Pitch Analysis for RRU and Recombo

Okay, so here is my evaluation of Royal Roads University (RRU) open courseware and Recombo.  Having been my first time as an EVA I found this to be challanging task.  More research time on both topics is what I would need to go forth with an investment.  Teachers love these little organizational charts!! 

Criteria Recombo RRU
CEO Credibility -Seems to have a solid understanding a vision for what recombo is trying to achieve- Mentions walking away from business in 2005 if he doesn’t achieve results he wants, although it shows that he is focused on results as an investor I would never want to hear that type of negativity during a pitch

-Also it seems that is not the CEO of recombo, which leads me to wonder why he is making the pitch

– We are not formally introduced to a CEO therefore we don’t know who is behind all the ideas of opencourseware- I feel unsure of who will be ultimately accountable for the progress of the corporation/initiative
Management Team – Little is mentioned about the management team besides the former VP of Terra Lycos- Understanding the management team is important because without the right team the company has a critical flaw – No mentioned of a management team, however given that it is RRU is a university its name does provide some credibility
Business Model – I believe Recombo has a viable understanding of where they want to go and I would be interested in hearing more details about Recombo’s plan to improve elearning as they obviously see it as a niche market for their products – RRU seems to not deliver a tangible plan for how they will implement opencourseware.-Will it be all at once or will it increase gradually, how much will it cost and what revenue will it generate, I think RRU is looking to create revenue indirectly through enrolment

– opencourseware appears to be an altruistic venture and therefore is free to the user

Competitive Products Considering the eagerness of publishers to get into the corporate training market I believe there is a huge market to be captures in the near future – RRU does not explain the target market they will be pursuing for example what age demographic
Market readiness – Considering that computing is headed towards more integration everyday, the need need to translate information between programs is and will become more important and the market for Recombo’s products is ready for solutions – Since RRU does not mention what it would consider to be a success we don’t know what RRU’s exact goal is we need to see exactly where they want to go and how they are going to measure their success
Technical  innovation – Recombo makes no points about whether any of their technology is available only from them, however they may be leaders in their ideas – I see RRU as getting “on board” with this idea rather than having a technology which is unique to their institution
Exit Strategy – Recombo seems unclear about an exit however an IPO is mentioned and acquisition by IBM, however according to Brad it would need to have the right price – Destination is unclear, I am not sure how I see how I will get a return on my investment
Overall investment status – Although Recombos seems to have a sound plan and idea for an emerging market I would need to do more research into the IT industry to understand more about other perhaps similar opportunities before investing in Recombo.  Also I would prefer to hear about more about the sales in the company and its operating costs. – Granted that RRU and opencourseware sound like a wonderful altruistic idea for improving learning opportunities for everyone I would not directly invest capital in this venture as it is very unclear how I will generate a direct monetary return in the future.

5 comments


1 Bev { 09.21.09 at 5:07 pm }

Hi- How did you get the chart to appear?


2 davidp { 09.21.09 at 9:08 pm }

Yes, one is definitely a “business proposition.”

The other is an internal pitch for resources and funding. Hard to use the same lens to evaluate both.


3 Tony D { 09.22.09 at 11:44 am }

I created the chart in Word and just copy and paste!


4 Cindy Leach { 09.24.09 at 5:16 pm }

I was glad to see that someone else also found the Royal Roads pitch a little hollow. I found myself thinking that there were a lot of beautiful pictures of the campus, but little content to back up the feasibilty of open courseware for this insitituion


5 Tony D { 09.25.09 at 12:09 pm }

yeah, lots of polish but little mustard behind it!!

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