Pitch Assessment: Recombo (2004, 2005), Ingenia, UBC OLT, and UBC IT
Recombo 2004
CEO Credibility:
Brad McPhee (VP): In this clip, he does not come across as very confident; not quite sure where this company is really going – it is not clearly stated
Management Team:
Says there is a great team, but no description.
Business Model:
The model seems to have many areas of products and services – it feels very scattered.
Competitive Products:
Market size, market share, and selling price were not discussed.
Market Readiness:
The company seems ready for tackling various areas and pathways, but this also means that there is no clear path being laid.
Technical Innovation:
Being able to unlock information from any format and share the content object with others – this seems to be their “edge”
Exit Strategy:
Does not seem to have a clear destination.
Overall Investment Status:
There is an innovative idea, but the path to success is not clear. They need to have a clearer vision before I would invest.
Recombo 2005
CEO Credibility:
Brad McPhee: Compared to the previous pitch, he is more confident as a speaker; knowledgeable, but still lack a clear vision (always changing throughout the last few years)
Management Team:
Mentions that there are 3 sales, currently 12 people on team, in process of hiring 10 new employees within the next 3 months.
Business Model:
They have moved from a products model to a service (solutions based) model. Clearer than last year. They plan to be more focused and choose the “right” companies to work with.
Competitive Products:
Brad seems confident in only working with big companies (100 million dollar business) and will turn down smaller ones. Compares the company with IBM.
Market Readiness:
They are in a year of transition, changing their targets. They are willing to sell the business when the time is right.
Technical Innovation:
They have the support of a lighthouse (publisher), which seems to lead them into a bigger network of customers. This will give them an “edge” into the market.
Exit Strategy:
The business seems to be growing (expanding and doubling in staff size). Again, the company seems flexible with its path, but this means that they do not have a clear vision of a path.
Overall Investment Status:
Although the company is innovative and always looking for new chances and ways to improve, it is not solid enough – I would be cautious when investing.
Ingenia
CEO Credibility:
Ramona Materi: Confident, although stumbles through her presentation; knowledgeable and has a vision.
Management Team:
Claims to have a team of qualified people with masters and PhD degrees, but does not state exactly in what field. Also, her presentation (including photos) was more about herself than her team. There is no “team” presence.
Business Model:
They have done research and have a good argument about their market. They have experience already in the region. They have done their homework and understand their competitions (ex. Japan)
Competitive Products:
It seems that there is a market and support from the government; they have a price for investors, but these prices are not specific enough for me to want to invest.
Market Readiness:
The company seems ready and is waiting for investment.
Technical Innovation:
E-learning is not new, but it seems that it is an “edge” in Vietnam. However, there is not enough evidence about Vietnam’s interest in this market.
Exit Strategy:
She has a clear destination; she seems knowledgeable that there is a market and money to be made in Vietnam.
Overall Investment Status:
She is asking for a large sum of money. However, 40% of the $100,000 investment is for airfare for 2 people. On a simple online check, her quote is 4x the amount that is needed. This makes me wonder: where exactly is all the money going. I need more convincing before I part with $100,000.
UBC OLT
CEO Credibility:
Michelle Lamberson: Knowledgeable about her work, has a clear vision, confident that her and her team will succeed with the support of UBC; comes across as a good leader with a big team
Management Team:
Have highly qualified individuals on the team
Business Model:
Has a strategic plan. Work with many faculties and faculty members to support them in the projects. Have IT as support to provide the infrastructure.
Competitive Products:
Perhaps there are competition with other institutions; but they seem to run the entire platform system in their own university.
Market Readiness:
Continually tries to improve. Have bought and are hosting wiki’s and blog’s
Technical Innovation:
Innovative – look towards students as knowledge builders, provide framework and tools for individuals to use. Success comes from blending technology with learning
Exit Strategy:
Driven by faculties and schools. Provide services. Will be successful as long as the institution (UBC) supports it.
Overall Investment Status:
Need to prove to UBC that they are valuable. There is a great leader and this section seems to be successful.
UBC IT
CEO Credibility:
Ted Dodds: A very confident speaker, has a clear and strong vision of where he is going, seems very knowledgeable.
Management Team:
Has a strong team; all of the VPs at UBC (5) are on the team
Business Model:
Knows the importance of having a clear vision. Community based; interactive; have annual town hall meetings. Have partners working at the strategic level. They have an e-strategy framework.
Competitive Products:
They are innovative. Prepared to create and work with other universities.
Market Readiness:
The team seems to be ready to deal with anything that is new on the market
Technical Innovation:
They are innovative and unique in Canada. Prepared to stay on top with technology (open source, community source, etc.)
Exit Strategy:
Very clear vision and path to success.
Overall Investment Status:
Ted has a very clear vision and knows where this team is going.
October 5, 2009 No Comments
Good job EVAs
Just wanted to write a short post to congratulate the fledgling EVAs of ETEC 522 2009.
Well done. Lots of evaluations (tables and prose) and comments on EVA findings. Thanks also for the useful resources that have been posted to support extensions to the content for Module 2.
d.
September 21, 2009 2 Comments
Ingenia and Recombo
September 21, 2009 3 Comments
Venture Internet Resources
I don’t remember seeing any of these sites posted let me know if you find them helpful!
http://www.1000ventures.com/venture_financing/vfin_vp_chart_byvpa.html – cool venture planning concept chart!
http://abc.go.com/shows/shark-tank– American version of Dragons Den, prime time version of making the pitch!
http://sbinformation.about.com/cs/bestpractices/a/jointventure.htm – I found this interesting it is all about the benfits of entering in a joint venture to improve the chances of your company’s success.
September 21, 2009 No Comments
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. |
September 21, 2009 5 Comments
The 60-second Pitch
Hope no one has posted this one yet…I’m finding it a little difficult to sort through all the blog posts here. Google Reader isn’t really helping either. Nonetheless, this article discusses how to make a good impression in one’s pitch. Enjoy!
http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/jun2007/sb20070604_577187.htm
September 20, 2009 2 Comments
Law Blog
September 20, 2009 1 Comment
Internet Resources
Here are two internet resources:
Rookies Venture Club. Seasoned screeners and coaches review presentations and provide feedback to allow entrepreneurs to refine their presentations before getting in front of an audience.
“How to pitch a business idea” This article offers 10 tips to maximize your pitching power.
September 20, 2009 No Comments
Ammar as EVA for Recombo 05, Ingenia and RRU
Hi,
Coming late made me think of presnting it differently for a change, hope it’s not that distracting for you 🙂
Here it’s ;
ETEC522 – Pitch Pool Ammar Al-Attiyat as an EVA
Regards,
Ammar
September 20, 2009 2 Comments
Ingenia and UBC IT Services
Ingenia
I found that that Materi’s pitch was well paced. You could follow it easily, especially with the inclusion of slides. However, Materi did not display much passion when she spoke and in my opinion, this reduced the impact of the pitch.
Materi’s credentials are solid and her speaking at several conferences such as CSTD attest to her knowledge in this area. While she notes that the core team of designers and consultants have Masters or have appointments at Universities, we don’t know much else about the core team. No mention is made of the credentials requirements for the contract hires. While we can hope they hold the same level of credentials, this is not addressed. The size of the core team and the number of contracts needed for this venture is also not clearly addressed and this raises concerns as to whether this has been considered.
The business model does not really address how Ingenia will address the cultural, language and political/social environment of Vietnam. While they have partnered with a local Vietnamese software firm, will they be relying on them to conduct the majority of the business dealings? Materi also makes note of a project with the Ministry of Fisheries in Vietnam as an illustration of Ingenia’s experience in Vietnam, but no mention is made on the scope of the project or success. Testimonials from this project along with others would have been nice. The addition of a few quotes would have added credibility to the pitch. I am not sure if Ingenia have a technical edge; Materi mentions a Japanese Consortium already operating in Vietnam. I did not hear anything in the pitch to make me believe Ingenia offers anything unique or technologically innovative; rather it sounds more like they are resting their success on tapping into a territory which has not had much exposure to e-learning.
The goal is to establish Ingenia as a major e-learning service provided in Vietnam. This goal is quite board with not much focus on specifics. I would have liked to know what is considered a major service provider (what percentage of the population would constitute as major? How many contracts would this equate to?). There is also no reference to timeline in this pitch. What are the major milestones of the project and what dates are attached to these?
UBC IT Services
Dodds is very confident in his delivery. He is well versed in the mission and vision and speaks to them with ease. Dodds does not speak specifically to the credentials of the management team, however in mentioning that 5 Vice Presidents sit on the executive steering committee this adds further credibility and indicates that there is a level of accountability.
The business model to partner with client groups and to work at a strategic level makes logical sense and emphasizes how IT services and assist them and to work collaboratively. Dodds emphasize on keeping the strategy current and evolving indicates that they are not resistant to change. A competitive advantage is the reputation of UBC and collaboration. By being in tune with their clients and by seeking out best practices through town halls and peers/competitors UBC IT services is ensuring they have their finger on the pulse of the future. In the closing, Dodds mentions the need for a vision of the future state for 2, 3 and 5 years; as such I would have liked to have heard what the 2, 3 and 5 year future state of UBC IT Services is during this pitch.
September 20, 2009 No Comments
