Math Impossible
Hi all,
Here’s the link to my elevator pitch:
http://debbykimubcmet.wordpress.com/etec-522/elevator-pitch-math-impossible/
Click the link below for my venture pitch on Math Impossible:
http://debbykimubcmet.wordpress.com/etec-522/venture-pitch-math-impossible/
Deb
Posted in: Week 13: Venture Forum
Jim 7:11 pm on November 28, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Deb,
I really liked your elevator pitch… I am not sure where you found that video of the guy turning off the laser beams but it was perfect for your “mission, I mean Math impossible” theme. I suppose the main question that I still have as an investor is how is your product distinct from the thousands of free mathematics resources for teachers and students already online? Math resources are probably one of the best covered areas on the Web in terms of free resources. Before I hand you $1 million, I would need to get a sense, right away from your elevator pitch, of how and why your service/product would be unique and worth paying for.
Deb Kim 12:26 pm on November 30, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Jim,
Thank you for the feedback. I found this cool powerpoint template from http://www.presentermedia.com. I did venture analysis on his company for A1.
There is a reason I didn’t give a lot of details of Math Impossible in the elevator pitch. It was to grab audience’s attention and to make them more curious about what the venture would be. I thought it’d be too much information releasing if I gave too many details in the elevator pitch.
As a math teacher, I’ve been trying to use math resources available online, but I haven’t found really good one that provides a question bank. My venture will focus more on to a question bank and a question generator so that teachers can have free access to it whenever they need questions for exams/tests/quizzes/handouts. Exam banks that are currently available out there cost too much money and it’s a little shame to tell you that most of the secondary schools that I’ve been working don’t have enough resources. Eventually teachers just had to share each other’s resources and it’s very limited. So, I don’t agree with you that “math resources are probably one of the best covered areas on the Web in terms of free resources”.
Deb
Everton Walker 7:47 pm on November 28, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Deb,
First, I must say good job since we are not experts yet. I like the math concept especially when one considers that many students are not learning the concepts the traditional ways. Obviously, you are going to have competition from other sources, but as time goes by you will be able fix whatever problems surfaced.
Everton
Deb Kim 12:30 pm on November 30, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Everton,
Thank you for the feedback. New venture always has competition from other ventures, so we always have to come up with better ideas.
My venture has a unique point system so that teachers and students can use accumulated points to purchase questions and school materials. I didn’t give many details in the elevator pitch to increase curiosity from people and make them want to watch the actual venture pitch.
Deb
Julie S 8:12 pm on November 28, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Great elevator pitch Deb! I think having a really upbeat and engaging elevator pitch is critical for your venture – especially if what Jim says is true. You really need to grab the attention and hold it with the longer venture pitch to get those dollars.
Deb Kim 12:36 pm on November 30, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Julie,
Thank you for the feedback. My purpose for not giving a lot of details in the elevator pitch was to grab people’s attention so that they would get more curious and want to watch the venture pitch to discover what Math Impossible is all about. I guess it had a reverse effect instead. I’ll add more information that can grab the audience’s attention next time.
Thank you!
Deb
schiong 12:31 pm on November 29, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Deb,
Lovely presentation.
I was very interested with your project because I know many students are struggling with MATH. I have seen several MATH tutorials online. I believe Khan Academy started with Math tutorials as well.
I agree that learning Math is possible. Falling in-love might require some work.
I tried to view your venture pitch. But, I could not access it.
I am curious how you are going to go about your project and which Math topics would you be covering like Calculus, Trigonometry, etc …
I am also curious how your product would improve the learner’s internal mental process.
Another thing is, is it easy to navigate and does it suggests the next suitable tutorial ?
Most of the math tutorials out there would require the learner to know exactly what he is looking for. Not all learners know exactly where to begin and how to move forward.
cheers,
Stephen
Deb Kim 12:49 pm on November 30, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Stephen,
Can you still not access my venture pitch?
Let me know. If you still can’t, I’ll send you another link. You have to view it with Window Media Player.
I’ll briefly answer your questions. Math Impossible is an online resource program focusing specifically on building a question bank for teachers and students. It’ll cover all the math topics from K-12. As a math teacher, I found out that most of the math resources available online were not of big help, especially when it comes to creating a quiz/test/handout. Resources that are available at school (either in DVD or paper) are not enough for many teachers so we end up making our own and share. My venture idea came from there. If we could share resources that we have not just within school but also in cyberspace, we would be able to create a gigantic question bank.
For students, there are not many extra question workbook that students can work on other than textbooks. So, students can use Math Impossible to do extra exercise questions and collect points to purchase school items online.
I haven’t thought about giving an online tutorial session in Math Impossible, but it’s a great idea if we can provide a tutorial session. That way, the learner can determinie where to begin.
It’s my venture idea and your feedback is always appreciated as it’s in the imaginative stage at the moment.
Thank you, Stephen!
Deb
bcourey 5:13 pm on November 29, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Great pitches Deb..I too really enjoyed the animation – it really did fit well with your topic. Your elevator pitch didn’t give me many details about your venture, but your longer pitch gave me all the information I needed! This is a great idea to have the collaborative nature of the application – for teachers and students. I was really intriqued by your points system and wonder how that will be tracked and monitored – could it get very complicated? I would love to know the “decent price” point that you mentioned to know if school boards or parents, students, and teachers would find it affordable. Great work!
Brenda
Deb Kim 12:58 pm on November 30, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Brenda,
Thank you for the feedback.
As for the point system, I haven’t really thought in details. However, since teachers would be evaluating others’ questions and give peer review on them (including the level of difficulty, the topic covered, etc.), it wouldn’t be so complicated. So simply said, each question would be worth a point or two. There would also be employed analysts who would work on the point system.
As for the “decent price”, I heard that 30% of an Apple app goes to Apple and 70% goes to the creator. So, I believe if it’s $0.99 (or make it free) for the Math Impossible app, it’d be decent for them.
Thanks!
Deb
Allie 5:18 pm on November 29, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Deb,
Good job! I echo a lot of what previous people have said… your pitch is fun and genuinely engaging, which is at least half the battle. And like Jim and Stephen, I’m wondering about how it competes with ample competition, and exactly how it works. What platform will it use? and is it a question bank – or does it do something more. I think Stephen makes a great point when he suggests that existing math instruction strategies and products might not really be doing the job as well as they could. How does Math Possible build on their weaknesses – to indeed make math possible?
I don’t know if you checked out School of One which we featured in social analytics week. It’s a cool program used in NY schools to teach math – it uses learner analytics to design highly individualized routes through the math curriculum to build on learners’ existing strengths.
Allie
p.s. disclaimer 1: this is all from your elev pitch; i haven’t yet read your venture pitch
disclaimer 2: i haven’t touched math since grade 11 when I might have squeezed out a B in the subject. Not my forte.
Deb Kim 3:44 pm on November 30, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Allie,
Thank you for the feedback. Yes, Math Impossible will take place in online space where math teachers can collaborate to build a question bank. For students, it will be an exercise bank. So, it has two different question banks, one to support teachers creating questions for quizzes/tests/exams, and the other one to support student learning and improving their mathematical problem solving skills.
I grew up in Korea and you probably know that most Korean students are strong at Math. I remember purchasing a lot of extra workbooks, at least 3 or 4 each year I took Math. There are lots of resources available from various publishing companies in Korea that I not only relied on the textbook but also relied on those workbooks that I purchased to work on my weak areas in Math. Here in Vancouver, there are a few educational book stores that sell math workbooks and some schools use them instead of textbooks. However, they are very expensive (usually $30 or more), and the number of questions in the workbook is limited. Once students understand the concepts of a certain topic, it’s important for him/her to try as many similar questions as possible until he/she gets familiar with it. This means that the student needs some free resources to access. My venture idea came from there.
It’ll be available both online, like Moodle (LMS), and the app.
Thank you for your questions, Allie. I hope I answered them all. 🙂
Deb
Juliana 9:06 pm on November 29, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Deb,
Here is my detailed analysis of your venture.
I really enjoyed your elevator and your venture pitch. I thought your elevator pitch was especially catchy, innovative and it made me want to learn more. In addition, your venture was deceptively simple and as this is an open source idea, I think there is a good potential to have a following.
Pain Point and Solution: I think you did a great job outlining the pain point and how your venture would provide the appropriate solution. I thought it was very innovative in how you would take advantage of social media to not only increase interaction but work to create your question back.
Differentiation: You did a great job outlining the differentiation of your product in that it does have a points system and that it does take advantage of social media. In addition, using the points system to encourage the building of your database was a very good idea. I was thinking that instead of using their points to buy rulers and erasers, if you had it set up so that students could use their accumulated points to buy other apps or iTune downloads, you would probably increase usage and interaction.
Marketing: I was wondering why you were targeting the Lower Mainland area only. I thought this would be a good program to take nationally and internationally. In addition, as you are dealing with numbers, language won’t be a huge issue unless you are dealing with word problems. I do agree that students from different countries may have difficulties when doing discussions, but numbers have a universal language to them and it can be easy for people to follow how a solution is derived.
Championship: Nothing was mentioned on this. I would have liked to know more about who would be creating the system and who was carrying out this venture.
Competition: You did cover this and you mentioned that there were not a lot of resources for Maths.
The Ask and the Return: Nothing was really mentioned
Excellent job!
Juliana.
Deb Kim 10:32 pm on December 1, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Juliana,
It’s always good to “see” you in cyberspace. 🙂
Thank you for your through feedback.
As for marketing, I wanted to start with the Lower Mainland to see how my customers would respond to my venture and then expand the area. However, you pointed out well that it wouldn’t be a problem taking Math Impossible internationally as it’s dealing mostly with numbers. I didn’t put in my venture pitch, but I was thinking of taking this globally as teachers all over the world could have access to Math Impossible to build a question bank in different languages. As Math Impossible will be a management system that consists of a question bank, creating a question bank according to a specific language wouldn’t be a problem. Once again, I have to emphasize that this is only my venture “idea”. I didn’t pitch an existing venture, so you and other coursemates’ opinions/feedback are always appreciated.
For the Championship part, if you are asking who would be “maintaining” the system, it’d be math teachers who join Math Impossible. As for creating the system, it’ll be starting with a group of Math teachers (probably my friends and colleagues) who like my venture idea and wish to support.
Thanks!
Have a wonderful Christmas. It’s been nice working with you, especially for A2. 🙂
Deb
carmen 10:52 am on December 2, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Great job on the pitches, Deb. As others have mentioned, your pitches are very engaging and the 3D guy certainly grabbed my attention! To be honest, I was a bit disappointed to see the price tag of these templates. ..
Great concept of creating question bank that we can all share. With the idea of “social eBooks” maybe teachers can collaborate to improve on the teaching materials to make math “possible”. 🙂
I do believe there is a market for your venture idea as I feel the same problem we have in Vancouver. Though there are lots of free worksheets online, they are not tailored to the BC curriculum, and it could take a long time before a teacher can find something at the right level and topic. You might want to look at Koofers.com.. This venture is also about sharing and rating questions and lecture notes.
Thanks for the interesting pitches!
Deb Kim 5:44 pm on December 4, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Carmen,
Thank you for your feedback.
I hope there is a market for my venture idea in Vancouver. As you said, a lot of free math resources online are not based on the BC curriculum. Therefore, it’s an exigent matter that BC teachers collaborate to share resources which are tailored to the BC curriculum.
Thanks for the link to the website. I haven’t heard of Koofers.com yet, so it’ll help me come up with more ideas.
Deb
David Berljawsky 8:08 am on December 3, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Deb,
Great hook and great presentation. I though that it was well researched and entertaining at the same time which is a very difficult thing to do. The animations were excellent and straight to the point. The added to the presentation, instead of just acting as eye candy. Fantastic.
The elevator pitch was great, made me want to hear more about the project right away. To me this is a great indicator that you had a great presentation. As a math and technology teacher I can see that you are passionate about the porject and the potential that it has. This was obvious in your project.
David.
Deb Kim 6:02 pm on December 4, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi David,
Thank you for your feedback.
It’s my venture idea so far, but I hope to see it happen in the near future. It’ll be a great resource and the opportunity for many math teachers, not just in BC but also in other areas.
Deb
themusicwoman 8:08 pm on December 3, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Dear Deb,
Love the mission impossible, er, math impossible theme for elevator pitch. It was catchy and made me want to know more which was then laid out very nicely in your venture pitch. Will agree with some of the comments made previously (cost of templates, yikes, lol) and I think you found a product that is certainly worth looking into. Thanks!
Michelle
Deb Kim 6:10 pm on December 4, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Michelle,
I know! PresenterMedia has great templates (both animated and regular) but it costs a lot. So what I’m doing is that, since I’ve paid for a year already, I’ve been saving almost every single clipart, template, and image to my external hard drive. I’m planning to do that for the next couple of months until my 1 year contract with them is over. Then, I can use them whenever I want.
Deb