Happy Holidays!
Everyone should have their final grades now, so please let me know if you don’t, or if you have any questions. Now you can finish off 2011 in style! Cheers, David
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David Vogt
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David Vogt
Nothing ventured …
Thanks everyone for everything we’ve gained over the last 13 weeks. I’ll do my best to have all of the marking done by the middle of this week. Frankly, the reason I teach this course is that I learn so much. Every time. I respect MET because I can expect a cohort of energetic global […]
Continue reading Nothing ventured … Posted in: Announcements-
Everton Walker
David,
Thank you too. It’s a bitter-sweet feeling to be totally finished with MET but that’s just life. I just want to wish everyone all the best that life has to offer.
one love,
Everton -
Jim
Thanks, David; it has been a very interesting course which took me, and I am sure many others, in some new directions and unfamiliar territory. Best of success to you and to my fellow 522ers!
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khenry
Thank you David. It was a brilliant course on many levels with so much learnt. It almost felt like a little MBAesque as well. From the moment I signed on to do the MET programme this was one of my two must dos and it did not disappoint at all! It was even better than I expected!
Thanks also to my fellow ETEC 522ers for making this course unforgettable, entertaining, educational and so rich in content, experience and discourse.
All the best to everyone!!!
Kerry-Ann
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hall
Hi David,
Thank you . I have learnt a lot from this course. It is very good that my course in this programme ended with such great course.
Thanks to all my fellow ETEC 522ers’ for their insightful and fair comments, informative, educational and practical postings. It was a pleasure meeting you. I have learnt a lot from you. All the best to you.
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Deb Kim
Thank you, David.
Like many others, I’ve also learned a lot from this course. The combination of business and education has been very interesting.
Have happy holidays!Deb
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Angela Novoa
Thank you David,
As I mentioned before, this course was a huge challenge, because I did not have any previous knowledge about ventures and enterpreneurship. I have learnt a lot during this term, I expanded my knowledge not only about education, and I developed skills that I did not know I could have. Wish you all the best.
Angela.
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bcourey
thanks David for a great experience! There is so much that I have learned that I will take with me when technology decisions are made at my board office…I have a new lens to use when vendors present their newest product..great discussions, debates, and insights from everyone. This was a very different direction for me in my MET journey. Thanks again!
Brenda
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mcquaid
Thanks to Mr. V and all of my classmates alike. This venture-based course sure was a bit of an academic adventure at times. I liked the freshness of topic every week, as well as the (sometimes lively) discussions – all respectful, I think, even though some posters were coming from points of view far apart. It would be very cool if, in the near future, one of the ventures pitched here ever made it to the “real” world – especially if it’s mine! 😉
Have a happy break, everyone.
Cheers,Steve
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David William Price
AS4 Class suggestions
I was excited about taking this course because it combined education with business in a public forum. I enjoyed the assignments and the opportunity to synthesize education and business. Some ideas occurred to me: PROF INPUT 1. I was interested to read some of the prof’s own venture efforts and hoped to learn more from […]
Continue reading AS4 Class suggestions Posted in: Uncategorized -
Alice
in camera?
Sometimes it’s useful to discuss sensitive concerns privately. Other highly public bodies – like our city councils and other forms of government – have the in camera option where they go into private chambers, away from the prying eyes of the public and the media, to discuss . Maybe it would be useful to institute […]
Continue reading in camera? Posted in: Blog Café-
kstooshnov
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David Vogt
Venture Forum Culture Clash – a learning opportunity
Wow! One of our liveliest 522 interactions has been triggered by the most recent posts from David (Price) and Jeneca. The Venture Forum has happened for several years now but the pulsepress voting is a new experiment, so I’m (pleasantly) surprised by the culture clash I’m witnessing – because it offers a learning opportunity. First […]
Continue reading Venture Forum Culture Clash – a learning opportunity Posted in: Blog Café-
Doug Smith
Vancouver is an interesting place for venture capitalists and investing because of some shady history and somewhat isolated location. I’m a bit out of touch these days, but a few years ago there was a lot of investment action in various industries (hi-tech, lo-tech, etc), where the originating capital was raised through the old VSE, mining and gold speculation. In these cases I think the investments were committed extensively through personal contacts and affiliations, and much less on actual venture analysis.
Another example of how we can see the importance of personal connections and trust is through a very niche group of investors: former NHL players. These are men that are looking for investment vehicles while in many cases having very little understanding of the venture markets they are considering. They have advisers, but I think there is a lot of the old boys club that plays a significant role in their investment decisions.
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Allie
Fascinating!!! I immediately thought of:
– the short-lived McLean’s restaurant (in Gastown) that a friend and I were discussing last night – specifically its short-livedness. Non-Vancouverites/non-hockey followers: McLean refers to Kirk McLean, former Vancouver goalie from the early to mid 90s, famous/beloved in Vancouver for the Canucks’ 1994 stanley cup run.
– I also think the Courtnalls (Also mid-90s Vancouver players – one (both?) of whom were part of that 1994 run as well) had a restaurant across from BC Place. I *don’t think* it lasted very long… but I definitely don’t know the details.
– Former BC Lions’ player(s?) (Cantor?) who are very public part-owners of Vera’s Burger Shack.
– Fitness World’s rebranding as the Steve Nash Fitness Club
– I’ve noticed Trevor Linden is getting in on the act and lending his name at least to a new fitness club venture.Of course, these are all highly visible examples associated with high profile, well liked franchise players. The hipster in me would totally go to the bar fronted by the journeyman player 😉
My boyfriend is good friends with a tech venture analyst – who also reports that much depends on contacts and intuition. When I was putting my app VP together for this class, my boyfriend asked him a few questions about smartphone usage in my demographic (18-34), and the response was essentially, well, yeah, obviously loads of people have smartphones/tablets and their use is only on the rise. Full stop.
My boyfriend – a grad student in science – has been called upon a couple of times as a consultant evaluating prospective ventures, and it really comes down to his snap judgment on what is good science and what he happens to think – in that moment – the marketability of the science happens to be.
And so my feeling is that part of what it means to be reeeeeeally convincing is about whether the particular variables in a venture project happen to click into place with what the analyst/investor already knows/thinks. Does the proposed science happen to correspond with what my boyfriend-as-consultant’s existing mental models on what good science looks like? Does this investor happen to think that mobile devices are where it’s at for education, or does he/she have a different mental model of what learning looks like?
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khenry
Hello David,
Thank you for adding to, and clarifying, the lively debate, which I also enjoyed. I agree with both you and David W-P that in your first venture, particularly in the absence of a face to face meeting that visuals and voice are important if investors do not know you. However, what I enjoyed most from the debate was hearing reasons why persons chose the media they did and the considerations influencing design, choice and use of such media in determining what was the most effective way of pitching their product, given themes, concepts, restraints et al. I would like to also think conceptually and say that pitches can be more innovative and relevant if a balance is made between choosing a media that also reflects your product; provide essential information and a look at the team. Have a look at NoteWagon’s elevator pitch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ONC7O82YCs&feature=related . No video, very effective. Interestingly there is another 30sec clip of the CEO talking about it as well https://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=Yo1nlEj1PII . Perhaps multiple access points or media in the forms of elevator pitches may be useful?
They also appeared on Dragon’s Den https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjnI0W2w4-kAt the end of the day the question is….would I get an email, a call or a visit to my website? If Steve Jobs stayed within the status quo of business and design would we have the ipad or the iphone??
Re voting:
From those I have read so far I have not seen a bad idea and often, as you pointed out, the idea is not the problem. Therefore perhaps a way to follow up on why it was graded down (constructivist criticism 🙂 ) would perhaps be more helpful. For those who are uncomfortable with this perhaps provide a way from anonymous tips/reasons.Personally I do not mind voting and commenting and I have really appreciated the insightful and solutions oriented comments of my colleagues. But here it also allows you to vote after. So I think persons can choose either way and you can just say votes should be in by x.
Kerry-Ann
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Angela Novoa
Hi David,
Thanks for clarifying and moderating some ideas that have been discussed during this week. About voting, as you say, maybe there are diferent cultural perspectives. Maybe, for futuro ETTEC 522 this explanation coludí be provided before the venture forum beggins. Personally, I was a little confused about the voting purpose, so that is why I preferred not voting negatively. But reading at David’s (Vogt) explanations and yours helps to clarify this issue.
Now, speaking about a diffent issue, I think that the whole venture forum could be useful for us, a week before submitting the final venture, as peer evaluation activity. This feedback could be very useful for completing our projects. I have experienced effective peer evaluation in other MET curses, such as ETEC 531 and ETEC 532.
Angela.
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Angela Novoa
By the way, I meant David Price’s explanations and yours 🙂
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Allie
Curiously, I’ve had a positive vote taken away. Not moved to negative, simply removed. My total votes (you can see this on the dashboard) have gone down
I have to say, the idea of voting – and being voted on – at first had me quite alarmed. Now, having observed these voting patterns with great interest (I’m a elections nut! with a soft spot for stats), IMHO they have very little validity as an indicator of pitch quality or readiness. But, people have expressed that they either do not want to vote and are doing so only because they feel required to, or that the voting has made them feel badly. The risks far outweigh the negligible benefits.
As we saw with the emerging market forum, where we used the pulsepress feature, and the EP evaluations we did early in term, we can be a tough crowd. We have no problem voting ideas down. I seem to recall our prof putting up a comment sagely reminding us that those pitches were for real ventures, and real people are behind them, and can read what we’re saying. Critique, he wrote elsewhere, is easy. Being an analyst – and I’m still paraphrasing Prof Vogt – is like being a great teacher – identifying nuggets of brilliance, diamonds in the rough. In response, we collectively chilled out.
But, this is a social forum. And our own butts are on the line. We have investments in our colleagues; we have worked closely with some; others have become friends. We cheer when they rock it.
As an anthropologist, it’s clear to me that something interesting is going on culturally when we feel deeply uneasy about hitting a yes or no button attached to a colleague – when the same group has no reservations about critiquing strangers, or voting down broad ideas, as in the emerging market forum (maybe it’s not interesting; it’s a bit predictable). The comments *about* voting indicate that we’re generally only voting on each other under some feeling of duress (‘I thought I had to’). Our voting patterns indicate that we’re more inclined to say yes with conditions, than to say no. We prefer to refrain from voting than to say no.
As an overall group, we are not wanting to – and perhaps cannot? – separate our actual intellectual and emotional investments in our fellow students with our virtual investment $. Things would look different if were actually asked or required to part with actual dollars. But most, if not all, of us aren’t actually venture capitalists or start-up investors. We just play them on the internet. (! what a case study to expose the potentials and flaws of serious games !)
But the voting is flawed in other ways. As David V suspects, the anonymity is totally in question. I know who voted me down, though I don’t hold it against them.
The correlation between votes and comments is very weak. Some pitches have many positive comments, but many negative votes. More troublingly, the pitches with the most negative votes are those authored by people who have been vocal in ‘the debates’ referred to in this post.
Bracing for negative votes!! (i’m joking)
Allie-
David Vogt
Anthropology, indeed! Thanks for these constructive thoughts.
One of the reasons I like the Venture Forum in 522, and want to find a way to keep it, and make it as authentic as possible without damaging psyches or communities, is that the real world of launching ventures is so anthropological (rather than scientific).
For example, it is more like a lottery than an election. In real life perhaps 1% of ventures get any kind of “yes” vote, and decisions don’t happen by consensus. Yet it is hardly random. There are intense interpersonal factors that bring investors and entrepreneurs together, making a Venture Forum more like a speed dating event, and an investment more like a marriage. It is, after all, a deeply important commitment (more than financial) by both parties.
So perhaps I could have simulated this better by allowing everybody just one (1) “yes” vote. I thought I was being generous to the cohort by allowing multiple “yes” votes, but this perhaps accentuates the hurt feelings generated by a negative or null vote (which are essentially identical). However, pursuing the dating-marriage metaphor further, I don’t know if we’ve found a way to make that process move that forward without hurt feelings either.
For another example, it is not like education where constructivism builds toward the right answer, because there is no known “right” answer. In most cases, absolutely nobody can know whether a venture will eventually succeed. Investors are barely more knowledgeable than the average citizen – their success rates tend to be incredibly low overall (just marginally above what you might consider “common sense”). “Winning” for most investors means hitting a home run once in every ten to one hundred times at bat. So investors are just people who like to take risks, and generally have some management ability to optimize the potential success of their investments by working closely with the entrepreneur (which is why the interpersonal sense of being able to work together is so critical) to get the basic mechanics of the venture in order.
What I’m saying is that good entrepreneurs still believe “yes” after hearing a hundred expert “no”s, because there’s a reasonable chance that they’re right. Their belief, and their perseverance in finding a way to listen to the message inside a “no”, then change their own perspectives slightly, and then find a way to communicate their vision in a slightly new way, over and over again, is intensely human. It is like crowd-sourcing in reverse. We’d all still be living in caves without that pioneering, indomitable, change-the-status-quo spirit.
Thanks again,
David
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David William Price
For those of of who’ve invested a lot of time and money in real pitches, gone to bat, and had things not work out, we develop the perspective that it’s “the nature of business” and it’s “nothing personal”. I was excited to take this course because it involved an all-public forum, pitches, reviews, etc.
Those of us who’ve done pitches get used to shifting our disappointment into a post-mortem analysis and a revision to our concepts for another kick at the can, and perhaps that’s the part that’s missing from this process… the chance for another kick at the can that keeps entrepreneurs rolling and persevering as you put it.
When I took a teaching seminar in the summer, I had to do a live teaching segment in front of the class then get reviewed. What was most challenging was not the fact that I appeared to “bomb” during the somnambulant 330pm presentation slot, but that there was no chance to do it again and see how I could address issues raised in the class.
Allie presents an interesting anthropological perspective, and you yourself mentioned culture clash. Perhaps having that culture clash happen earlier in the semester with chances to revise as we go along might help people adjust not only to the culture, but also help scaffold the challenges of managing the anxiety that rolls with public performance reviews and channel the anxiety into analysis, revisions, and another try.
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David William Price
Allie, brilliant comment. Nicely put.
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Tamara Wong
David,
Thanks for the clarification and additions to this debate! I am intrigued by the idea of using your face for an elevator pitch. I really like the idea and agree that it garners a degree of trust that is important to enticing investors. However, I have some points I’d like to make on why I didn’t include my face on my elevator pitch. My first and most important reason was this assignment terrified me!! I was way out of my comfort zone and was anxious about putting my ideas out there for weeks. I have little to no experience with ventures or pitches. I felt that seeing my face would be a detriment to my pitch as I would have communicated this fear even further. Also I am 26 years old and I look like I’m no more than 18, in addition to that I look shy and unsure of myself much of the time. While it garners trust to put your face on your pitch I wasn’t sure if mine would do more harm than good. I used my voice, which many said lacked passion, but even that was difficult as I don’t feel comfortable with my voice. I think that in some situations a face can garner trust but it is important to be self aware to assist you in understanding what your face will do for your company.I also want to make some points on voting. First is how can you tell if someone votes positively or negatively for you? Second, personally, I wanted to give each venture pitch a positive vote because each one I looked at was a great idea! For each pitch I thought “Now why didn’t I think of that?” I had some questions about how it would work but none of the questions were so big that I felt strongly enough to give a negative vote on the venture. I felt like I was baring my soul with my pitch and understood that these pitches could be intensely personal ideas and it was important to be constructive.
I like the voting but as I voted I was also keenly aware of the importance of constructive criticism. I have been thinking about this issue for weeks as earlier on I received a comment that essentially said I wasn’t a good teacher, something that bothered me although I didn’t want it to. I think that the voting has a great place in this class and is helpful but maybe a reminder of internet etiquette and a professional code of conduct may be helpful at the beginning of the class. I have had this reminder in a another class and found it a useful guideline for what constructive criticism is.
Tamara -
David Berljawsky
I was surprised though at the comments that I read this week. I agree with aspects of both sides of the debate. Yes it is an elevator pitch, and providing face to face interaction is certainly the norm, but aren’t we asked to think outside the norm? I have read comments referring to Steve Jobs making a pitch, he was perceived as thinking outside the norm. So using that logic, why should we be making only video pitches when we promote our projects? Aren’t we trying as educators and as venture capitalists to create new and exciting initiatives? To quote Steve Jobs, “Think Different.” Of course, (and I’m guilty of this as well) PowerPoint may not be the most exciting medium, but that is not the point. It is still a valid form of expression.
I personally do believe that some internet etiquette was breached this week. I can understand that if you are not comfortable with your work being analysed in public that this was very uncomfortable, and perhaps some of the criticisms could be seen as un creative criticism, ie: your project isn’t good, period. We had the option to have our work looked at privately. I thought long and hard about taking this route, but in the end decided to publish my project online, to help to contribute to the online community. I received some negative comments, and am near the bottom of the voting scale. I am fine with this as long as the responses that I received are valid and not mean spirited. Although I have read comments in other projects that could be perceived as the later under the guise of being honest. This is wrong and not in the spirit of the MET program, at least in the 7 other classes that I have taken.
I don’t personally believe that the voting system is that flawed as it is. I do believe that by providing people with one vote it would be more accurate though, but that system could be flawed as well. It’s hard to know until it is being put into practice. As someone whose product is near the bottom of the voting scale I am personally not insulted or offended by the results I have been getting. This class is a learning opportunity and we are learning about what sells and what doesn’t sell. As someone with a lack of business knowledge this has been very useful to me. If we don’t learn from our perceived weaknesses and mistakes, what is the point?-
schiong
Hi David B.
You have an excellent point.
Honestly, I am new to giving pitches to people I do not know.
For some reason, I get nervous. But, if you asked me to pitch the idea to people
I know (like our school administrators or peers), I will be more “comfortable”.
I guess that is the reality of life that we pitch to investors we have not met.I like the comments given because they are constructive… Well, I am assuming they are constructive or I am looking at it in a constructive perspective. hahaha 🙂
“Think, hear, and speak of no evil?”I think words/ideas/statements can be viewed in a constructive or negative perspective. I am not sure if emotions or disposition got anything to do with it. hahaha. 🙂
What I found really difficult are the following —
a) I believe almost all of the projects presented are great. Sure, it lacks this and that… But, I love them. And choosing the top 3 was a headache.
b) I am not good with words. So, I do not know if my questions or clarifications were conveyed in a positive way. I guess I need the rePhrase app here. hahaha 🙂 or porto to give me the right vocabulary or BreakOut to illustrate my point clearly. hahaha.
c) I could not write a lot of comments because some of the people assigned in the same product already mentioned or highlighted the important ones. I do not like to repeat what was already been said.Actually, some of the products can be integrated to create a new service.
Just quick one … possible integration on Looking at the Cloud + CityConneX + Connect LMS.
Some of the learning applications can also be integrated. I noticed that what the other apps lack (features).. exists in another product presented. 🙂Of course, it needs tweaking. But, the possibility is there and it could be fun.
I guess I just love to see the beauty in each product and find ways it could complement the other.cheers,
Steve
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Allie
Hi David et al,
I wonder if in lieu of yes or no, there might be a scale? I mention this because I think you said earlier on in term that investors/analysts might see a good idea, but want to also work with the entrepreneur to tweak it, or refine it considerably before it is market ready – hence this is more than a financial commitment. I’m thinking of something like:
4) yes this pitch is ready – little need for changes
3) yes this idea is original and really interesting – let’s do some work to it (elaborated in comments)
2) there’s a kernel of something really good here, but the pitch could be revised and resubmitted (elaborated in comments)
1) I’m afraid I don’t think we’re a match/it’s not you, it’s me-
David William Price
I think using a rubric is a brilliant idea. I tried using Vogt’s criteria from the week we reviewed real pitches because I thought it would be objective and fair to everyone (because that’s the criteria they used to evaluate others). While I felt those criteria were great for taking on the analyst role (which, quite honestly, was my focus) I think your suggestion is a brilliant one for handling the pedagogical side.
I think it’s important not to take away from the effort people took to evaluate pitches. I spent hours viewing and reviewing and trying to answer questions from Vogt’s criteria. I also found that the world limits severely impacted my reviews… they became pretty telegraphic due to my efforts to squeeze down to the required limits while still touching not the criteria.
A rubric with some more nuances would certainly help scaffold feedback.
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Deb Giesbrecht
I, respectfully, disagree.
I feel, like Allie, that ETEC 522 did not provide a *safe* and collaborative environment in which to trial (and error) student work. Unfortunately I already handed in my class evaluation before this week, and therefore missed the opportunity to add my ‘constructive’ criticism. Fortunately though, I will have forgotten this course and its contents by this time next week.Have a great break everyone!
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jenaca
Assignment #3-Comments
I found assignment #3 to be very interesting and overwhelming at the same time. Like most of you, I spent hours trying to perfect my elevator pitch as well as my venture pitch- working out the glitches and essentially trying to gain your “investment”. I am very proud of what I created and I know […]
Continue reading Assignment #3-Comments Posted in: Uncategorized-
mcquaid
Hi, Jenaca.
I don’t think you’re really off the mark. You’re just being honest in giving your view of how the course is made at this point – I’m sure David V. will take it as constructive criticism, too!
I don’t think anyone needs to vote anything down, either… it’s not a constructive evaluation (although I found it interesting to see how David WP’s last post started garnering negative votes, then the post’s category was taken away so that no votes were shown… obviously he must have touched on some people’s nerves if they felt like voting his post down). We have all put a lot of work into both parts of our pitches, and, as much as I wait with some anxiety, I want to see what everyone says of my pitch, good or bad. I hope reviewers do for me like I have (I think) done for others – try to respectfully give the good points and to-work-on points, while keeping (hopefully) an overall positive tone. The thoughts of ten of our peers are pretty invaluable – I’m glad to get them, “good” or “bad”. I’m hoping to finish my three big posts tonight, and then applying votes to them as well as others whose elevator pitches I fancied but didn’t have to review. I won’t be clicking any “down” arrows as I go.Cheers,
Stephen
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verenanz
Good for you Jeneca! I totally agree with you…we are here to learn and make mistakes…If we had already made a milion dollars off of our product, we’d have the marketing money to put into making a “different” marketing product. Instead- we have put in our own sweat, blood and tears (it was a rough week) and I appreciate your comments.
I am in China and I am dying to see the video pitches next week! I can’t access any of them from here! I am so impressed with the quality and efforts of the work I have seen (through written pitches) but it isn’t the same without the videos…..You don’t know what you are missing..until it is gone.
Thank you for this note Jenaca.
Verena:) -
Everton Walker
Hi All,
I totally agree too! Obviously, we are not experts yet and therefore our efforts should be treated accordingly. Putting others down doesn’t help the situation after such hard work.
Everton
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jarvise
Hi Jenaca and all,
I definitely hear what you are saying here. I had a really hard time voting down a few of my assigned pitches, but felt that I had to within the confines of the assignment, and felt really bad afterwards. I understand the rationale behind doing it (in the real world, those putting forward pitches would have to face rejection) but you make some good points regarding this being a learning forum and a learning community. It seems as though we can place our critiques and positive comments in the comments sections, while not having to vote down a pitch. It would still be evident which pitches are garnering the most positive support by only using the up voting options. Its difficult in learning communities to impose negative feedback on our peers; part of what fosters a good environment for learning is the feeling that you are supported (though not unquestionably) and safe taking risks.
Interestingly, at the start of the course I had asked about the pulsepress feature not being made available for individual posts (outside of the initial forum) and David had expressed that it was not on there so that people would not feel hurt by having their posts voted down. This makes sense, since the bulk of the course would have functioned to support community. Perhaps enabling it for this forum moves the focus from one of formative assessment to one of summative assessment.
There are definitely pros and cons to having it enabled for this forum. I can see both sides, and I’m not sure what I would do if I were designing the course.
Isn’t ambivalence the best?
Emily
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David William Price
I really didn’t want to vote on anything but I interpreted it as a requirement of the assignment. As previously mentioned, my encouragement of people to do face-based elevator pitches, a comment and nothing more, was voted down prior to my removing it’s week 13 tag. I removed the tag because I didn’t see how voting comments down made any sense.
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David William Price
Actually, I’d add that I didn’t vote on anything until I saw people negatively voting on my pitch…. and my comment. So I thought I’d initially misinterpreted the voting requirement and went back through it again.
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Allie
Hi Jenaca,
I’m really glad that you posted this, as I was feeling a little troubled all yesterday. I’m grateful for your leadership on this – and Deb G’s too. I had been considering suggesting that perhaps this component of the course should be private posts, only viewable to members of the class. However, I wanted to sleep on it.Something that is concerning me is that some students’ professional identities are attached to their work in ETEC 522. This could be very beneficial in some ways – but I think that when people’s work is being slammed, then this could negatively impact them in their careers. This is especially the case for those of us who are early career or changing careers.
More positively, if you go to the blog dashboard, and click on all posts, you can see the positive and negative votes for everyone’s posts. I was really heartened to see that while people are voting positively, very few people are voting proposals down. Crowdsourcing at work!
A-
David William Price
How do you feel anything is being “slammed”? I applied Vogt’s pitch criteria that we were given in week 2 and I simply encouraged people to do face-based pitches because they would be expected in the business world. I guess no one watches Dragon’s Den.
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Angela Novoa
Hi Jenaca,
As some have mentioned in this discussion forum, I agree. I think that suggesting not to have the option of voting negatively is appropriate. One of the things that challenges us (and in my case at the same time motivates me) is that we are asked to accomplish goals in a professional manner. This does not imply that the product will be perfect, but it does imply that we must do our best to succeed. And from my experience in MET, I think that we do our best. So, I think that voting negatively on the work of others could be negative not only on the students’ perception of the effort spent on the assignment but also on what Allie mentions: as our professional identities can appear on the Web linked to ETEC 522’s postings. This could negatively impact in someone’s career.
In addition, I would suggest that this activity (as an activity of peer evaluation) could be held before submitting the assignment. It would be very constructive to receive feedback from peers before submitting the pitch. In some courses (ETEC 532 and ETEC 531) I remember we did a similar activity before the due date.
Angela.
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David William Price
I wasn’t surprised or upset that people voted negatively on my pitch (the negative votes on my comment about face-to-face pitches was totally different – a comment isn’t designed for voting, it’s just a point of view).
As Vogt said, most pitches fail and people evaluate pitches for many different reasons. I didn’t see Vogt’s criteria applied to my pitch explicitly, but I accepted that regardless of the comments people made, MOST people did not like my pitch based on the voting. That means I did not connect with them. That makes me go read the comments and think about how I could change that.
I have no concerns that people voting my pitch down will affect my career. I think it is far more likely that if any judgments will be made, it will be based on how we respond to critiques.
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Angela Novoa
Hi David,
I get what you mean. Maybe we did not understand the purpose of voting from the beginning.
Angela.
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Julie S
Hi Jenaca,
I think you have made a good point here about constructive criticism. I am working on my participation portfolio right now and looked at the category called “constructive response”. This is what it says:
Constructive Response – Actively follows discussion threads to provide constructive responses that celebrate, elaborate and encourage the contributions of participants
I think that there is nothing wrong with the voting up or down but the feedback to our peers should be done in the spirit of celebration, elaboration, and encouragement. This is not an MBA program. This is an Educational Technology program where we are experimenting with technologies as we learn about new ventures and how to present our new ventures for funding. I know there is a difference in what I focussed on in this project than I would have if it would have been purely a venture program.
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Juliana
Hi Jenaca,
I just wanted to chime in here. As Emily mentioned above, I don’t like voting people down either. I would rather give positive votes for the ones I was for and withhold my vote for the others. I think that would still work.
Juliana.
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David William Price
Elevators… don’t have PowerPoint
I watched each of my assigned elevator pitches four or five times. My business experience is limited, but I have done real elevator pitches and worked on real venture pitches that were presented to investors. What I learned from that experience was you have to present yourself as a credible person: you are expected to […]
Continue reading Elevators… don’t have PowerPoint Posted in: Uncategorized-
mcquaid
Just to play the EVAA role, here (Educational Venture Analyst Antagonist)… with today’s technology, it would actually be possible to project a presentation on the inside of an elevator. If I was in an elevator with someone, and they could show me their ideas in that way, I would be seriously impressed.
I agree with your purist ideas of the pitch… (length, personal touch, etc.), but I think that the pitches can advance a bit with the times as well. Heck… many years ago, what may they have been called… hydraulic lift pitches? Funicular Pitches? Archimedes’ lifting device pitch? “So… Hiero… I have this idea about figuring out if your crown is pure gold or not, but I’ll need to use the crown. Here, hop on my lift with me. I’ll tell you about it…”
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David William Price
Again, it’s not about the technology, it’s about the personal credibility. It’s about demonstrating your confidence, passion, and grasp of the issues by speaking directly face-to-face with someone. It’s about selling yourself, not the idea. Ideas really are dime a dozen. The investor’s interest is whether they should invest in you, initially with time, later with resources and contact.
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schiong
hi,
A person without product … I guess a conman would probably win the race.
cheers,
Steve-
David William Price
A conman gets your attention. Then you do your due diligence before making an investment.
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David William Price
Perhaps to help put things in perspective… Winklevoss vs Zuckerberg?
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bcourey
My concern with most of the face-to-face videos I see on YouTube that are pitching their products are so amateurish that they defeat the purpose in my opinion..hollow acoustics, bad shadowing, bad lighting, bad angles….unless a person is willing to spend the bucks and get one done professionally with proper lighting, sound system and a great backdrop, I believe I am making a better impression with a powerpoint.
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Deb Kim
I agree with you, Brenda. Rather than presenting myself under bad shadowing and bad lighting, I’d make it more professional with a powerpoint. For my elevator pitch, although I only used my voice (not myself infront of the camera), I still spent a tremendous amount of time and effort. Many of the elevator pitch that I watched didn’t have the F2F videos, I still liked them a lot. For example, Doug’s elevator pitch only had his voice, but it still looked very professional.
Deb
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David William Price
I think you’re really misunderstanding this post. I am not suggesting that as a business entrepreneur you video yourself doing a pitch then send people links to that video.
A real elevator pitch is something you do in person when you bump into someone. While you may want to produce an attractive ad to sell your idea, that’s not even an option in that circumstance. I am encouraging people to focus on the experience of creating that pitch and delivering it. This assignment was both an opportunity to share your pitch through video, and to comment about the role of pitches for entrepreneurs.
An investor relies on you to actually make the business work. The good impression you want to create comes from you speaking in person with warmth and passion.
Stephen makes the point about con men. Well, what do con men do? They develop your trust based on talking to you. That’s step one. The next step is then to provide necessary information for due diligence, so you can establish what they claim is true.
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Deb Giesbrecht
yikes – I take back all my positive comments. Technology is about how you use it and if it can benefit your case by all means.
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David William Price
“I take back all my positive comments”
Grad seminars are about sharing diverse perspectives and challenging your own comfort zone. I’d encourage you to consider the post in the spirit it was intended… encouraging people to go out and sell themselves in person, face-to-face, and establish their personal credibility.
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Deb Giesbrecht
Missed the spirit of encouragement. I am all for constructive criticism – constructive being the key word. Constructive criticism will be incorporated into each of our marks with comments on how to improve when David sends out our final evaluations. I think educators have a propensity to be critical – as that is the nature of their role – some how in the guise of trying to improve character or behavior. Nurses on the other hand tend to nurture – believing we can attract more bees with honey versus vinegar.
This course was well beyond my comfort zone as it was – I am not from a business background and likely would not have ventured into this material had I known how much it strayed from traditional course work in this program – so I applaud everyone who actually finished the assignment – powerpoint or not. I am truly amazed at the creativity and diversity (and tech savvy ) ideas that came across and applaud the diversity of presentations. Truly a reflection of a resilient and creative group.
I do not use elevator pitches in my personal, professional or academic life – and am still able to eek out a truly successful career and personal life and have based a long successful working history on personal credibility built on honesty and fairness. I did not have to sell anything – I have no plans on changing my habits.
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schiong
Hi David,
I think you make a very good point about selling oneself.
I will remember that if I need to pitch in the future.cheers,
Steve -
Allie
Hi David,
I wanted to say thanks for the time and effort you put into critiquing my E- and VP; you were really rigorous, and I’ll be taking your comments into account in further revisions should I pursue my idea. I have to say, when you wrote that your evaluations may be ‘cold,’ I immediately thought: uh-huh. And I came away from your critiques relatively unscathed.I know that you’re intending your contributions to be ultimately encouraging and constructive, but I’m not sure they’re playing out that way. In truth, to my eyes/ears, they sound a little less ‘hey, let’s develop this nugget of awesomeness,’ and more ‘you(r work) SUCKS.’ I completely get that you’re playing the role of a prospective investor, and that that world isn’t sunshine, lollipops and rainbows. However, even in that *virtual* scenario, your – and all of our – *actual* roles as educators and colleagues never go away. I think this is especially the case when we’re doing all of this in public. People’s professional identities are on the line. True confession: I’m glad that the name that I use professionally isn’t attached to a publicly accessible, itemized list of my (work’s) deficiencies. Especially since I’m on the job market.
I guess, what I want to say is that while I appreciate that you bring a very rigorous approach to your critiques, I think – no, make that I know – that one can be both tough and rigorous, and kind. I know this because I learned from the best – in my previous life, I was pursuing a research career before deciding to pursue education; my doctoral adviser is tough, bloody demanding, and *hella supportive* at the same time**. She pushed me further than I thought I could go, and I always knew she had my back. I’ve been an adjunct prof for three years at UBC, and I continually draw on her example in working with my own students. Not that I’m always successful, but, you know, work in progress.
I also think that as educators/education students – with feedback and evaluation forming a huge part of what we do professionally – the onus is on us to develop and role model effective feedback/eval techniques and mechanisms that genuinely facilitate growth. It’s our social role, and perhaps our competitive advantage too.
Like… everyone else?… writing an E- and VP is completely new to me. This was my very first go, and I think I did pretty well especially given that I’m more conversant in Marxist critique than in venture capitalism (another true confession: kinda glad that isn’t publicly associated with my professional identity given job market ;). The only similar experience I have is writing grant and fellowship proposals – equally tough market and crowd, and equally dependent on making a solid, well researched case. Just like this class, in graduate school, we wrote and workshopped proposals that we submitted to national and international competitions. I have a pretty good record, but I’m glad that first attempt of mine from my first year of my Master’s isn’t floating out there on the internet.
yours,
Allie**I have to say, her critiques – which could be blistering – were always contained within closed, confidential environments. She simply wouldn’t put us on her panels at conferences or write us reference letters unless she thought we were ready (after all, her name is on the line too), but when she had us out there publicly, she went to bat for us. I say this to underscore the private/public nature of all this.
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David Vogt
A4 Submissions
Some of you are ready for your A4 (Participation Portfolio) submissions, so here are a few details. The first part is simple – select your example set of 5-10 postings, capture their links, wrap them together with a short overview of your participation, and email that directly to me. The second part is also simple, […]
Continue reading A4 Submissions Posted in: Announcements, Questions & Answers-
Deb Giesbrecht
yes – thank-you – the workload was plenty.
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schiong
Hi
I agree.
I think the challenging part is going through the 10 assigned A3.
The A3s I am currently reviewing are all good. Unfortunately, we can only choose 3. -
kstooshnov
Hi David,
Thanks for advice on how to keep the discussion going, and I hope that more students are willing to take you up on the challenge of reviewing past choices in this course, and determining what may have got them to change their mind on certain educational innovations.
In most MET courses, the final week of class is a bit sombre, with most classmates finishing off their assignments and not very interested in starting up new discussions. Usually a few will post their farewells to classmates they enjoyed chatting with, and then in a few weeks the discussion board disappears into the ether, as WebCT will only stay open about a month after the term has ended. Here we have a unique opportunity to keep the discussion going indefinitely, as past examples of ETEC 522’s blog are still active and easily found on-line. It is comforting to know that mine and others’ thoughts and reflections will be accessible in the months and years to come, and I fully intend to keep my Virtual Globe 3.0 post active, with some updating of video content, as a permanent location for future stages of this venture. It would be great to see how many other wonderful ideas in the field of learning technologies can be traced back to this group’s postings.
I really don’t know how much I will be able to post on my original “Emerging Market Poll” as it seems like another lifetime that I made those choices. I would rather like to see where classmates think their ventures will be in five years time, keeping with the forward-thinking push seen in many of the posts so far.
All the best,
Kyle
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Deb Kim
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
Continue reading Math Impossible Posted in: Week 13: Venture Forum-
Jim
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.
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Deb Kim
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
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Everton Walker
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
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Deb Kim
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
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Julie S
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.
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Deb Kim
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
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schiong
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
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
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bcourey
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
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
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Allie
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
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
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Juliana
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.
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Deb Kim
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
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carmen
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!
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Deb Kim
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
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David Berljawsky
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.
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Deb Kim
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
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themusicwoman
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
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
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David Vogt
Let the Venture Forum Begin!…
I’ve now emailed each of you with your venture-review portfolio for the Venture Forum this week. Please let me know immediately if you haven’t received your list. Good luck! David
Continue reading Let the Venture Forum Begin!… Posted in: Announcements-
jarvise
Just to clarify on the voting: do we ‘vote’ for the 3 ventures that we have selected? Can we vote for other ventures that we think are good investments? Was there specific direction for the pulsepress voting?
Thanks,
Emily-
David Vogt
Hi Emily –
I detailed voting instructions in an earlier post.
Briefly, you may vote positively or negatively on the investment worthiness of any venture in the Venture Forum, but I’ve only requested that you vote on the ten (10) ventures assigned to you. All, some or none of your ten may be investment worthy – that is up to your acumen as an EVA.
David
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jarvise
Thanks David. Don’t know how I missed that…
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Everton Walker 5:52 pm on December 8, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
David,
Thanks and same to you.
Everton