging feedback! I haven’t actually done this before, but I really enjoyed it!
I agree that the social networking competition is heavy in today’s market but that this does offer something different than your typical Facebook type site in giving ELLs a safe place to practice their language skills in order to become more comfortable with publicly tweeting or Facebooking!
Thanks again,
Sheza
Brian H 9:53 am on July 31, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Sheza,
Awesome elevator pitch, it definitely captured my attention as an investor to continue on to your venture pitch.
I would be interested in your company for the sheer volume of traffic that it could generate. However, under the current fee structure I think a 50% pay rate is way higher than what is possible and that an Ad revenue stream may be more realistic. With that said a micro-fee structure you have proposed may have opportunity to work along side with Ads.
Another worry is competitors (social networks) could adapt your features (paid native speakers) and could cut into your clientele especially with large scale ad driven revenue systems.
Clearly there is risk funding this project until it hits critical mass. Staff, network and marketing costs will put pressure on generating revenue at a scale that is sustainable. However, If the user population peaks– so could returns on the initial investment.
Great Job,
Brian
sheza 8:34 am on August 2, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Brian,
Thanks for the feedback 🙂 I can understand your concern about the 50% pay rate, however, at that rate the investor is getting 100% ROI, and so even witha lower subscription level to our paid features we are looking at generating some viable revenue.
I had not thought about using an Ad revenue stream but you are right – that would be an excellent way to break even at the get go while we wait for the user base to build.
Thanks for your suggestions!
Sheza
Yves Mainville 11:38 am on July 31, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Great presentation Sheza!
Your presentation is VERY slick and well done… I liked how dynamic it is.
Very engaged and you cover off most of the questions I had during the presentation.
My biggest concern is with the possible competitors and platforms. I wouldn’t want to lose the uniqueness of the concept. I would want to discuss that further before investing, but the plan, the enthusiasm and the passion are definite sellers.
Well done!
sheza 8:21 pm on August 4, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Yves! Thanks for the positive feedback.
The competition is there but I would hope that our idea is unique enough that we can capture a good chunk of the market off the get-go.
I would love to show you a business plan to secure your investment 🙂
Thanks again,
Sheza
Dave Horn 12:28 pm on August 1, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Sheza,
I agree, this was a great presentation both for you elevator pitch and your venture pitch. You have a well researched and developed market concept and I like the idea of starting people off with free-services and then providing extra pay-features. Paying your native english speakers also means you can control the quality of the support and respond to your customers. Would you plan to have a feedback component from the ESL learners in order to monitor how they are doing and what things are working well or not?
While I still have a few questions I would want to see your venture plan for implementation and I would be interested in investing.
Dave
sheza 8:25 pm on August 4, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Dave!
Thank you for the feedback. Yes I think an opportunity for feedback from our users would be an excellent way to ensure that our services are meeting their needs. This could take the form of an online user-survey or having users rate their Paid Native English Speakers. Thanks for the suggestion.
Let’s set up a meeting to discuss the business plan soon. Hope to count you as an investor! 😉
Sheza Naqi
mariefrancehetu 6:49 pm on August 1, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hello Sheza,
I am totally impressed with both your elevator pitch and your venture pitch. Both are very effective and professional. It actually looks as if a professional company did them for you. Kudos!
I had no idea you could do all of that with a Prezi – I don’t know how long it took you to do your presentation, but you have successfully covered every base of your venture. I was especially impressed with your projections for your venture – really well researched indeed! As an ESL teacher, I can see how such a venture could work and I would certainly invest in your company!
The only thing I might change is the title ‘FREESL’, I feel it advertises the company falsely, as it is essentially a paying service with some free elements to it.
Congratulations on a job well done!
Marie-France
sheza 8:28 pm on August 4, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Marie-France,
Thank you for your vote of confidence! I appreciate your positive feedback. Prezis are great – really fun to make and I find they do a great job of breaking down your information in a manageable way for the viewer to take in.
I appreciate your feedback regarding the title – although I would hope it wouldn’t turn users off; essentially it is a way to catch their attention and bring them onto the site, but it does not do so falsely as indeed the Blogging service offered is completely free!
Thanks again,
Sheza Naqi
Hussain Luaibi 8:34 pm on August 1, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hello Sheza
Splendid! I like your Prezi and youtube. The topic you are dealing with is great as well. Blogging has become one of the essential educational features of our age. Exploring this field is great and has future in the market. I am sure your venture will be attract investors.
The question I have is the same which voiced by other classmates : you call it Free but it is not so. Or probably you wanted to do what some companies are doing theses days, they say “free” but they charge the users of their products. When they are asked how come you mentioned it is free, they usually say it is “free” to download the software but not to use it.
As for me personally , business in blogging is not tempting. I feel the market is depleted. So I wouldn’t invest in such a project.
You did a great job
Hussain
sheza 8:32 pm on August 4, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Hussain,
Thanks for your feedback. I thought FREESL Blogging was a catchy and dynamic name for the company but it is not just for show – the blogging service on the site is indeed free of charge. There are additional pay features also available but these are optional of course.
Thanks again,
Sheza
Sherman Lee 11:20 pm on August 1, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hello Sheza,
Please give yourself a pat on the back for the great elevator pitch. It was very professionally done and I think your enthusiasm for ESL and ELL came through splendidly. I am move as an instructor by your talk as I know how important it is for ELL to socialize, having been one myself.
As an investor, I would love to have seen a bit more of your value proposition in the elevator pitch, which, I thought was lacking. However, as I have said, your enthusiasm moved me so much that I wanted to watch on.
I think your idea has a great potential there, but as with many social media, you will need a immense marketing budget to jump start it in this market that you already said is saturated with resources which sends users spinning. Sustainment is also very key to your success in the future.
I am not quite sold on your product based on the fact that I am not sure how you will capture your free user’s attention to become paid users. This is beyond what the paid structure could do (which I like, it was a great sustainment strategy). How would you let them know how great of a difference it would make to be a paid user versus a free user? Will there be free trials?
Another thing that I worry about is the uniqueness of your proposal. What is preventing me from taking your idea and doing the same? (yes I’d be a big jerk if I do that, but that is what happens in the business world).
(Man this role playing is tough, I need to watch more Dragons Den to do it!!) Good luck with your venture, Sheza! I think you have a good start, polish it and it might be just be gold 🙂
Cheers,
Sherman
sheza 8:37 pm on August 4, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Sherman!
Thanks for the positive feedback. I think that you raise some great questions – it would indeed be a great idea to offer some free trials of the paid features to hook new users. Another idea is that those who sign on for this service are dedicated learners looking for that online resource that does more than the other ‘freebie’ sites in abundance offer.
I can also understand the competition concern – someone could indeed put up another social networking site offering the same services but there is something to be said for brand loyalty when it comes to where you do your socializing. I find that if there were another Facebook type site to come along I would be hard-pressed to switch over, considering my entire social network was already developed on the existing site.
Hopefully sitting down with you to discuss my complete business plan can secure your investment!
Thanks again Sherman,
Sheza Naqi
Kenton Hemsing 7:24 am on August 2, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Sheza,
You have put together a fantastic elevator pitch and caught my attention with your enthusiasm and knowledge of the subject you are presenting. I do have some concerns with your product before I would fully invest in your venture.
Firstly, it seems that there might be a lot of competition for services like this. I know some of the big names in ESL learning (or language learning in general) offer services why users can speak with native speakers. Rosetta Stone offers this with a paid subscription to their services. I like the idea of including the social networking aspect, but how will users know when they have reached a level of competency that will begin to open doors for them? Are there assessments and feedback for users, or is it just a place where users can practice?
Personally, I think that an estimate of 50% of users enrolling in the paid options for the blog is a little high as most would probably continue with the free version. I like the idea of extras that people can pay for, but I think that less than half will pay for services.
All in all, I really like the idea of your venture and if I truly were an investor, would be willing to talk with you more about your plans and the future of FREESL.
Great work,
Kenton
sheza 8:41 pm on August 4, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Kenton,
Thanks for the feedback. I think your idea of having competency tests online as part of the package is an interesting one although originally I had envisioned the site to be like a social networking sandbox for ELLs who might want a place to have their blogs/tweets edited before publishing them on their main social networking sites such as Facebook or Twitter for all the world to see.
I think that even if we have fewer members who subscribe for the pay features we would be in a good position as a venture to invest in, considering that at 50% subscribers we are looking at 100% ROI.
Thanks and look forward to sitting down with you to discuss our complete business plan!
Sheza Naqi
mackenzie 4:51 pm on August 2, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Good work. The elevator pitch made me want to know more about your product, which says a lot since the topic itself it not a focus of mine. Your visuals made me believe that you product was fun and interactive.
sheza 8:42 pm on August 4, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Dear Mackenzie,
Thanks for your interest in the venture and the positive feedback 🙂
Sheza
Colin 9:52 am on August 4, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Great work on the pitches. I even felt the impulse to invest after watching the pitch. Your venture pitch was informative. I think your concept is a great one (especially the part where users can practice with other users). However, there is too much strong competition to start a new social media website. In fact, you may need to use those competitors to get your product going. For that reason, I will not invest in this time.
On a side note, I think it may be worthwhile just to consider a Facebook plug-in instead. This way, you don’t need to compete with social media giants–you’re part of it but you provide a service that Facebook doesn’t naturally provide.
sheza 8:43 pm on August 4, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Dear Colin,
Thanks for your valuable feedback! I think your idea of offering our venture up as a plug-in to existing social media giants is a viable option. Perhaps if we are unable to generate the interest on our own we can make this a part of our site.
Thanks again,
Sheza Naqi