BreakOut Illustrator – A3
In my venture proposal I present a new product called BreakOut Illustrator produced by my company, BreakOut Assistive Inc. I don’t really have a company (yet) but this is the product I would want to start with when I do. đ
Here is my elevator pitch:
My venture pitch is here:
BreakOut Illustrator – Venture Pitch
Posted in: Week 13: Venture Forum
ashleyross 4:19 pm on November 29, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Jim, I love your concept! Iâve chosen your venture as one of my 3 for a more detailed review. Anything that has to do with assisting the atypical learner in some way always captures my interest. đ But for now, I wanted to say I think itâs great that youâve provided an example of Breakout Illustrator in your elevator pitch. Looking forward to reading your venture pitch. đ
Jim 4:37 pm on November 30, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Thanks, Ashley, for your feedback!
Angela Novoa 5:32 pm on November 29, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Jim,
I really loved your venture. The Breakout Illustrator is an innovative concept that addressees the needs of a number of educators and students. Your focus on a particular need allow costumers to elucidate the reason someone will buy or use this product.
Your Venture Pitch provides detailed information about the pain point, marketing, championship, competition, and the amount of money required for running the project. Although the Venture Pitch provided detailed information about how to obtain revenues, I would suggest to offer more clear information about how soon would an investor be recompensed.
I would invest in the Breakout Illustrator as it offers an innovative solution for students with special needs or language learning students and their teachers.
Angela.
Jim 4:38 pm on November 30, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Thanks for your investment offer. I will email you my bank information… đ
Thanks for your suggestions about how I could improve me venture pitch!
Doug Smith 7:22 pm on November 29, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Jim,
Nice pitch, it was very clear as to what your venture is and who would use and benefit from it. I personally prefer the voice pitch over music, and I think this can help an investor help connecting with the venture. I would have liked to hear more about the market that you are creating or entering, even if it is a rough estimate in terms of size or scale.
cheers
Doug
Jim 4:41 pm on November 30, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Thanks for the feedback, Doug. I tried to get into the market a little more in the venture pitch but I think it should be mentioned in the elevator pitch.
Julie S 10:30 am on November 30, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Nice work Jim,
The elevator was very clear and I liked the voice narration over the images because it allowed me to see the concept of what you are trying to do with the product. I was also really impressed with the quality of the document for the venture pitch in terms of content and aesthetic appeal. It inspires confidence in the quality of your future product.
Jim 4:43 pm on November 30, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Thanks, Julie; your reaction is exactly the reaction I was looking for… But, I think I should have included some more business details. Anyway, thanks for your feedback!!
David William Price 10:52 am on November 30, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Elevator pitch assessment
Jim – BreakOut Illustrator
First Impression: no face, voiceover with screen recording
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 voice has no passion and uses the passive mood of expression. 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 works with web pages, inserting images into text-heavy web pages from an image database with text-analysis algorithms to help students needing images.
Opportunity Space: Apparently aimed at students with special needs in education but thereâs no description of the intended market (who will buy), or what the market size is, or the revenue this venture can capture.
Market Readiness: No description of how this will be marketed or distributed, how to enter the market or how to grow presence.
Competitive Edge: The idea is apparently to have images automatically added to text-heavy web pages. The question is, why wouldnât learners simply navigate to web pages with more images, or use Google image search? No indication of how many web pages are text-heavy but the web is designed to be very image friendly. The concept is interesting, however
Exit Strategy: No indication of their target market, its size, or how they will capture it. No indication of what investment is wanted or how it will be repaid.
Overall Investment Status: I donât see the CEO or the team, I donât know who the targeted market is. I donât know how my investment will be repaid. I donât know how this will be marketed. I consider this high risk but Iâm curious enough to read the venture pitch.
Jim 5:04 pm on November 30, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Thanks, David for taking a look at my elevator pitch. I appreciate the detail with which you examined it. I was not surprised, when you applied the suggested EVA tool for the venture pitch on my elevator pitch, that you found it lacking. My strategy in the elevator pitch is to highlight the how it worked, the target users, and that there is no competition because it is brand new tool.
David William Price 4:14 pm on November 30, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Jim Breakout Illustrator â Venture pitch assessment
CEO Credibility: Founder describes self as a 20-year educator.
Management Team: Mentions a business executive partner with 20 years experience and Joshi, a researcher but does not indicate whether Joshi will be recruited.
Venture Concept: Adding images to text-heavy webpages automatically for special needs students. No indication of most costly problems for helping special needs students or why this solution addresses a compelling problem.
Opportunity Space: Does not mention number of special needs students, current costs of handling their needs. Mentions legislated requirements for assisting special needs students âin most western nationsâ but does not explain requirements, existing compliance efforts, timelines for compliance, budgets for compliance, or costs of alternatives. Suggests district-level licensing for K-12 school boards. Does not suggest pricing, describe initial target markets, or revenues.
Market Readiness: âThis mode of assistance is extremely challenging to automate effectivelyâ, âyet to transition to commercial applicationsâ, âminimally assist students at best (confuse them at worst)â,âtaskâŠis formidableâ â raises huge concerns about development time and costs. Potential partnerships with other learning assistive technology mentioned but not describe synergistic fits or strategies for growing sales. Given stated challenges, estimated time to market of 2 years seems unrealistic.
Competitive Edge: âBasic algorithms have already been publishedâ – research appears to already be discussed in public domain. How affect patentability to protect investment?
Exit Strategy: Requests $1.2 million but does not project sales, projected pricing or revenues to recoup investment or deliver any return on investment. Market of âspecial needsâ K-12 students appears way too small.
Overall Investment Status: Product development is high risk, market not quantified, revenues not projected, return not described. Without some kind of legal requirement for this solution that prioritizes it and associated public money to pay for it, consider this high risk and would not pursue it.
PS: A vision and mission are ideally derived from a strategic analysis of your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. They act as rules for evaluating opportunities. When you apply an opportunity to your vision/mission, you should get a YES or NO out of it.
Jim 8:11 pm on November 30, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Thanks again for your very detailed evaluation of my pitch!! This is valuable feedback that I can use to improve my pitch in the next revision.
Jay 7:42 pm on November 30, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Jim,
I think you have a great idea and although I would imagine it would require a lot of research to develop such a technically complex idea and you have addressed as a challenge in your venture pitch. You clearly define what this product will do provide evidence of research in academia which adds backing to your pitch-proof that others are giving attention to the concept in recognized settings and fields.
The market is defined and you illustrate how such a tool would benefit the end-users-special needs students (those struggling to make meanings from text) and language learners.
I would have one questions with regards to market. You write the market is truly global. Does this also mean across languages or only in an English language context? I am not a technical expert so would ask if an algorithm could be applied universally to all languages or would it have to be re-developed for other languages?
The market would then be for English language learners or students in English schools with potential for expansion into other languages in the future (if it is necessary to redevelop in order to apply in different language contexts).
Through your well-developed list of strengths and weakness you show you are aware of the risks but also the possibilities of this idea and supported by these strengths.
Overall I like your pitch and think the idea, upon development, has potential and I would pursue it.
Jim 8:19 pm on November 30, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Thank you, Jay, I appreciate your comments and analysis very much! I think you make a very good point about the algorithm being applicable to other languages⊠I am not an expert either. Even if one can be developed for English, you might very well be correct that the algorithm cannot just be applied to another languageâŠ. Maybe to another language that has very similar structures as English (say a Germanic language?). Nevertheless, if an algorithm could be developed that worked well in English, I think that that success would provide the motivation for development in other languages and I would think that there would have to be a fairly broad overlap of parallel development that could result lower costs when development focused on other languages. Thanks again for your feedback!
andrea 9:13 pm on November 30, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hello Jim,
As weâve all discovered itâs challenging to describe a product, how it works and who it supports in just one minute, but you did that very comfortably in your elevator pitch without overwhelming me. I like the concept for Break Out Illustrator, and in your elevator pitch it seems very straightforward.
Your venture pitch was just as clear, and you addressed some of the challenges of the product development head-on. I appreciated your honesty about these issues, but as a potential investor I would want to see how you planned to deal with those issues. Your idea to include the appendix of regulations was an interesting idea and clever way to reinforce the âpainâ for which your product can help deliver a solution.
Regarding market size, I think youâre suggesting that pretty much every school is a potential customer. Iâd like to know what part of that market youâre aiming for, or where you would plan to begin marketing. My understanding from your statement âWith powerful web-page language translation tools provided at little to no cost, the potential scope of BreakOut Illustrator’s customer base is truly globalâ is that translation tools could mean that your product would function with any language? This is exciting and also huge â would this require a different mode of development, and could it add to the development costs? I think that because you included numbers about the amount of funding youâd need (for which I applaud you, by the way â way to include numbers!), it would have balanced the pitch to show costs for customers, and put some dollars to the revenue models you mention.
Those were a few of my questions, Jim, but overall I thought your pitches were informative, really well organized and clear. Youâve also opened my eyes to a new market.
Andrea
Jim 1:33 pm on December 1, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Andrea,
Yes – if I had more time đ I would have gone into more detail… but with web translation tools, I think a product like mine could be used in other languages. And yes, I did want to include more numbers but I was concerned even at the numbers I included. I really have no experience in business and I estimated what I thought would be salary, office lease, development, equipment, and other common business expenses… Thanks for taking the time to review my pitch!!
andrea 4:20 pm on December 1, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Jim – interesting when you said “I was concerned even at the numbers I included.” I avoided stating that I needed a specific amount of money entirely because I found this quite intimidating. Good for you for going out on a limb with it when you weren’t sure. Do you think this venture is something you’d like to pursue?
Jim 4:40 pm on December 1, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
One never knows! I think I love teaching too much to leave it… so very rewarding…
verenanz 12:13 am on December 1, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
HI Jim!
I couldn’t see your elevator pitch (I’m in China) but I really like your venture pitch. I think you should add ESL students as another possible market- especially beginner learners. The idea of having an image next to text is very appealing! Your idea seems well researched, well written, clear and well presented. Why not add another market?
Verena:)
Jim 1:34 pm on December 1, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Thanks Verana! I appreciate your feedback of my pitch. I talked informally with a few SERTs and they confirmed that they would be quite interested in seeing such a product if it would help students in the way I said it would help….
ashleyross 2:55 pm on December 1, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Jim, sorry it’s taken longer then I hope to write this for you. Here it goes…
Webpages are filtered through Breakout Illustrator to assist students who have difficulty making meaning from text heavy webpages by adding helpful and informative images and diagrams that are embedded directly into the text. Before even reading the whole venture pitch I could see the potential; I know there’s a demand for this product and if you can actually create it, I think it will be very successful. I can see many different types of students using this product: from students with learning disabilities who have dyslexia, students with ADD who canât concentrate long enough to read a text heavy webpage, students with various degrees of autism, ESL students and even students who just prefer images throughout their text could benefit from this product.
This product sounds promising but as an EVA I wonder will it really work? Making sure the “on-the-fly” insertion of images and diagrams works properly so that it doesnât insert pictures that are irrelevant or that will confuse and discourage the reader more would be one of my biggest concerns. However, you are aware of this and like you say, just because it’s complex doesnât mean it shouldnât be developed. Besides, if you think of other assistive technologies like reading software that reads any text out loud âon-the-flyâ or voice recognition software that converts sound into text, Iâm pretty sure both of those products were initially complex to produce and theyâre both really successful now. There is a lot of initial work that would need to go into this product before a student could use it, but it’s not impossible.
Another question as an EVA I would have for you is although you and your business partner have lots of experience in the education and business field, who`s going to actually be coding and formulating the algorithms to make this product possible? Do you have someone in mind or are you in the process of finding someone?
Overall I think you have a great product and one that has the potential to be very successful. I would definitely invest in this product. Also, one company that I believe could be a great partner for BreakOut Illustrator is Cambium Learning Group (http://www.cambiumlearningtechnologies.com/) who provides a wide range of research-based education solutions for the atypical learner.
Great job Jim!
Cheers,
Ashley
Jim 4:46 pm on December 1, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
who`s going to actually be coding and formulating the algorithms to make this product possible? Do you have someone in mind or are you in the process of finding someone?
Excellent question. And, as you saw, there is no mention of it in the venture pitch. I was aware that I would need expert people in this area. If I had thought about it more, I probably would have said that I would try to recruit Joshi, the researcher I mentioned who came close. But I know, from doing the research, that Joshi now works for a corporation so it might be difficult to get him. In any event, you are absolutely right… need to find expertise in this area. But, the University of Waterloo is not far from me (60 mins away) That’s a world class university known for computer science. Perhaps I could start there đ Thanks for the link to Cambium – my board uses many of the products from that group of companies. Thanks again for taking the time to look over my venture in so much detail.
ashleyross 9:00 am on December 3, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I think if you were to go through with this venture contacting Joshi would be where I’d start, even if he does say no you’ve at least asked. đ Contacting the University of Waterloo is also a good idea. If neither of those two options works out for you and you still want to create this product, I may have someone in mind for you. đ
Best of luck!
mcquaid 7:14 pm on December 1, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi, Jim. Youâve secretly been one of my top three⊠until now, when I could finally look at your full pitch!
Brand-wise, I like your logo. Iâm not crazy about the text shadowing effect, but the geometric design is cool. I also like how it featured watermark or TV channel-style throughout your video. Your project name could better match what it does (the BreakOut part doesnât especially catch my interest), but itâs memorable. I thought the mock-up was great, but that the model web page looked a little âGeocitiesâ to me.
In some ways, I like that work has already been done in this area, and in some ways I am not. Despite how you point out how your product would not be hampered by the same issues that a similar, previous venture was, a past failure with something close to your product makes me nervous. That being said⊠you can also learn from their challenges and move forward with more knowledge.
Itâs a definite plus that your venture has no direct competition. When I read about ideas like this, I am always thinking about which of my students could use it. Youâve got me wondering about how your program could even work in reverse⊠where a student could put pictures in a sequence; the pics could have words / tags associated with them that students could pick from. Perhaps it could help them write sentences.
I liked your business partner ideas â itâs always good to have fruitful avenues to pursue.
I, like you was struck by the similarity of our ventures (an assistive program that does something very specific, based on some existing tech., etc.). We both claimed to have no competitors, but I started to think of your program as one. Even though our products do different things, weâd both be competing for the same school dollars.
I think itâs going to be tough to get safe, relevant results from text, but itâs a useful idea!
Stephen
Jim 9:55 am on December 3, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Stephen,
Thanks for your insightful, honest review. The name “BreakOut Illustrator” occurred to me in the other MET course I was taking this term – ETEC 540. There is a section in one of the modules called “The Breakout of the Visual” which was all about the co-meanings of text and images as well as the tension between text that has visuals embedded within it and the fact that visuals are literally breaking out of the printed text. And this is partially where I got the idea for my venture. Why couldn’t there be a program that simulated the decisions a person makes as they go through text and search through images to illustrate the text. I have a computer programming background and in the days when I programmed professionally (late 80s) I thought almost anything could be represented in code and automated. I think both of our ideas, however, would be incredibly difficult to realize because, at some level, the programming would need to understand the meanings in the text that it was rephrasing or illustrating. This is why I brought up the AI issues… I wanted to be honest an open in my venture about the challenges of the idea. I think that that was a better decision than to appear naive about it. Either way, I don’t think I will get any investors the way it stands!!
On another note, it is interesting how close our ideas are. I think there is merit in them both and, if I win the lottery, I will shuffle some cash your way so you can get started đ
Thanks for your thoughts and for your collaboration in the course on the files in the cloud project. You and Ashley were great to work with!