Posts from — September 2009

To open with full disclosure, I am a huge fan of Open Courseware (OCW), Creative Commons licensing, and the notion of free knowledge.  However, as an Educational Venture Analyst I would have to turn down the Royal Roads University (RRU) proposal based on the pitch.

One of the main thrusts of the pitch is that opening RRU courses will raise the university’s profile.  MIT OCW became widely known because they were MIT – they already had a significant global profile.  Has the profile of the Dixie State College of Utah (also an OCW member) been raised since they started opening their online courses?  Burgess gives little data about the affect opening their courseware has had on other institutions nor does she address the technical requirements or costs of this initiative.

Burgess (2008) also makes the bold claim that “being open can really help us with learner recruitment”.  However, MIT’s freshman enrollment before OCW was approximately 1050 students (Arnaout, 2000).  The freshman enrollment eight years after OCW?  1051 students (MIT, 2009).  Perhaps there are other recruitment metrics Burgess is anticipating for the small university but she doesn’t mention any.

While I appreciate Burgess’s passion for a very noble venture, the pitch simply did not establish sufficient details on the benefit to the institution to warrant pursuing.

Arnaout, R. (2000).  MIT Cuts Size of Class of 2004 To Prepare for Housing Crunch.  Retrieved September 16, 2009 from http://tech.mit.edu/V120/N8/8enroll.8n.html

Burgess, M. (2008).  ETEC522 Assignment 3.  Retrieved September 16, 2009 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1avzWv3_JDw

MIT (2009).  MIT Facts.  Retrieved September 16, 2009 from http://web.mit.edu/facts/enrollment.html

Ingenia Training is a boutique consulting firm that provides training and educational services.

CEO Credibility

The CEO for Ingenia clearly explains the identified challenges or obstacles, but has a clear vision of how to resolve them if encountered. I found interesting the fact that the CEO does not “hide” or diminish the obstacles of the market, rather she presents alternatives and solutions for them.

Management Team

The CEO does mention that Ingenia is integrated by a group of professionals with postgraduate degrees (most with masters and a couple with Ph D’s) with enough expertise to solve problems and propose solutions. The CEO uses the terms “young” and “strong” to define the company.

 Business Model

Ingenia has “done their homework”; they’ve visited Vietnam (their target market) and have apparently done research on population tendencies and educational habits.

Although they do present some arguments and relevant information from their market, the fact that they’ve visited the country only a couple of times is somewhat  surprising- especially if their intention is to offer a service oriented towards education and training.

Competitive Products

The pitch for Ingenia does present a realistic market size- they initially intend to start off with Vietnam and continue with the rest of Asia. The selling price does not seem too high, BUT the expected return is somewhat low (around 25%) and they do specify that there are already a couple of companies (Japanese) that offer training services in Vietnam.

 Market Readiness

They do not specify a certain time lapse to get their company on and about in Vietnam, but they do specify a 15 month period of market development trips.

Considering the market competitors and the difference in cultures, I think the path to Ingenia’s success is difficult and critical if they do not submerge in the culture to understand how and what might work.

 Technical Innovation

Ingenia does have an “edge”, they’re discovering a new market, but they don’t necessarily offer a new product for the market… they’re offering a new way to provide a service.

 Exit Strategy

They do have a vision of where they’d like to be, but the path to reach that goal is somewhat unclear.

 Overall Investment Status

As an EVA, I would currently not risk my investment capital in Ingenia. I would need to see proof that they know their targeted market well and that they’ve firmly established connections or relations to advance to the next level.

Well, this was an interesting pitch.

To be perfectly honest I have a hard time actually visualing what it is recombo does.  They obviously do work in network intregration and network servicing, but as an EVA I would need to clarify specifically how they function and what services they provide before I can decide if the long term future of the company is something I want to be involved in.

That being said, because they have been growing over the past few years there must be some substance to the products and services they provide.  I’m intriguied by the lighthouse client they have and think that is a particularly good sign.  Its allowed them to expand significantly; hopefully the pace of expansion is appropriate for the company.  I can envision many scenarios where they either expand to quickly and lack resources to sustain the company or are left shortstaffed or lacking in material requirements.  With that in mind, I think Brad McFee has done a good job of explaining how his company will cope with the expansion.

As an EVA I actually liked his exit stragety; he was pragmatic and regocnised that ultimately everything has a price.  Although I may not necessarily agree from a moral standpoint, from a bussiness perspective its impossible to deny that the end goal how to make the most money from your venture.

Despite this, since I don’t completely understand the business plan and haven’t seen any solid financial data I would be a bit wary about putting my own money into it.  That doesn’t mean I wouldn’t do it eventually, but I certainly would need more information.

Here is a pitch in which the co-founders of http://hungryhouse.co.uk, Shane Lake and Tony Charles, enter the ‘Dragon’s Den’ in an attempt to convince five investors to invest!  Part 1 is mostly the pitch and a few questions, Part 2 is a continuation of the questions, and they get grilled!

By now most of you are experienced with the unique WordPress-based ‘flow’ of the 522 course, especially in how it is different than the discussion group format of Vista, etc.   At first blush, it may not seem as easy to follow and participate in, but stick with it – find your own best way to stay afloat and master the current.  If you haven’t done so already, check out DavidP’s early posts about external RSS monitoring tools.

After Module 3, WordPress will primarily become our home base as we potentially explore a number of different platforms offered up by the moderation groups.  Your willingness to explore new technologies and crowdsource their value is appreciated.

Please share your concerns and ideas regarding the 522 experience here.

In 2005, Recombo seems to be a company that has finally settled on a direction, and has started to make a name for themselves, attracting at least one large customer. Brad McFee emphasizes focus as their current direction. This means focusing on a single product path and working with one major client to establish themselves and to prove to other prospective clients that they are the major player in their narrow field.

Recombo is a growing company, with plans to nearly double in size. This is in preparation for potential new clients, and so that they can adequately service Mindleaders, their new lighthouse partner. An interesting aspect of Recombo’s business model is that they are going to try to also service Mindleaders’ customers. While there are incentives for Mindleaders, it could sour the relationship.

Brad McFee is candid about the company’s exit strategy. If there is enough money on the table, then it might just make sense to sell out. Nevertheless, McFee has a plan to grow his company independently, and hopefully service all four of the major players, including Mindleaders, in his target field.

As an investor, there are a few concerns with Recombo. First of all, they are a company in transition. To me, transition means that they were doing something ineffectively, or that they have taken a new direction. Either way, they are venturing into new territory, and they are gambling their future on one player. The other concern is the overhead involved with their line of work. Mr. McFee spoke about creating content before being able to provide a quote for customers. While this does ensure that they price themselves appropriately, it also means that there’ll be a lot of work done by a lot of employees before the potential for profit even exists.

At this time, I would weigh my investment as much on Mindleaders as I would on Recombo, since it seems that Recombo’s success depends on their lighthouse client.

Just a quick point that many of you are putting too much weight on the personality of the pitchperson rather than the substance of their pitch.  This is entirely reasonable – we are humans after all – but remember that both honest and dishonest people can be very good at conveying trust in situations where better caution might be waranted.   Angels and Venture Capitalists are unanimous that successful investments begin with the ability to both “like” and “trust” the pitchperson, but obviously their due diligence has to go deeper than this.   Try to look beyond the words and image to form an impression of the enterprise that is being described.  Could you also like that entreprise???

Hello

I think the idea of looking ahead is important with these assignment dates quickly emerging.

1. I am not able to find an outline for the upcoming assignments 1 and 2 on the blog site.

2. I have the names of the group members but do not see the email addresses for beginning our group collaboration.

Thank you

Mark

Credibility
Dodds was confident in his speech and effectively conveyed the capabilities of UBC IT, along with their successes over the past few years. The evidence of UBC IT’s past successes shows that UBC is highly capable of providing students and the university community with the services they need for an enriching learning environment.

Management Team
Dodds emphasizes the importance of formal and informal meetings and how, as a decentralized university, the units and faculties manage to collaborate to develop and provide solutions to the UBC community; different teams within the University help toward the function of IT Services.

Business Model
The business model is feasible and the arguments toward the mission and vision are compelling. Dodds discusses the notion of a global citizenship where the talent pool is organized so everything can come together harmoniously to reach their goals. The trick toward success is to continuously re-evaluate strategies and raise the bar.

Competitive Products
The realistic market size, share and selling price captured are based on enrolment, but more importantly, the reputation of the institution as well as the reliability of the products and services delivered by UBC IT and similar services to support the reputation of UBC as a whole.

Market Readiness
UBC IT clearly has the ability to face the challenges that helps them succeed, particularly since they are driven to continue doing things with success in mind. By bringing together key members and stakeholders in the UBC community, they formulate strategies that ensure the success of their business model.

Technical Innovation
One of the most innovative learning tools to come from UBC was WebCT, proving that the institution has the edge to advance technologically. As well, Dodds discussed going beyond the community with an open source and community source project that will provide benefits to students, faculty and staff at UBC. Dodds did not mention the name of the project but it makes me wonder if he was referring to the Kuali Student System currently in development?

Exit Strategy
UBC IT recognizes success. The annual e-Strategy town hall meetings and release of monthly newsletters are great examples of how valuable decision-making strategies are from different levels within the University community in order to continuously improve products and services.

Overall Investment Status
As an EVA, I would risk my investment capital in UBC IT Services.