A3 – Pennywise Project
Below is my Elevator Pitch for the “Pennywise Project”.
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You can access my venture pitch for the Pennywise Project here.
In both cases, please forgive the quality of my voice…I had to do my narrations while fighting a bad cold.
Juliana.
Posted in: Week 13: Venture Forum
Julie S 2:46 pm on November 28, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Juliana,
I just started my reviews but I noticed when I watched your pitch that you have focussed on non profit and not making money from the venture. I wonder if you have considered pitching to the debt management companies that you mentioned. They might be interested as paying clients because they could promote this as a social benefit in terms of helping provide prevention training for future generations.
For example, if the company is providing a service to a client who is also a parent they could offer a family based service where they offer this type of training for their client’s children to help them learn better budgeting practices. After all, if the parent is having problems then they probably aren’t passing down good habits to their children.
Just a thought. Cheers,
Julie
Julie S 9:06 pm on November 28, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Juliana,
Here’s my more detailed review of your venture. I liked your elevator pitch with the upbeat music, clear message and illustrated non-financial benefits. Your venture pitch is strong especially in how you state right up front that this is a social enterprise so there are no financial returns. Your problem statement is convincing but I’m not sure if I made the connection to why 3D was so important. You may want to add some key benefits here. From a media formatting perspective you may want to consider image instead of text when you are talking because I don’t think people can read one thing and hear another at the same time. Having said that your narrative was clear and easy to follow but I did have to stop and rewind for the text.
Coming from a corporate background I’m not used to social enterprises that don’t have a profit side but I think you did a pretty good job in explaining the social benefits.
I think I would be leaning towards investing if I could see a way that this was tied to my organization’s social responsibility goals. You may want to consider including something in the pitch that demonstrates the concept of an organization’s Triple Bottom Line which is a popular way of measuring value that goes beyond just profitability. In fact, if you did this with the agencies you mentioned I think you could be able to convince them to partner for more than just marketing. I was confident in your abilities from a developmental perspective and your partnership plans made your pitch stronger because they would bring the sales and marketing skills to the table that I would be concerned about.
Juliana 3:21 pm on November 30, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Julie,
Thank you for bringing your corporate perspective. I think it is times like these I really do regret not having more of a corporate background. There are different priorities and strategies that need to be engaged and I will admit I did wonder if there was a better way that I could “sell” this venture.
I do agree with you about the 3D rendering. I think I was on the fence about this initially about creating a 2D or 3D environment. In the end the free and openness of the exercise got the better of me and I did choose to shoot for the clouds versus staying on the practical (and probably cheaper) 2D ground.
I am glad that you sent the link on Triple Bottom Line. I think this could have been a great way of structuring my pitch. As for your previous comment about partnering with a debt management company, I really wondered if they would have 200K to spare and I guess that is why I hesitated against it. But again, I may be completely wrong about this…as I mentioned, I have very little business experience so I am not really aware of the funds such organizations have for such ventures.
I did toy with the idea of recovering some costs by doing some advertisements, but again as this game is for high school students and was serving to help with fostering spending habits, I wondered about the ethicalities of this. May be it wouldn’t be so bad if I was selling advertisements for charities or post-secondary institutions? This type of advertising sells the good that can be done with money.
Thoughts?
Juliana.
Angela Novoa 2:13 pm on November 29, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Juliana,
I really enjoyed your Venture. I think that there is a real target and market for both gaming and needs for financial education. By integrating financial learning with gaming you will be able to engage costumers, to prepare youngsters in a relevant issue of their lives, and to promote problem solving and critical thinking skills.
Your Venture Pitch provides information about the competency level of its leaders, the benefits offered, how it is different from other ventures, and who are the competitors. Your venture also provide clear information about the money that is required and when will investors receive returns. I think that needing a high amount of money to develop the venture with no real monetary return is an issue to consider. It is not clear how will the venture survive if it does not receive any incomes. I would suggest to provide more information about the returns of this venture. Indeed, receiving reputation as an entity that works in the improvement of the quality of education is really relevant. Having incomes for maintaining the Pennerwise Project platform is necessary too.
Overall, I would invest in the Pennerwise Project because I think that it offers a innovative solution and meets the needs of a wide number of costumers.
Angela.
Juliana 3:44 pm on November 30, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Angela,
Thank you for your comments! Yes, the big issue with this venture is the return. After completing the pitch, I did wonder if I could possibly sell some space for advertising for charities or post-secondary institutions. I was thinking of targeting the advertising towards positive ways of spending your money (ie. education, vocational training or charities). Perhaps that is an angle that I could explore in future?
Thoughts?
Juliana.
kstooshnov 4:15 pm on November 29, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Wonderful pitch and best wishes for the Pennywise Project, Juliana,
I could easily relate to the pain points, and feel as if I am on the same page as you when coming up with a solution. I would love to see more of the design of the serious game, and can think of some social justice-minded teachers in my district who would get behind it. What they may not be able to do, however, is buy in, and I can understand how difficult it might be to convince those with money to support a project that seeks to lessen the gap between the rich and poor. Nevertheless, you have carefully thought out and presented your idea, in spite of the flu, and spoke clearly and passionately about what most concerns you, and many others.
All the best,
Kyle
Juliana 7:07 pm on November 30, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Thank you for your kind words. Yes, doing this project (and another one for ETEC 540) that required narrations while I had a cold was not fun, but I did manage it.
I think from reading people’s posts these last few weeks and my general experience when working with public school teachers during the MET program is that teachers have little time and very little support. As a result, I just couldn’t create a venture that didn’t take this into account. Yes, it won’t make any money, but at the same time it may be easily integrated into the classroom and hopefully create a positive change in spending behaviours.
Juliana.
ashleyross 4:22 pm on November 29, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Juliana,
I like how you engage the viewer by asking them questions. The concept of your venture sounds promising, and teaching students how to be financially savvy is something I think is really important. Your elevator pitch also left me with wanting to know more about your product which I think is a good thing.
Juliana 6:43 pm on November 30, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Thanks for your comments Ashley! I was wracking my brain on how to generate interest with my elevator pitch and I found that the questions were the best way to draw people in.
Juliana.
David William Price 10:50 am on November 30, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Elevator pitch assessment
Juliana – Pennywise
First Impression: no face, voiceover with music and slides,
CEO Credibility: The CEO does not appear as an image or video although there is a voiceover all the way through. I have the voiceover to judge CEO credibility. The CEO appears to be passionate about the problem of student debt. I might take a negative inference based on the fact the CEO is unwilling to appear.
Management Team: No team is mentioned, so I have no way to judge. I might take a negative inference based on the fact the CEO is unwilling to talk about the team.
Venture Concept: Apparently a serious game of some sort related to student debt. No description of the game or what it does or how it works or who would use it. No description of the costs or timing of development of the serious game.
Opportunity Space: No description of the intended market. Is it students? What kind of students?
Market Readiness: No description of how this will be marketed or distributed, how to enter the market or how to grow presence.
Competitive Edge: Apparently providing free access to a serious game is meant to be an advantage. Similar games already exist on the web. No indication of how this game is different or how it will be paid for.
Exit Strategy: No indication of their target market, its size, or how they will capture it.
Overall Investment Status: I don’t see the CEO or the team, I don’t know who the targeted market is. I don’t know how my investment will be repaid. I don’t know how this will be marketed. I consider this high risk and would not pursue.
Juliana 3:04 pm on November 30, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi David,
I do appreciate your comments. My reasons for using PowerPoint slides versus showing my face for the presentation is privacy. I am not comfortable with my face showing up on Youtube like that. Also, as I mentioned previously, I was sick, so I was not at my best anyway.
I was a little confused by your other comments as I did think I covered some of the gaps that you mentioned. For instance, I did describe on the Marketing slide who my audience would be along with who my marketing targets. In this slide I also mentioned how the marketing and promotion of the game will be done.
As for the competitive edge, I did mention why my game would be better than the existing free games on the internet. That is mentioned on the 3 Pain Point/Solution slides.
In addition, as my venture was more of a research project, the structure of the management team is a little different. I was enlisting a partnership with an existing serious game developer who would be doing the work of creating the game. Furthermore, I do clearly state that recovering the investment would not be the priority. The potential non-monetary gains are listed on the Return slide. Also, I did cover how long and how much money it would take to develop such a game on the Ask slide.
Take Care,
Juliana.
Juliana 11:48 am on December 1, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi David,
Just realized that you have only reviewed my elevator pitch. I take back most of my comments as I was under the impression that you did a detailed review of my venture pitch, which covers all of the points you mentioned.
My reasoning for not covering the points that you spoke about in the elevator pitch is because my aim was to generate interest first. Also it was too tough to put all of that information that you commented on in a 1 minute elevator pitch. To be honest I had enough trouble fitting everything in the 8 minute limit for the venture pitch!
Juliana.
mcquaid 12:32 pm on November 30, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi, Juliana.
I must admit that you were #4 in my ten pitches. I liked your pitch – I thought it was informative, interesting, and sounded useful. Are you pitching this as a social enterprise (blend of profit and not-for-profit)? Your use of the word “free” may scare away some investors looking for a return (unless you’re thinking gov’t will pay for this program for schools), but may still attract some investment angels looking to do some good. Like the dragons on Dragon’s Den, I liked your idea, but just didn’t see how I could make any money with it.
Cheers,
Stephen
Juliana 6:56 pm on November 30, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Thanks Stephen! I am honoured to be your #4 pitch 🙂 There were so many really great pitches from our class and being #4 makes me feel pretty good!
You are correct in that there will not be a monetary return and that the word “free” is my biggest barrier.
I guess I chose to choose this route because I really felt that our public school system was just being tapped out for money and our teachers simply don’t have time to implement anything complicated in their classrooms. Also it was important to me to ensure that my venture was accessible to the public school system as they would be the biggest market and would allow for many students to be reached. So this made me go the research route.
Juliana.
Jay 3:18 pm on November 30, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Juliana,
I think you are proposing an interesting idea here for schools and suggesting they play a role in teaching what you have referred to as “financial literacy” to students to foster change in our financial habits. I think your social venture is touching on an important subject in today’s cloudy economic climate.
You have presented clear problems and solutions that your company will solve. Suggesting partnerships with the organizations you proposed would strengthen your reputation and credibility. I also like the idea of using funding to conduct pre/post qualitative and quantitative research in this area to observe change and determine effectiveness.
I am slightly skeptical about a “serious game” and it’s ability to change spending/consumer habits. I would also worry about the resistance you might face from the plethora of companies, organizations that benefit from consumerism and debt practices. However I think you are proposing a strong and necessary idea for students of this age.
I would invest in your idea, but one question I have is to who you are targeting for investment. Your product is offered free to schools so I am unsure who would be investing. Debt management companies? Other non-profit NGOs? government? the partnerships you are suggesting? This is all I was unclear on.
overall great job!
Jay
Juliana 3:39 pm on November 30, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Jay,
Thank you very much for your comments!
I purposely left the question of who would be investing very open-ended.
I am from a very academic background so I automatically leaned towards government grants. I was also thinking that there could be potential buy in from bigger foundations (ie. Gates foundation), but again, I know that I am shooting for the moon.
As I mentioned in my reply to Julie above, I don’t have much business or corporate background, so I did hesitate focusing on debt management companies as a funding partner. I was wondering about whether or not they would have the funds to go for such a venture, but I think that they would be a natural funding match.
I also wonder if a serious game can change the world, but I do think that giving people the chance to experience the effects of their choices in a safe and simulated environment can help. I do want to stress the teacher-led activities that would go with a program like this. Those are the activities that can really help to educate and hopefully change some behaviours.
I think our time in the MET program has shown us that technology on its own is not the answer. It is a tool and it does fall on the teacher’s shoulders to ensure that all the learning goals are met. All we can do is hope to create ventures that ease the burden a little and help teachers meet the learning goals.
Juliana.
Doug Smith 7:59 pm on December 1, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
jJuliana,
I was very intrigued by your elevator pitch and its not-for-profit venture. This was an immediate draw for me as a member of my community, as I appreciate the desire to educate for the sake of our society.
The Pennywise Project is well thought out and tells me most of what I would like to know about making an investment. The one part that I would really like to hear a lot more about is the actual markets and communities that it is targeted for. This would tie in with the development of the game, as different demographics will require different scenarios and situations so that the game is relevant.
In general, I am very skeptical of your cost for development. $200,000 over a two year period seems incredibly low. With perhaps more development needed to address diverse communities, the research cost alone may be significantly larger. However, maybe you are planning on taking advantage of subsidized or cost-reduced labour in order to achieve your targets. I would also like to see how this product would be marketed to schools. Obviously the fact that it is free is attractive. But even free products can be difficult to distribute without a skilled marketing team.
With some clarifications on the costs for development, along with a list of confirmed development partners, I would be eager to invest.