A Pitch

by Lorne Upton

14 comments

1 Barbara { 12.01.09 at 10:39 am }

I do not see your elevator pitch or a brief explanation of what this is

2 Lorne Upton { 12.01.09 at 10:51 am }

Hello Barbara,

My pitch is contained within my presentation. Did you follow the link?

3 Omar Ramroop { 12.02.09 at 9:57 am }

Hi Lorne,

Is your elevator pitch the text to the right of the video in the following link?

http://sites.google.com/site/incidentknowledgesystems/incident-knowledge-systems

I am quite interested in your venture – it seems to directly address a need as well as is unique in its nature. The resources that you have provided as well as the research performed is fantastic. Even though my knowledge in the area is quite limited, I learned a great deal by simply exploring the resources that your venture builds on.

Presentation-wise, I would have only one recommendation. Add your elevator pitch to the course weblog here, or put it on your the front of your Welcome page. It would make it much easier to find.

Thanks again, and great work!

Omar

4 Lorne Upton { 12.02.09 at 11:04 am }

Hello Omar,

Thank you for the suggestions. I have embedded the video pitch into the wiki and have provided a brief outline. It was my intention to make the pitch in the video and have the site as a working model. I will provide a link directly to the pitch.

Lorne

5 Adam Rattray { 12.02.09 at 2:06 pm }

Hi Lorne,

Viewing your page made me much more knowledgeable in the subject. I think that the interview was a great part of the sell. Your knowledge of the area was apparent which added credibility to your sell.

Your presentation was a bit hard to follow. I didn’t know what you wanted me to look at. At first, I followed a government of Canada link to a forest fire graphic which made me think that you made a mistake. I would suggest keeping your layout simple and clear.

Great job! You put a lot of effort into it.

6 Lorne Upton { 12.02.09 at 8:47 pm }

Thank you Adam.

I agree. The wiki needs further organization. I could have used a few more hours.

7 James Richardson { 12.02.09 at 9:15 pm }

Hi Lorne,

I am quite intrigued with your venture. It is positioned to take advantage of government funding at many levels. Here in BC I found some potential funding offerings from the Provincial Emergency Program http://www.pep.bc.ca/funding_programs/funding_programs.html

You venture purposefully links in with the Incident Command Structure and I see this involving more than just the tech side where you may need some face to face to augment. Despite the increasing access and general familiarity with Web 2.0 resources there is still a large number of laggards and significant tutorial development would be needed to gain acceptance from less tech savvy participants. Google wave collaboration would fit nicely into some of the knowledge sharing building elements. Your website is off to a good start and your logo is clean and professional. One item that would be beneficial is an ICS glossary as using common terms for procedures and positions in the command hierarchy is key. Some reference to the venture track record or team and individual discipline expertise would be beneficial as well. I liked the interview style pitch and you seemed relaxed and at ease but there was a significant number of um’s (approx 1/10 sec). This creates a sense that perhaps the presenter may be hiding something although overall you came across as a credible e-learning entrepreneur. In summary, I think it has real potential and I would be willing to put money into such a venture once the product is closer to rollout.

8 davidp { 12.02.09 at 9:57 pm }

You have the nugget of a great idea here, Lorne.

As others have noted in comments above, you really need to amp-up the marketing pieces of this pitch to catch some of the money Jim is pointing you towards with the link he provided.

Omar’s tip about putting the pitch front and centre would be key. You need to have the value proposition made obvious from the first click. Clearly you know your stuff, as Adam has noted.

9 Lorne Upton { 12.03.09 at 7:59 am }

Thank you for the constructive feedback. Upon reflection, I can see how my presentation could improved with a little extra focusing.

10 Ernest Pao { 12.05.09 at 4:03 pm }

Hi Lorne…I like what you have presented here…certainly a lot of information. Your pitch certainly addresses an area that requires more attention, particularly here in BC. Your information, resources, and plan are well presented and I certainly would want to find out more.

The criticism I have is which is your 30 second elevator pitch? I would have though that this website you have provided was your full on pitch.

Well done!

Ernie

11 Len Pelletier { 12.05.09 at 4:13 pm }

Hi Lorne,

Although I had trouble finding the elevator pitch, I liked the idea behind your presentation very much. As part of the Search and Rescue Team at my school, I can speak to my market (the public education system). I know how much my school board wants to invest in improving the training of teachers in case of an earthquake. Since schools and school grounds will likely become a major muster point in any large-scale disaster, I suspect that the government would want teachers to have had some training in this regard.

12 Barbara Mair { 12.05.09 at 6:59 pm }

Lorne,

I think this venture is very useful and definitely relevant to the world and global warming and what it implies. I believe the funding is probably available because of this relevance. You need to be more specific and more of a salesperson in your presentation. And your sales pitch has to be easier to find. Congrats on the effort

13 dawinder mann { 12.05.09 at 8:50 pm }

Hi Lorne,

As mentioned by a few students earlier, I had a hard time locating your elevator pitch. This gave me the chance to look at your full pitch which I found very interesting. Although I don’t have a background in disaster relief I can see how your pitch could be a usefull asset for government agencies look to control costs and become more effiicient with information management.

Like others have mentioned before me I think disaster management is a growing industry which would value a product like yours.

One thing that would have been more usefull would have been more clear financial information. You mentioned their were contracts secured with government. What is the value of these contracts?

Overall great pitch and good idea.

Dawinder

14 Mark Reed { 12.06.09 at 9:18 pm }

Lorne
Sorry for the late response as others have noted without the pitch I missed really examining your idea in detail but a quick survey indicates a well prepared opportunity for investment. Nice work.

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