Jay’s Pitch
Think baby mobile.
Think lcd screen.
Add touch screen technology and interactivity.
Your child is now experiencing the Bab“E” Mobile!
E Mobile Technologies Presents the “Modern Baby Mobile & Monitor”
Every room in a modern home today has components of technology. Many homes now have wireless networks and several computers. One room that has yet to be influence by technology tools is your child’s nursery. Many parents invest a great deal of time and money to make their child’s nursery the most welcoming environment in the home.
Technology has been embraced and catered to many demographics and market areas over the past twenty years. We have seen a tremendous increase of computers and educational software within K-12 schools. We have also seen an explosion of video and social networking tools. The Bab“E” Mobile is a one of a kind innovation that could have a tremendous impact in the baby and toddler years both socially and educationally.
To learn more contact me now!
28 comments
1 Jeff Laird { 11.28.09 at 8:47 pm }
I am SOOOOO in – put me down for 100 shares
2 James Richardson { 11.29.09 at 9:12 am }
Neat idea particularly as the ZUI interfaces get cheaper and cheaper. Make sure it is drool and booger proof (and not too chewy!) Or were you planning on it being more like Wii/Airstrike style with no-touch? Probably safer that way. I wonder whether the baby would react to their loss of touch screen superpowers when interacting with everyday objects?
3 Ed Stuerle { 11.30.09 at 12:45 pm }
I enjoyed your pitch. Do you have more details to share?
4 Lorne Upton { 11.30.09 at 8:37 pm }
Hello Jay,
I need to see the rest of your presentation. If I don’t hear back from you, I will contact David.
Thanks
Lorne
5 Cari Wilson { 11.30.09 at 8:50 pm }
Okay, great idea! I really want to review this one, but I need to know more……
Cari
6 jennie wong { 11.30.09 at 9:00 pm }
I’m with Cari – I want to review this one – you have me intrigued by your excellent elevator pitch. I guess you’re playing hard to get – give it up – big smile.
Jen
7 Ana Cecilia Tagliapietra { 12.01.09 at 9:28 am }
What a great pitch!
I’d really like to see into the full project on detail. If you could please send it to ctagliapietra at gmail dot com or make it available on the weblog, I’d appreciate it!
Thank you!
8 dockat { 12.01.09 at 9:52 am }
I love your pre pitch..intend to check out your full pitch! Kathleen
9 Erica T { 12.01.09 at 6:25 pm }
Good “hook” with the elevator pitch. I too am awaiting the full venture pitch for review…
10 Jay Dixon { 12.01.09 at 8:01 pm }
Sorry everyone! Like a sneak preview for a movie or video game I had to keep you waiting (Actually I have been so wrapped up in reading other pitched I have forgotten to check my own comment board).
Here is a link to the full pitch: http://mrdixon.ca/etec522dixon.wmv
Here is another link to the supporting written document http://mrdixon.ca/etec522assignment3.pdf
Thanks & Enjoy!
11 Jay Dixon { 12.01.09 at 8:06 pm }
Sorry everyone! Like a sneak preview for a movie or video game I had to keep you waiting (Actually I have been so wrapped up in reading other pitches I have forgotten to check my own comment board).
Here is a link to the full pitch: http://mrdixon.ca/etec522dixon.wmv
Here is another link to the supporting written document http://mrdixon.ca/etec522assignment3.pdf
Thanks & Enjoy!
12 Marjorie del Mundo { 12.01.09 at 11:12 pm }
Jay, thanks for posting the full pitch! I really enjoyed both your pitch presentations and I think your idea is quite feasible. The Bab”E” Mobile offers flexibility and can be used as the child grows. I also think that this product can also be used in other markets and not just for children. One thing, however, is the price of the product which you mentioned will be higher than $50-$200 range. Given how quickly technology changes, it would be good if you could lower the price through the avenues you stated – ads and sponsorship. The photo of the monitor you have says Windows – is this the same platform that the Bab”E” monitor will run on? If so, will it require software or version updates?
13 Iris Chan { 12.02.09 at 12:29 am }
Jay,
A very engaging pitch. It has a very strong “fun” factor involved and the thoughts of getting a baby to start using technology at such a young stage in life is intriguing. I am looking forward to getting more information on your full venture.
14 Erik Van Dusen { 12.02.09 at 2:45 pm }
Jay, this is a very creative idea. Never struck me that there could be a market for such a technology. As an EVA, here’s what I am thinking:
Your pitch makes good use of some great persuasive techniques. I like how you first build the case that we use technology anywhere and everywhere, and then proceed to present an opportunity for babies to be involved in the proliferation of new technologies. You also tug at the hearts of parents who only want the best for their babies, and might feel as though they are letting them down by not supplying the opportunity for enhanced social and cognitive development. Gotta keep up with the Jones’ babies! My experience is that parents often make frivolous purchases for their babies without thinking things through, so this might work in your favour.
I am wondering if your venture team includes an educational psychologist? The reason I ask is that there may be some who question whether the mobile, and the way in which it is intended to be used, is developmentally appropriate for the target users. In other words, are the babies capable of interacting with the mobile beyond simply looking at it?
Safety might also be another issue to explore. There are usually strict guidelines for baby products. I wonder if your venture plan includes consulting with the agencies that govern safety standards. Potential investors might be turned away from becoming involved in your venture by liability concerns.
I agree that you may have an untouched market at your fingertips. As you say, you won’t find any similar products on store shelves right now. And, as I already mentioned, parents are willing to pay big bucks for the newest and greatest baby gadgets.
Before I commit to investing in your venture, I would need the safety issue addressed at a min. I’d also like to know what you’re looking for in terms of an investment. How much and what does it buy me?
Again, I enjoyed your pitch! Great job!
erik
15 Eveline Yu { 12.02.09 at 3:38 pm }
Jay, this is an excellent pitch! I love the music and the simple but effective words/ideas that you put in. Really had me wanting to learn more about your product. I see that you have posted the full pitch, so I will definitely take a look now!
16 Jay Dixon { 12.02.09 at 5:17 pm }
Thanks for all of the comments and feedback. To share a little about my personal life, my wife is about to have our first child any day now! this idea came to mind as I was assembling the crib and also working on my tablet in the same room. Needless to say the baby theme has been on my mind lately. I apologize ahead of time if I disappear from posting over the next week. Once my baby comes along I’ll have a test subject!
Some points that were made including having a connection to a physiologist to support the product and definitely the safety issues being tackled are important. I truly wonder what the long term impact would be on the development of the child. Would they be on Youtube watching rap videos at age 2? 🙂
17 Erica T { 12.02.09 at 9:55 pm }
Here is my formal review of your pitch as an EVA:
The 52 s video pitch is really well done and the added text in the pitch post helps you understand the product being offered.
The fact that it is a new and innovative idea is exciting…makes you think “why didn’t they think of this before.” Good hook. You pointed out that most people pay between $50-$200 for a regular baby monitor, not to mention mobiles and interactive toys. That helps the investor to realize that this product is essentially many products in one. That might help to relieve the hesitation due to cost.
The pdf is a nice supplement to the presentation and helps to review the information in the presentation.
At this time, as an EVA, I would have to decline the investment opportunity in your product, as I am limited to choosing 3 out of the 10 presentations. My main concern would be cost of development vs. profit to investors. Once the prototype is tested and the product is shown to be viable, I could absolutely consider putting you in my top 3 list.
18 Lorne Upton { 12.03.09 at 9:49 pm }
Hello Jay,
Great job pitching the absurd. Well done!
19 Colin Cheng { 12.04.09 at 3:06 pm }
Jay,
Even if I’m not interested in investing in your company, can you let me know how to get one of these?
20 Colin Cheng { 12.04.09 at 3:11 pm }
Jay,
I was only kidding – I am interested.
When presented with ten potentially great ventures and the ability to only choose three, yours stood out immediately. I am formally notifying you that Cheng Incorporated is interested in pursuing your proposal further. A detailed report of our findings will be emailed to you shortly.
What caught my eye in your elevator pitch were the following points:
* despite the fact that your video went over the typical time span of 30 seconds for an elevator pitch, your proposal was so fascinating that I never lost interest
* the background music made the pitch playful and enjoyable to watch
* you combine many great elements of modern technology with a hot market niche – new parents are the second largest target market next to teenagers
* furthermore, your product addresses the ideal target market – today’s parents are typically older than parents of previous generations; they have more money and are willing to spend more on their children particularly when it comes to safety
* you have chosen a very catchy and marketable product name
P.S. It did not come as a surprise that you were either a new parent or about to become one. Congratulations.
21 Barrie Carter { 12.04.09 at 3:17 pm }
EVA — Venture Presentation Review
Let me begin by saying that I would invest in this venture. After all, the product will sell itself. I think the ‘LeapFrog’ Group should be paying close attention to this business venture, for this product, and its inevitable cousins, will dominate the baby product market. I can smell the money already!
Yes, competition will be fierce. Yes, knock-offs will be a challenge. And, yes, price will be an issue. However, the bottom line is that working parents want products and services to be their surrogate while they work long and hard for money. Chasing the almighty dollar has its price; it has its costs. And, like LeapFrog products, for example, Bab-“E” Mobile helps ‘care’ for kids (‘Kare-4-Kids’ products; now, that has a nice ring to it!)
Anyway, your venture presentation is convincing and persuasive in that the baby toy market is lucrative, widespread, and expanding. The middle-class market in China and India, for example, is growing quickly (even in the current economic downturn, which is apparently recovering). Here, the parents will need techno-sitters for their infants and children.
To date, there are many products and services caring for children. There are daycares, day camps, summer camps, spring break community programs, nannies, Montessori/pre-schools, schools, etc as well as TVs, PCs, portable gaming units, video screens in vehicles, etc. So, having a product like the Bab “E” Mobile only sweetens the baby product market.
Overall, the presentation is compelling; the venture is intriguing; and, the product is promising. The investment is worth the risk!
22 Ammar Al-Attiyat { 12.04.09 at 4:48 pm }
Hi Jay,
The idea is SUPER !!! But as an EVA, I won’t give my go ahead before I see the financial side of your plan. What would be the cost of development for the Bab-E Mobile device? What’s the target selling price. As you mentioned above $200 is not specific enough for any investor. Other comments about your venture are;
– Excellent presentation (despite I had to exert extra effort to distinguish your audio narration from the cool background music beat 🙂 !!)
– I assume it would take two years minimum before the Bab-E Mobile would be utilized as a tablet PC (of course provided the monitor is designed to be safe for infants), the technology changes rapidly and parents may not feel it’s an attractive feature that worth the extra money they need to pay.
– Your device reminded me with the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) and when I checked their site, I wondered if you can communicate with the same manufacturer and make a modification of the XO monitor (screen) to be Bab-E Mobile for the age of 0 to 3 years then once it’s mounted in the keyboard it becomes a full functional XO Laptop, what do you think? (you need to check the picture on this URL to understand what I mean http://laptop.org/en/laptop/index.shtml )
Finally, I’m very IN and we just need to work out the math.
Great Job and CONGRATULATIONS for finalizing the MET 😉
23 Iris Chan { 12.04.09 at 4:58 pm }
The venture has many attractive concepts because it really plays into the current demand for bringing up the smartest baby. With such products like “Baby Einstein” where parents can purchase educational products for their just born being widely successful in the market, this product is bound to attract attention. The growing number of adults and their relationship with technology will drive the need to provide the same for our next generation. This mindset of getting the baby ready for our technological world really can drive adults to invest in the Bab-E mobile. With the right marketing and the right advertising, this can be a very exciting venture.
The Bab-E Mobile has a very successful pitch and on first glance I am very attracted to it. The voice and images are simple to understand and the concept of technology is portrayed as both exciting and of the future. However, upon deeper thought I wonder about the health risks involved. Would exposing babies to constant LCD screens be safe? If my child is going to spend most of their adult life in front of a screen out of necessity, would it be necessary to put them in front of a computer at such a young age? As a baby monitor, it seems to pose a great deal of potential with the many functions that are embedded into it. One may suggest that the time the baby spends with the monitor is complemented by time also spent with the parents and it is by no means a substitute for parent care. Yet, I am cautious to place my child in front of a LCD screen in such close proximity without adult supervision. Without the reassurance of safety, it doesn’t matter about the financial returns or the costs, it would be very hard to invest (as an EVA) into a product like this.
Overall, this has a lot of potential!
24 Ana Cecilia Tagliapietra { 12.04.09 at 10:01 pm }
Jay,
Your proposal is very interesting and a plausible educational technology venture. I liked the fact that you offer other use options – you have the product “grow” with the baby- and you clearly identify your targeted market.
You mentioned that the cost of the product would be higher than the average mobile cost, yet as an investor, I would like to know how much higher that cost would be and what revenue I could obtain from this product.
You have a great idea with a huge (and continuously growing) market that likes to buy the newest, trendiest and overall best products for their children.
Clearing the umbers up ($$$) this would definitely be a product I would invest in.
Great job in your pitch and proposal development!
25 dockat { 12.04.09 at 10:11 pm }
Hi, The pre pitch was very fun and engaged me to check out the full presentation even though I did not grab on right away in my heart. I am doing a longer response since baby product engaged me emotionally and intellectually. This sort of response would be a goldmine in your future focus group so I will share. I hope you will find this helpful–I found the technical aspect fine, but the concept content grabbed my attention.
1. financials. As an EVA, I would need to justify a next meeting with the wallets around a sound return on investment, and the concept though fascinating was not clear to me re: how such a large market would be marketed and supported.
2. I gut reacted immediately, causing me to reflect about the effect on mind and physiology of such an appliance for babies who do not have the ability to opt out. Many studies show ADD and other disorders have skyrocketed recently and some blame tv and internet and too much influx of high density invasive media on developing minds so unless more studies are done, I would pass. I am not any kind of expert on child development and can only get a perspective from my 22 years as a Mom as I only do adult education.
It is interesting to note that both of my children who are quite independent minded elect to opt out of most of the modern busy technologies as they find all the noise, images, and barrage of irrelevant messages disruptive. I did not coach them to dislike these modern things as it is mom who has a new media business and an iphone, tie ins to my car stereo, satellite tv and radio, email from my 60 online students, and my ever present portable computer, and I installed wifi for our home businesses so I can work at home.
We dont know the effect of much radiative and impactive technology on developing psyches or physiology-well, ad nauseum.
I just might be the demographic you market to, and see my gut response.
FYI …one son refuses a cell phone at all, the other only does text on his cell, and neither like second life etc… their mantra is get a life for the geeks.
These are general observations and admittedly, my life experience may influence my perspective as an EVA since if youngsters who have free access to the world of digital decline much due to their own perceived loss of their peace of mind and need of time to ponder on their own in privacy, I would worry about the babies.
On this note, I will go do some family time! oops it is 1 am and they are in bed…
26 Eveline Yu { 12.05.09 at 2:29 am }
As an EVA, I would be interested in investing in this technology.
However, before I do so, I would want to learn about the educational value behind this product.
I see a market for this already – new parents are always interested in new products that would help their babies learn and grow.
I can see this marketed globally – in all languages (and perhaps the baby can be multilingual at an early age as well)
However – my concern is that we are training babies to think technologically – and do we really want to mold their thinking this way? Does this limit their creativity and learning styles in the long run? Of course, it will be difficult to do studies and research as babies are too young to offer opinions.
I see Bab “E” Mobile as a very profitable venture – but as an educator as well, I am not willing to invest until I know more about the safety (radiation? lights flashing non-stop?) and the educational value (watching advertisements at such a young age? conditioning without choice to say “no”, limiting learning styles and creative thinking…)
If these concerns are addressed (have educators on board? some research in side-effects of the product) – then I think you have a great market and I would be willing to invest.
27 Colin Cheng { 12.05.09 at 1:29 pm }
Jay, further to my original memo to you regarding our interest in your venture, here is a formal assessment of your proposal.
Your venture touches upon some of the exciting new technological changes that are currently emerging in stores. Added to the appeal of this new technology is the idea that parents can now purchase a product that now only helps them monitor the safety of their child but also helps their child learn. Your product promises many things among which include a baby mobile, a child learning centre, a webcam, and a home safety monitoring system. The fact that it is so versatile and is able to used in different modalities makes it immediately attractive to a larger audience than were it to be used as only a baby monitor. In talking about its versatility, you also discuss how it could be altered for other purposes including the option of downloading additional software. I foresee additional benefits such as the acquisition of second languages through this device.
You address obvious parental concerns regarding safety. However, there are further safety concerns that I would have as a parent that were not raised. These same concerns may be pertinent to potential investors as they may be sources of future liability. These include the strength of the arm that is used to attach the mobile to the crib, the safety risks associated with having electronic equipment (particularly wireless technology) so close to an area in which a baby will spend many hours of their time sleeping, as well as the effects of what amounts to sticking a child in front of a television screen for prolonged periods of time.
Overall, I think that you have made a sound proposal. It is evident that there is a large market of potential parents out there who would be eager for such a product. However, until some of the safety concerns have been worked out, I think that many people will wait until the product has been “perfected” before buying.
28 Annette Smith { 12.05.09 at 3:21 pm }
ok. This freaks me out. I almost hope that this is pitched as “a modest proposal” to point out the absurdity of connecting our babies to advertisers before they can sit up by themselves….
The pitch was great, the music and the visuals really worked well together and I could tell that you did considerable research on the market and similar products. In a time when our iPhones can rent a car for us, and be used as a level, I suppose there is a market for a product that can combine an audio monitor, a nanny cam, a video monitor, a picture frame, a story book, a mobile, a night light, and a parent. Now if it could just change diapers you would have the whole thing covered.
I think, as an investor, I would need to see more information on the management team and a more detailed financial plan before I could commit my dollars to this venture.
With the recent debunking of the “baby einstein” myth, I think the suggestion that an educational psychologist be involved is a very important one. You could do for infants what Sesame Street did for toddlers and preschoolers with a product like this.
Hope the arrival of your test subject went well, and that everyone is healthy.
Cheers,
Annette
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