Hello Everyone! My company…
Hello Everyone!
My company is called Games 4.0 Education and has recently successfully launched its first (ficticious) game: Pharmville. I can’t tell you just how excited I am about this venture and its future possibilities. Well, maybe I can:) Please view my Elevator Pitch and my Venture Pitch
Regards,
Ronna
Posted in: Venture Forum
shawn harris 7:59 pm on July 29, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Ronna,
Both of your videos appear to be private. In voice thread, go to the “Publishing Options” found at the bottom of your voice video and make your selection for public view. Hope that helps!
~ Shawn
jtpatry 2:47 pm on July 30, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Good day Ronna,
Thanks for allowing me the opportunity to review your pitches. Games 4.0 Education sounds like an exciting way to integrate technology and game-based learning into the medical industry. The pitch was convincing and I wanted to hear more about what the company was all about. I agree that game-based learning is an effective way to engage learners and I think this method of learning has great potential to influence education. There is no time like the present to get companies such as this one into the market.
My question would be, what are you going to do when “Farmville” challenges the game name? 🙂
Thanks,
Jon
Donna Forward 4:26 pm on July 30, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hello Ronna,
You did a great job of covering all of the points such as who your target is, what kind of investment could be made and what your future goals are.
I learned something new that there was a difference between simulated learning and game-based learning.
Also, Good, colourful presentation on your slides, however, I would have prefered to have seen more of them. I thought that you’re “Pharmville” name was catchy but I agree with Jon that Farmville may want to challenge you and they may end up suing you for your millions down the road:) Maybe you could change the name to GAME PHARM!
I hope that you’re having a good summer in Ontario!
Donna
Ronna Hoglund 5:15 pm on July 30, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Thank you for your feedback Jon and Donna! You are both right – I should have taken the name more seriously. Jon made me think of changing it to PharmAville or PharmvillA but I do like GamePharm Donna! Cheers!
Meggan Crawford 5:59 pm on July 30, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Ronna,
I got a giggle out of your name, lawsuit or not! Pharmers is another option!
I think that Games 4.0 Education has immense potential as a new venture. I was a bit uncertain about how the process works – do teachers submit content and then your company turns it into a game? Will teachers then be given part of the profit from that game?
I think that your focus upon games is very viable, as more and more educators are looking at how they can engage students more with the content in a way that the students also enjoy. For this reason I think that there would be a lot of potential support for your venture! I also found your presentation to be visually appealing and very well put together.
Very nice work!
-Meggan
Ronna Hoglund 5:04 pm on July 31, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Thank you Meggan – Pharmers 🙂 I like that too!
Ronna
shawn harris 9:09 pm on July 30, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Ronna,
I think you did a nice job with your presentation in the elevator pitch. You had my attention, the voice over was very clear and the graphics were good. Anything that has to do with enhancing learning, I am always willing to listen. I think games in education can very well serve useful purpose in an enjoyable and non-threatening manner contrary to many beliefs.
The CEO speaking in person to me would show more credibility and would give the potential investor your commitment for your venture. You also did not make mention of the management team.
However the venture concept is clear and a well explained pedagogical approach. I would really like to know what makes it different from Farmville as I have never used it.
~Shawn
Ronna Hoglund 5:12 pm on July 31, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Shawn,
Thank you for your feedback. My Pharmville game (or whatever it ends up being named!) would be quite different from Farmville which basically involves building a farm by giving and receiving animals and objects from Facebook friends. It is reward based and nothing is really learned.whereas the games made by Games 4.0 Education would be educational.
Ronna
Allan 4:07 pm on July 31, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Ronna,
This is a terrific presentation. Excellent elevator and venture pitches. I especially liked your financial breakdown of the numbers. As an investor, I am impressed by the numbers you give me — $140,000 investment can evolve into a $70,000,000 profit!
I also trust your background and knowledge as CEO. As someone knowledgeable in the field of pharmaceutical sciences, I especially think you have commitment and know the challenges facing the profession.
Your discussion of gamification is also quite strong. I’m glad you discussed this as it was in Horizon Report 2012’s list of emerging trends. Well done!
Allan
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Ronna Hoglund 5:13 pm on July 31, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Thanks for your support Allen!
Ronna
Claire Burgoyne 4:45 pm on July 31, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Ronna,
I appreciate your choice to present a game-based learning venture. Naturally, I began a review of your venture by viewing your elevator pitch. It was somewhat confusing though, as your introduction suggests that the target market is the elementary level but after the music there’s a switch to describing Pharmville, a game for student pharmacists. Later the pitch returns to describing games for the classroom. I’m guessing that the purpose of describing the pharmacy game is to show company credibility. All that said, game-based learning can be a powerful way to motivate and engage students plus it’s an area that I’m particularly interested in.
After viewing your venture pitch it’s clear that your target market is college students. You describe the benefits of game-based learning and identify the pain point. It would be helpful if equal time was given to describing Games 4.0 Education. In your elevator pitch you mention that teachers provide the content. Does this mean that you develop games to meet each teacher’s requests? Without a clear description of this venture I am not prepared to invest. Your venture concept has potential; with some adjustments to presentation it is likely that there will be support for your proposal.
Claire
Ronna Hoglund 5:21 pm on July 31, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Thank you for your feedback Claire! This was a great exercise in finding out just how clear one needs to be in their pitches! Just to clarify a couple of things for your benefit: my college level pharmacy technician students, whether 18 or 45 y/o, have often been found on Facebook or playing Bedazzled in the lab – much to my chagrin. So, I was not intending to pitch to elementary teachers. And yes, the idea is to create games for college educators with their content and input. Darn, I missed out on your money – 🙂
Ronna
gregcamp 4:51 pm on July 31, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Great Job Ronna, your pitch was convincing and you sound like you have a clear target market. Game based learning is definitely on the rise and if marketed properly your venture could be quite successful.
Greg
Ronna Hoglund 5:22 pm on July 31, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Thanks for taking the time to watch and for your encouragement Greg!
Ronna
Danielle Dubien 5:47 pm on August 1, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Ronna,
I enjoyed both of your pitches very much. They’re very well put together! I LOVE that you broke up your presentation into sections with titles!! It made it very easy to search when I had to replay different sections. Please note that I’m treating your venture as if it were real.
Did I understand correctly that some people spend up to 12 hours a day on their devices?
I’m glad you distinguished gamification from game-based learning and simulations!
Like some of the ladies above, I’m not sure I understand how teachers participate. If the teachers are providing you with content, are they also paying you? Who else would pay you? How much would it cost for a teacher to have a single game produced for their class or for a school? How many games would you make available for the mass market? In how much time? For what cost? Are there priority subjects you would address? Why not focus on health and science subjects, or a particular educational level? With college drop-out levels being so high, you could focus on that, and maybe offer additional services within your games, like career counselling or money management, to encourage students to stay in school.
What types of games give a return on investment like the one you mentioned without saturating the market? How many games do you think you could produce with such high profits? Even Hollywood often gets it wrong with their movies.
If you could deal with these issues, I would consider investing.
It might have been worth simplifying the graph titled “Cognitive Tutor Technology…”. It’s got a lot of info, and I paused the audio to better understand it. What do the acronyms mean? (CBI, IMI) I understand that I can look up the reference myself to find out, but why not eliminate the need entirely by modifying the picture? Also, I’m concerned with whether it’s okay to present data from a research article through a video on the Net.
I think your pitches are very well researched and planned out. They show that you have very strong organizational skills, and that in itself is pleasing to an investor!
Cheers,
Dan
HJDeW 3:54 pm on August 2, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Ronna, You presented an interesting elevator and venture pitch. I was impressed with the return on investment, but even the dragons are skeptical when that much money is promised. With game based learning on the rise, you are right in saying it only takes one really great game to catch on and make your fortune. I’m not sure that Pharmville is that product, with such a limited niche market. If it was something wide open and targeted to many ages of learners, then you might have the right product for the right time. As I am not an expert in pharm-ing, I’m not sure this is the right venture for me.
Helen
Denise 3:47 am on August 3, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
HI Ronna,
Your elevator pitch was fast and well delivered. Like Claire I did get confused about what you were asking me to invest in Pharmville or the company and that was only clearer towards the end. If Pharmville was your example of what you can do I would have introduced yourself and the company first and then given the proof of what you are capable of.
The venture pitch was really interesting. I enjoyed learning about games versus simulation and the impact of games etc. However I felt this was pitched at the educator in me rather than the investor. One suggestion – by just changing some of your wording and reducing slide content and adding a few extra slides you could have increased the interest and investor focus (rather than an educator focus).
I really wanted to see what Pharmville was like – did it excite me as a game? Was it just that “lucky one” or was theer more to come?
The figures seemed almost too good to be true. I wanted to know what Pharmville has made? How was it achieved? is this why Games4.0 Education is a 1.25 million dollar company?
Is selling a 20% share in the company the best way to ask for investment, how much control would I have with a 20% share?
I was interested in this for investment but I had no good understanding of the venture plan, so I was finding myslef uncertain about exploring further or not.
Denise