Jay
Hello everyone. Here is my venture pitch for network, called CityConneX, to support a Vancouver-based sustainability project. Here is the elevator pitch for CityConneX Network. [kaltura-widget uiconfid=”534″ entryid=”0_bw048z18″ width=”308″ height=”292″ addpermission=”” editpermission=”” /] The venture pitch can be viewed at CityConneX Network.
Continue reading CityConneX Network Posted in: Week 13: Venture Forum Day 1 If we are to narrow m-learning to the context of cellphones as mobile learning devices, I would not consider myself a very active participant. This is for two reasons; I do not consider my device a great m-learning device and second and most relevant reason, it is too expensive. I own a blackberry […]
Continue reading Day 1 & 2 Posted in: Week 11: Mobiles
Thanks very much for evaluating your BB and reviewing Urban Planet English.
I have to admit I haven’t heard a lot of good things about BB and m-learning. It was the platform chosen by a multinational I spoke with… they created bite-sized learning for their professionals to consume to refresh their memory just before walking into client meetings. That was the key for them – mlearning was performance support, not a lot of reading and not learning things the first time. They didn’t do any kind of assessment on their BB mlearning partly for that reason.
It is possible to do a lot of learning activities without any Internet access… capturing real world audio, images, video for instance to share back with classmates or coworkers to illustrate the issue of learning in the real world. Another possibility is standalone apps that coach learners through doing processes they’ve learned previously and now must do in reality. One example at Christian Abilene University was providing students with a coaching app to facilitate meetings out in the real world. THen they could record data about those meetings and bring it back to class to share and comment and reflect.
You’re right that Urban Planet English doesn’t in itself give the ability to practice… but one thing I’ve seen in reading journal articles about the use of mobiles in the developing world is sharing the mobile in a group of learners… the app may encourage sharing itself, or sharing may simply be something learners do so they can practice what they learn together.
What do you think?
We would like thank everyone for completing the survey. It is still open if there is anyone who has not completed it yet and would like to do so. Limitations of the basic plan do not allow for any chart creation or to actually share the link to the results page since it would require […]
Continue reading Survey Results Posted in: Week 09: iPad Apps
I think your survey, among other things, tells us that we are still experiencing the very beginning stages of the tablet paradigm. Just like the war between Beta and VHS, Blu-ray vs. HD-DVD, I think that the major players are still battling it out. I think that it will shake down to two major devices, on the iOS based iPad, and the other, probably the Android device. Although, after all the lawsuits are done, Android devices might be severely crippled.
Thanks jim. Perhaps a question around tablet usage in general would have been beneficial in seeing what others are using instead of the iPad.
Hi Jay/Jim,
I agree with you that the survey results may represent the early stages of adoption for the Ipad and that asking what other tablet or mobile device responders use may have helped to give an idea of what kind of device may be prevalent. I must say that I was surprised to see that in a class of people who make up decision makers and influencers in the education arena, a high percentage “never” use the Ipad for all the purposes listed. I wonder how this reflects on thoughts about Ipad being a “game changer” in education- all buzz or fact? Having said that, I would like to mention here that I like the Ipad but really feel that it is expensive especially as I have a cell phone already. My thoughts have been on whether to go for Ipad or Iphone so I will only have to carry one device that does the same things.
There are some interesting issues being raised with regards to cloud computing, privacy, legal issues and international boundaries. These all must be taken into consideration before a business chooses to shift an IT outsourcing option. In his post Cloud Computing and International Law related issues, Di Martino (2011) raises some issues to be considered before […]
Continue reading International Law – Clouds may bring stormy weather Posted in: Week 08: Files in the Cloud
Hi Jay
Thank you for the resources. The considerations that businesses need to be aware of are very important. I found data retention for tax purposes to be an interesting topic. Most countries survive on the taxes on goods and services. How can a country tax services provided by an organization which uses cloud computing? For example, if an educational institution in a particular country provides services to students across the globe but the data is stored in another country via cloud computing. Which country would tax this educational institution? Would both countries tax the institution?
Hi Jay, thanks for sharing the resources. This is a very interesting issue. As Conroy suggested most countries survive on taxes on goods and services, so taking in consideration these issues is relevant. The need of regulation about the matter is the clue. And there is not only need of regulation on cloud computing but also on many issues related to the use of technology. And in the case of Education is very important to be clear about this.
Angela.
HI Jay!
Thanks for continuing my train of thought…..You have a lot of good points about taxes and legislation which we will have to consider.
Thank you for the insight!
Verena:)
Hi Jay,
Thanks for the resources and the discussion. Cross border policies are indeed important considerations. We even see them coming up in the use of content management systems and the location of providers for the very reasons you highlighted. I believe we will be seeing greater focus and developments in this area as I believe that Cloud computing is inevitable and really is a natural and necessary progression to facilitate needs and technology within the present and future environment.
Kerry-Ann
I do not have personal experience using cloud technology in a school environment and while overseas teaching in Japan had little knowledge of the existence of such online software. Looking back it could have been beneficial then but I think as many others have pointed out, privacy issues would likely have been a barrier to […]
Continue reading “Banking” on clouds Posted in: Uncategorized, Week 08: Files in the Cloud
Hey, Jay.
I liked your comparison of banking to cloud computing – entrusting your money / files to someone else and getting it when you need it… maybe from a bank across the globe! Your comparison had me thinking, though. I don’t care if I get the same $20 bill I gave my bank. I DO care if I get the same file back from Google that I gave them. I don’t care much what a bank does with my non-unique-to-me money. I DO care what happens to my personal files, pictures, and ideas, and where they end up, and if someone has a copy of them.
Perhaps cloud computing is more like running a mint or federal reserve… sending money “out there”, but not allowing copying or destruction of it?
Yes these are definitely holes in my banking analogy and I agree it is essential with cloud services such as Google that a person gets back the exact, unique-to-them data that is uploaded and without the risk of it’s replication and non-consented distribution.
Jay,
The bank example is a good one. It’s amazing how many persons trust the bank with millions of dollars but are skeptical about doing the same with information. Which is more important? I have a strong feeling that all the skeptics will eventually buy into the cloud idea. This definitely seems to be the way forward especially as persons are now investing in mobile devices.
Everton
Banks have insurance. Money is replaceable. Data is unique.
Hi Jay,
I like your comparison; that is so creative. I agree with you that bank and cloud technology are similar but to a certain extent. In my view, data can be sold without your knowledge but money is not so. Also in light of David’s view, money is insured but can data be insured? I f cloud technology collapse could we retrieve our data?
Hi Jay,
It is amusing to read your thoughts on cloud computing in terms of Japan and banks, as the country has a reputation for being ahead of the technological curve, as parodied in this Onion article, but trying to get a couple thousand yen from an ATM past the bank’s early closing hour (7 pm for most parts of Japan I visited) was next to impossible. Mobile phones could do so many things (I was there prior to the iPhone 3 world-wide release) and no doubt they are still turned off and tucked away in school bags across the country. If data is similar to money, using Japan’s model, we’d have ten to twenty USB drives dangling from our mobile phones. However, on the upside, if we lost our phone somewhere, it would most likely be waiting for us, untampered, at the nearby kōban/police station. A very unique place, ne?
Kairu
This week’s great outlined the opportunities for blogging very well and brought up some great points within each section of the page. My experience with blogging began very recently with the start of this course in September. Prior to this class I had never participated in blogging for personal or academic purposes. Regarding my own […]
Continue reading Day 4 – Concerns with blogging: a student perspective Posted in: Week 07: Blogs
Thanks Jay for your kind comments! You are right that blogging is an excellent avenue to include critical literacy in your classroom – what better way to teach students about internet safety, etiquette and digital footprint than by showing them great examples of student blogs that are out there. Thanks too for your link to the preservice teacher article.
Hey Jay, thanks for your insightful post! Like you, I had never blogged before this course, so I found it very different from anything I had experienced in the past. I agree that blogging can be very time consuming and with the overloaded days we all have, I know it is very difficult to find time to post a “good” blog. For me, this includes writing, editing, re-writing, proof-reading (maybe even having someone else read it) then finally posting. Do you think blogging will get easier with more experience?
I really like your closing statement, “What we must also be mindful of as educators is that students encompass many different learning styles and some may take to blogging as a learning tool more than other”. This is true in so many ways! As educators we must acknowledge that every student has different learning needs, and when it comes to blogging, this might just be the answer for some!
Jenaca
I definitely think that with time it would become easier. Just as writing your first research paper can be a very daunting task, over time we develop the necessary skills and are able to complete these tasks in less time and with greater ease. I think what I was trying to get at in my post is that if educators are going to use blogging as a teaching tool and incorporate it into the class, teachers have the responsibility to help students develop these skills so they can blog effectively. I found for this course the tutorials and the “How to use this blog” as well as the links to wordpress and diagrams showing how to perform certain tasks (embed images, video) very helpful and would have been lost without it.
Thank you for your thoughtful insights.
Although I’ve used a blog for teaching purposes I’ve never used it for my learning. I’m currently managing 3 different blogs for the 3 classes I’m teaching, plus this blog. I agree with you that blogging is indeed time-consuming, especially if you are not familiar with it. For some, they need time to learn and adjust to it. Just like us educators, students also need time to get used to blogging. As you mentioned, each person’s learning style is different. It took a few weeks for my students to get used to blogging because they’ve only used Moodle so far. My duty as an educator is to help them learn how to be a “good blogger”. Their cyberspace behaviour and responsibility can be determined by what they learned and didn’t learn from their teacher who introduced blogging to them. I feel responsible for their behaviour in virtual space. That’s why I spend time to go over “cyberspace” rules with them before I introduce blogging.
Deb
Like some of the previous posters I also do not own an ereader although I find more and more of my reading is being from my computer and I think I would really benefit from an ereader as I would be able to do more of my research and reading while on-route without having a bunch […]
Continue reading Ereaderless Posted in: Week 06: eBooks
The great think about e-readers is having your library with you. You can take advantage of periods of time (even 5-10 minutes) to do reading of what would otherwise be large, heavy, unwieldy texts. You can also save yourself the wrist/finger-thumb/arm strain of holding a book up. It may sound silly but some books I’ve read have been pretty massive and it was the e-reader that got me through them completely both because of it’s light weight and also because of it’s convenience of use in any context.
I adopted a philosophy some time ago of “never waiting for anyone”. By “waiting” I mean sitting around and anticipating their arrival. Instead, I give myself something to do. Time flies and in many respects I don’t really care when someone shows up or where I am in a line, or how long my commute is.
This is a great thing for learning… if ebooks are modular enough, you can consume usable bits of information in small amounts of time and think about them and apply them right away.
I definitly agree with you on this aspect of ereaders and the opportunties they offer in organizing the information we read and the ease in which the do it (less strain). As my academic library of articles grows by the day the printing costs and strain on my back (with carrying a laptop bag everywhere) would probably pay for an ereader in a very short amount of time.
I can appreciate your earlier post and your comment how not everyone wants to lose themselves in a book and some want quick, efficient ways to summarize, browse and consume information to be used in the very immediate future. I think it is in this area they become a useful tool more so than in the classroom, but perhaps some classroom teachers feel differently?
Thanks for your comments.
I found this comment interesting: ” I think it is in this area they become a useful tool more so than in the classroom, but perhaps some classroom teachers feel differently?”
Why do you think that students wouldn’t want to operationalize knowledge as soon as possible for problem-solving? Wouldn’t that increase the authenticity of their learning and develop problem-solving skills?
Hi Jay,
Your position on the pedagogical relevance of e-books at the moment in particular caught my attention. You have presented potential challenges with the technology in education. I can see your angle, as you pointed out, the mere presence of a device will not change education but integration into mainstream learning will be more effective (this is what i understand, correct me if I am getting it wrong).
This would also speak to the concept of “technology for technology sake.” Acquiring the technology does not on it’s own change or make learning happen but how it is applied to bring about an effective learning experience. I was however glad that you mentioned the benefits linking it to high school.
As for making notes, the feature does exist in ebooks, the LexisNexis eBooks demonstration-a Youtube post by Group 2 makes a good case for ebooks features and gives a really good insight into what you can expect. I think that it would also make a good research tool with the features it possesses.
Like Ifeoma, I was struck with your comments about how “learning and educating will not simply be transformed by the simple presence of a new device.” We often overlook that new tools do not always offer any additional ways for people to engage with the information or learn. I think eBooks offer learners new ways to engage with materials, but it won’t simply be through creating digital versions of existing books. Digital versions might be cheaper or more convenient, but we need to reevaluate how we’re presenting information in these tools and modify our teaching approaches accordingly.
Hi Jay,
You make some really good points in your post, I especially agree with your comment about E-readers aiding those with visual disabilities (“Ereaders also serve in aiding those with visual disabilities since the text can be manipulated making it more readable”). I would like to add that with the growing interest of E-readers, that more and more books are becoming available in digital format. This is particularly beneficial for students with learning disabilities or dyslexia, as most (not all) digital formats can be converted into a reading program such as Kurzweil. Maybe more students with visual and learning disabilities will start to enjoy reading and start reading for pleasure instead of only reading as required as a part of their studies.
Although I grew up with both a computer and nintendo I have never really taken to gaming and now would still rather learn through reading or interacting socially. For myself as a learning I find these more beneficial and associate gaming with leisure and it does not engage me as a learner as much as I get the sense […]
Continue reading Although I grew up with both a computer … Posted in: Week 05: Game-Based Learning
Dear Jay,
Although I remember the game, I have to admit I didn’t play it much and I appreciate your comment about not being a game based learner as much as a book/written word and social learner. This unit has made me think more about me as a learner, too. I tend to game for fun and relaxation but I think of how my child in grade 1 uses games to learn spelling right now on the computer.
So, a detective eh?
I too remember that game Jay…thanks for the reminder. I remember thinking that my kids would really enjoy it and I would sneak in some geography education on them…didn’t work – they really didn’t enjoy the game as it lacked the “action” they preferred.
Hi Jay,
Reading your post I can already see that the “Where in the world is Carmen San Diego?” is a game that would encourage the development of problem solving skills in addition to learning geography. I can also relate to associating gaming with leisurey, my take of it is that the skills it teaches are embedded and so are not apparent and it is just as well, because it is a way to make learning informal and fun in order to attract someone who does not like to learn in the usual formal way,
Hey Jay, I also remember playing “Where in the world is Carmen San Diego”. I agree with your post that I play games for the fun of it and don’t necessarily combined learning and games. However, there are some great games that do enhance learning, especially for young children.
EarthWalk is a learning technologies company that focuses on developing and delivering high-efficiency, cost-effective learning technologies to classrooms, government and businesses globally to enhance learning environments in a cost and energy efficient way. The company was started by founder and acting CEO Evan T. McConnell who “saw a real need to improve computer and Internet […]
Continue reading EarthWalk – Green Learning Technologies Posted in: Week 04: Entrepreneur Bootcamp
When it comes to labs of computers, energy efficiency is a big deal – electricity costs not only to run the lab but also the air conditioning to deal with all the heat. But reviewing the website, I see your point.
Interesting collection of cabinets for lab and tech equipment. Not a space I knew existed. Thanks for sharing it.
So what are your personal reflections?
Hi Jay,
Thanks for the link. My arts college is relatively small. We have one main computer lab for the general campus and another, mostly reserved for the Visual Arts students. I have advocated for the use of a mobile lab but my IT department did not really bite on the suggestion. I believe that I will go back to them with this link.
Of interest to me in your post, as in my research and a few others read, is the wealth of experience, whether in venture leadership and/or computer science and/or education, that these CEO and founders take to the table. How do you see or position yourself/your success/needs as an entrepreneur in this milieu?
Kerry-Ann
Hi, Jay.
I recently was given a set of ten laptops in a cart for my class. I’m curious to see how well they will work (once the computers actually arrive). The power-saving slant def. got me thinking… I was already starting to write some kind of test project proposal in my head… to get a cart of tablets or something for our school to use in place of the lab… see how much we could actually save or save & benefit… something to think about. Thanks!
As an EVA I was not particularly captivated by the Evernote pitch. While I found the idea of an “external brain” intriguing (being a person with limited space for remembering things) too much was lacking in this short pitch. The presenter started off by immediately identifying himself, CEO Phil Libin and gets straight into the […]
Continue reading Evernote falls ever short on pitch Posted in: Week 03: Analyst Bootcamp
A very average presentation even though the topic was rather interesting. As you mentioned, the presenter lacks confidence and tends to be rushing. I think he needs more time for the presentation. I am not even sure how feasible this venture is as reality doesn’t match up with his rhetoric when one analyses the what is being presented.
Good, original point on the security of info. Keeping information safe as well as protected ownership of material is something very important.
I agree with both you and Everton about the presenter. I am a huge fan of Evernote but his pitch almost turned me off it. This is perhaps a case where the merits of venture outweigh the presenter?
Before you publish your posting, please make sure that you select a category (eg. Introductions) as well as assign some meaningful tags (keywords).
mcquaid 6:48 pm on November 27, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
To those coming here after me, I had to download the file attached to the first link to see the elevator pitch.
Jay 10:56 am on November 28, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Sorry about that. I have changed it. Thanks for letting me know.
Deb Giesbrecht 4:47 pm on November 29, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hey Jay,
Loved your elevator pitch – looks very professional- especially for someone who says he is not so tech-savvy! The green economy is certainly an expanding market and one that holds a lot of potential and sustainability. Great idea about collaboration and network sharing. It appears to be a well thought out venture with great market potential – not sure from your pitch if it is a for-profit organization or more of a social platform – either way I would still invest in it!
Jay 8:27 pm on November 29, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Thanks Deb. I should have made it clearer in theelevator pitch and venture proposal. pitch is a social platform bringing social and organizational value to groups/institutions that invest and would not benefit financially. So I tried to allude to it being a social venture but should have been clearer about this. Thanks for the comments.
bcourey 5:28 pm on November 29, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Jay,
I was intrigued to see a venture about a municipality instead of a school board! Nice change. You are proposing an interesting concept – the merging of minds from quite a wide range of stakeholders – from students to city planners all with the same purpose in mind – meeting the city’s goals of sustainability. Too often the students are omitted. Networking is always a great strategy. As a manager of a city department, that is often very entrenched in their “silos” of bureaucracy, I wonder if you would get buy in from all stakeholders to participate in this venture. It would be wonderful if they would! I also worry about the politicization of city management…you could be just one election away from closure…but maybe Vancouver is much better at long-term visioning!
Brenda
Jay 8:34 pm on November 29, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
It may very well be the case that the not all stakeholders choose to participate. The City may choose to not invest directly, but would be invested indirectly through CityStudio, which is a project that while receives funding from the local government, is not run by them. I believe if post-secondary institutions also invested and contributed partner courses to the program this help maintain a balance and minimize risk of politicization by city staff. The election issue is a weakness, however if stakeholders and the venture took advantage of the re-election and used the next three years to build and obtain non-government investment (universities, businesses, community) the project could become large enough and invested in by too many different groups too be simply dismantled by a new politcal party. But you do point out a weakness of this venture and the narrow, unstable market it attempts to enter. Thanks for the comments.
Keisha Edwards-Hamilton 8:04 pm on November 29, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Jay,
I love the green concept presented in the elevator pitch. Problems and solutions were easily identified and it looks very professional. However, I think your pitch was too long considering that it should be a presentation lasting for no more than one minute maximum. I think the transitions could be speed up as you were talking very slowly throughout the presentation. Otherwise, it’s a great concept that I would pursue.
Keisha
Jay 8:43 pm on November 29, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Keisha,
Thanks for the comments. The elevator pitch was one of the weaknesses of my assignment and I wasn’t overly satisfied with how it turned out. You are right that its too long and your suggestion to speed up transitions and speak faster would help decrease the length. I was worried about speaking too fast and people not being able to understand what it was about. Thanks for your critique.
hall 2:13 am on November 30, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Jay,
I think cityConnex is a good idea. The concept of connecting all components would definitely maximize efficiently and as a result provide more revenue for Canada. I like the sequence and graphic of your pitch, they were good. However, I think you could condense the materials and reduce the time of display for each slide (12 seconds to 5 seconds or 6 seconds). Some of slides were not synchronize with your slides. Overall it is a good venture, well done.
Jay 3:58 pm on November 30, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I had a little difficulty with getting everything synchronized and video and media is not my strong point unfortanetly. Thanks for comments and I will take them into consideration for future work.
jenaca 3:17 am on November 30, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Jay,
I really enjoyed your pitch and loved the green concept you presented. I think you effectively portrayed the problems and solutions as well as statistics that caught my eye. I like how your product targets a global economy and not just one specific group. My only suggestion would be to shorten your pitch, however, I completely understand how difficult this is when trying to include necessary information!!
Great Job,
Jenaca
Jay 3:57 pm on November 30, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Thanks for the comments. The pitch was too long I agree. The market is actually very narrow as the venture is for a network connecting an existing project here in Vancouver called CityStudio (see http://citystudiovancouver.blogspot.com/ if interested). I added the global market in the beginning to show the existing market for green economy but I am attempting to enter a local market through providing a service I think would benefit this project.
Thanks for the comments.
Jay
carmen 1:37 pm on November 30, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Jay,
Great job on the pitch – the graphics are very effective. I’m convinced by your pitch that having a centralized “studio” in the virtual space in addition to the existing physical space can really help collaboration between all partners. I wonder what would be the affordances of this of CMS), and what might be the cost of building and maintaining one.
carmen
Jay 2:11 pm on November 30, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Carmen,
You raise good questions about my venture and one of its weaknesses. I specifically avoided financials because they were not a requirement and I have little background in areas such as investment return, cost-benefit analysis, or other financial considerations however admit this would have strengthened the venture considerably and would likely be required should this idea be taken seriously.
I know little about the costs of implementing or starting up networks. I suppose I could have done more research into this. I suggested that these could be minimized by having CityStudio recruit IT or communications students to help with design and logistics. But I am unsure of costs but would be curious to find out and will look into it further once I have a little more time. Thanks for the comments.
Jay 4:05 pm on November 30, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
A note on my venture:
I think I have confused my audience with my elevator pitch. CityConneX (my proposed venture) is not attempting to enter a global market, although this would be possible but would be dependent on many factors so unlikely. Rather it is a centralized network for an existing inter-institutional Vancouver-based project called CityStudio (see http://citystudiovancouver.blogspot.com/ if interested). I was unsure how to get this across in the limited time and instead I think I focused on the features of the system rather than focusing on what it is and the market it targets. I appreciate all your comments as they have made me aware of this error.
Thanks
Jay
I hope this might clear things up for any future reviewers.
schiong 8:37 pm on November 30, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Jay,
I like the project.
Yes, the funding could come from the government (directly or indirectly).
Since different Universities are involved, is it possible to get funding from them ?
Actually, there are several CMS open source software. Are you planning to use any of those ?
Jay 10:13 am on December 1, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Steve,
Thanks for the comments and questions. With regards to universities, participating institutions would be approached for funding and the amount would be dependent on whether the institution is participating through partner courses, network courses (or both).
With regards to CMS this is where my tech weaknesses are revealed. I thought about this after completion and realized that I should have provided discussion around this. The original thought was to that software be created so it could be tailored to fit the needs of the project and all stakeholders involved. However reflecting upon this, this might be an expensive route to go and it may be better to research and use existing software that would be flexible enough to incorporate needs and wants of this very hetergenous group. This would be much less expensive, I would think, as it there would be no costs associated with development. Thus minimizing investment required at start-up. Thanks for the thought provoking question. Something I also was struggling with.
Jay
khenry 9:05 am on December 3, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Jay,
Thank you for this addition to the fold. It is a well needed venture not just for this instance but in other instances connecting business, schools, projects and lessons learnt. Check out this site http://www.idea.org/blog/ presenting a network for connecting persons on projects where they share ideas and develop together.
See below for my extended EVA.
Elevator Pitch: I figured out that you were doing a not for profit venture and welcomed the opportunity for an alternative analysis. I agree that more clarity is needed as to the nature of the venture (profit vs. not for profit) and where/how investors would be positioned.
Interestingly, I do not mind not see CEO et al in elevator pitches but funnily enough because your venture is about people I felt like seeing people incorporated or perhaps some visuals of who or what you are connecting. I liked your tone, very neutral and engaging. Very good timing with your voice and visuals but yes as you already said it is a bit too long.
In both your elevator pitch and your venture pitch I think you should start with the problem earlier and from there you flow into your solution and then background.
Venture Pitch
Team: More discussion of the team and their competence to lead the project would add weight to your pitch.
Venture: The problem and solution are clearly stated but as I said above think the problem could be stated at the start more succinctly and then move from there. The venture is an attractive one in connecting stakeholders, a collaboration space and ideas and lessons sharing within a specific project setting.
Market: The target market is clearly defined, stakeholders within the Vancouver City studio project on multiple levels: schools, business and community organizations.
Market Readiness: A step by step process of the project implementation is given. The use of online content management systems and networks within a blogging sphere is ideally chosen for the nature of the venture.
Competitive Advantage: Information regarding benefits is presented. However, competitive advantage is not clearly articulated or capitalized on. Benefits to investors are mentioned but even though you are proposing a not for profit venture I believe that you could organise information for investors who would like to partner could see exactly how they could contribute and/or benefit. For example identification of needs and communicating and operating set up costs et al., where persons might contribute monetarily et al. and benefits such as corporate responsibility in community development etc., cutting green costs, and publicity (there was some mention of the latter two).
Exit Strategy: Information on strategies to attract investors and users is needed.
Good job overall. I hope it goes well!
Kerry-Ann
themusicwoman 9:54 pm on December 3, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Dear Jay,
Won’t go over again what people have already said but will say I found your project to be very professionally laid out and organized. Kinda interesting to be late on this review as I find the comments and your post to pull the picture together for me very nicely. Again, always nice to have all the info after, right? lol.
Thanks for the post.
Michelle