ETEC 522 – Sept. 2011

Everton Walker 2:48 pm on November 27, 2011

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  David William Price 9:41 pm on November 28, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply

  Your venture is a multi-level marketing scheme?

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  jarvise 10:20 am on November 29, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply

  I have to be honest. After watching te elevator pitch, I was left thinking that your proposal was for some kind of pyramid scheme. I did, however, take a look at your written venture, so you obviously caught my attention – even if it was for the wrong reasons. Your proposal makes sense and there is clearly a need for an intervention such as this one. I question, however, how you can envision the type of growth and far-reading global markets you describe. I’m not sure how you could go from an idea to having people heading up operations in different areas of the world. It seems like a pretty risky proposition. I would be more comfortable with a growth plan that starts with a much smaller niche market that you are very familiar with, and expanding from there. There are some great ideas here that may work better as a non-profit.

  Emily

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  hall 1:52 am on November 30, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply

  Everton,

  Your elevator pitch on ‘ebook’ is a good one. The presentation of ideas and audio were clear. The graphics and font size were good.. In light of the major drive worldwide of ‘go green’, this product would definitely protect our environment and promote the go green concept. Ebook would definitely bring flexibility to the educational markets. I think the idea of creating a network of ebook is good way for persons to advertise the product and earn as they do so. But it could be risky business.

  Conroy

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  mcquaid 3:02 am on November 30, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply

  Hi, Everton.
  First, my criticisms:
  – having the video on the blog, as the blog needs work – nothing custom, including leaving the first generic post on
  – the voice – the intonations / choice of delivery had me backing off
  – greatly exceeded the maximum video length
  – end credits playing while voiceover is still going
  – is this some kind of pyramid scheme… seems sketchy now

  The good news / potential?
  Don’t market it as a reading solution, because it isn’t. You have a money-making plan based on social structures. Use analytics or some kind of tracking and rewards scheme, and be up front about it. There’s potential there, but it needs some tweaking and a different approach.

  Cheers,

  Stephen

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  Angela Novoa 10:35 am on November 30, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply

  Hi Everton,

  I think your venture has a market that is increasingly growing over time. You have provided a detailed venture pitch with information about the market and the product. However, I would suggest you to provide more information about the ask, the reader and marketing (how buyers/users will be reached), in order to be easier to an EVA to make a decision.

  Cheers,

  Angela.

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  David William Price 10:53 am on November 30, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply

  Elevator pitch assessment

  everton walker – ebook venture pitch

  First Impression: voiceover slides, sounds like a woman’s voice but Everton is a man, seems to be a multi-level marketing scheme

  CEO Credibility: The CEO does not appear as an image or video although there is a voiceover by woman all the way through. The voice shows some excitement but as the pitch is a multi-level marketing scheme, that excitement feels like a get-rich-quick pitch, not an investment pitch. I might take a negative inference based on the fact the CEO is unwilling to appear or voice this himself.

  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: Doesn’t explain how it improves learning or reading. Images appear unrelated to voiceover. Appears to be a multi-level marketing scheme to sell e-books. It’s not clear whether it’s the readers being sold or the text in the readers. This is not so much a learning tech venture as a get-rich-quick scheme.

  Opportunity Space: Claims a market worth billions expanding quickly worldwide. Doesn’t describe a target market, projected market share or revenue.

  Market Readiness: Describes a multi-level marketing approach to distribution and sales.

  Competitive Edge: No competitive edge described unless the MLM distribution is considered a competitive edge.

  Exit Strategy: Hints at an MLM exit strategy, which is basically recruiting as many people below you as possible to get an unearned stream of income.

  Overall Investment Status: I don’t see the CEO or the team, I don’t know who the targeted market is. Appears to be a multi-level marketing scheme for a commodity (e-readers). I consider this extremely high risk and would not pursue.

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  andrea 6:52 pm on December 1, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply

  Hello Everton,
  If I understand your elevator pitch correctly, this is sort of Amway for e-books. Will your team be creating the e-books (writing them, or working with publishers to create them) and the e-book readers? In your venture pitch, it sounds like you will also have a service (provided by ‘partners’ or your core team?) that will offer training on how to use the affordance of e-readers to support students’ particular needs. I think providing support for educators around the world to use technology is a really worthy venture.
  Andrea

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  Deb Kim 11:03 pm on December 1, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply

  Hi Everton,

  To be honest, I have to agree with what other coursemates said. I don’t think your intention is to make this a pyramid scheme, but your venture is a bit sketchy to me too.

  Deb

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  murray12 8:39 am on December 3, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply

  Hello Everton,

  My feedback matches the impressions posted above. I’ll admit that I had to watch your elevator pitch a few times to truly absorb your intentions since I was initially focusing on how your images and audio seemed out of sync. Overall, the intention of your product, a network to help combat world illiteracy, is admirable, but as an investor I would need more ask and marketing information before I got to involved.

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  khenry 1:31 pm on December 4, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply

  Everton,
  I really appreciate that you presented another aspect to the assignment in your CEO of a company capacity. This provided a different element to our experience and analysis.
  You offered some valuable attributes of the e-book that I think would be big selling factors. Is your suggestion of creating a network, what you would add to your being the CEO of an e-book company?

  Here is where I think your idea trumps – If you focus on a target market of struggling readers with your features as ‘built-in dictionaries, text-to-speech feature, bookmarking, reminder of where the reader stops the last time among others’, then from there identifying your competitive advantage that would make your e-book different from its competitors.
  Schools can order books. Networks being created by discounts for everyone who you sign up or a commission for every x e-books sold or discount for every x e-books bought. I believe your image in the elevator pitch shows a pyramid, which may be suggestive of a pyramid scheme, where many investors shy away from.

  In your elevator pitch you also mention the advantage of collapsing many textbooks into an easy to use and easy carrier. Another angle you may pursue is to engage with partners who offer e-text packages tailor-made for your market that come with your e-book.
  I believe that the e-book can indeed offer so much to the education system!

  Kerry-Ann