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  • Doug Smith 12:28 pm on November 27, 2011
    6 votes
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    Tags: , , LMS, , pitch, , wiki   

    Please visit my Elevator Pitch below for a new Classroom LMS product called “Cloud LMS.” Truth be told, I would prefer to have done a video of myself speaking but a combination of me being a poor line memorizer, along with lighting and camera difficulties, led to the movie below. I like the narration though […]

    Continue reading Cloud Connect Posted in: Week 13: Venture Forum
     
    • andrea 10:11 pm on November 28, 2011 | Log in to Reply

      Hi Doug,
      What a great elevator pitch! I really liked that you were clearly speaking to people about an investment opportunity, but that you also quickly described the product, identified the size of the market and existing issues for schools, and even spoke to the strength of your team’s skills. Well done!
      Andrea

    • jarvise 11:32 am on November 29, 2011 | Log in to Reply

      I like your idea, and the rationale makes a lot of sense. I also liked your last two pages evaluating your own pitch. I wasn’t sure how to get that into my own. I never thought of just blatantly doing it. Good job! I would be hesitant to invest. Not because of any issues with your proposal, per se, but with the nature of the market you are targeting. A direct to schools pitch seems very risky. A lot of products that make so much sense for adoption within schools just can’t get traction, for no particular reason. The culture of the education system is weird this way. Unless you can attain fad status, unfortunately it seems difficult to gain widespread adoption. I would be much more comfortable investing in a product sold directly to students, parents, or companies. That being said, it doesn’t really fit with what you are proposing. I think that there are so many products emerging in this area at this time, that it may be too risky. Especially since many of them are free. Your elevator pitch was one of the best I have seen. Great work!
      Emily

    • Deb Giesbrecht 5:34 pm on November 29, 2011 | Log in to Reply

      Doug,

      I had the same technical issues – not to mention I hate being in front of the camera! I liked your presentation – very well done. The graphics and concepts were very clearly defined and I think the market is very expanse. It would be challenging to set yourself a part from all the other Learning Management Systems out there – but your plan appears to be well researched and very feasible. Your elevator pitch does make me want to investigate the venture further, so I think you effectively did your homework! Great job!

    • Keisha Edwards-Hamilton 8:15 pm on November 29, 2011 | Log in to Reply

      Doug.

      Cloud Connect is a very interesting venture. It grabbed my attention quickly and I am keen on learning about how it works since it promises a new way for learning management systems which in my opinion is much needed today to cater to the different needs of today’s digital age learners.Considering that the LMS market is worth billions as stated, this is a venture I would definitely pursue. Great pitch.

      Keisha

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

      Hi Doug,

      I like the idea of ‘Connect LMS’. The ideas presented in the pitch were clear and could be easily followed. The font size and graphics were very good. I absolutely think it is a brilliant idea especially as institutions are in search of effective and efficient tool to provide learning to a large number of students. The idea of using with primary and high school students is a plausible one and would definitely allow students to acquire conceptual knowledge rather than procedure knowledge at very tender age. Although I think is a good venture, I am concerned about your target market (primary and high school students). I think that your venture would be more marketable if you include the tertiary level students which have been proven to be a good target group.

      Conroy

    • Deb Kim 4:08 pm on November 30, 2011 | Log in to Reply

      Hi Doug,

      This is a great idea! I liked your elevator pitch. It had enough information to grab people’s attention and was made clear what your venture is about. I also liked your venture proposal. When I first saw your elevator pitch, I wondered how Connect LMS would be different from other LMSs. You answered my question in your venture pitch. I especially liked the idea that Connect LMS is based on the currently available software products. It’ll make it easier for customers to use without learning new functions. I also liked the diagrams you added as a reference in your pitch. They made clear what you wanted to say about your venture.

      As you outlined in ‘The Challenge’ in your pitch, I’m also worried how you are going to advertise and compete against the already existing LMS such as Moodle. Moodle is pervasively used in many districts already, so there must be some unique features of Connect LMS that are different and more appealing than Moodle.
      Great work!

      Deb

    • verenanz 12:05 am on December 1, 2011 | Log in to Reply

      Clear, concise – grabs your attention, it was full of facts and details. You had the answers. Great integration of e-portfolio ideas, product based assesment and other themes from this course. Industry Canada would be VERY interested in speaking with you if you are ready to take it to the next step. I could give you a contact if you wanted one.
      Well done!
      Verena:)

    • mcquaid 8:57 am on December 3, 2011 | Log in to Reply

      You’re my last review, Doug. Sorry it took me until now to get to you… on the plus side, though, it’s because you were in my top three!

      After watching your elevator pitch a few times, I wrote a few notes down like:
      – slick-looking
      – talk is a bit fast
      – enticing market
      – I may be in if what I see later is good enough!

      So here I am now, after seeing the rest of the pitch.

      Market-wise, it seems to make a lot of sense. There is definitely a trend for growth (as shown by your LMS infographic on page five), and your market share growth prediction on the same page would mean a growth of 15 – 37.5 million this year alone (in addition to the existing ¾ billion market size). It’s definitely enticing. Your SaaS approach, is good, but I felt a little hesitant when you said you would market it to individual teachers first. I would be worried that that would slow growth down, and by the time you had a strong base, could the window of opportunity for the product be gone?

      When combined with analytics later, the ability to tailor learning for students and make it personalized, I think, is where this could really shine. Personalized learning is pretty “buzzy” lately – who wouldn’t want things to be tailored to fit them, including learning?

      My remaining questions about the program are:

      – As you mentioned, teacher resistance – I wonder if that will be a significant hindrance, like in Zhao and Frank’s paper that looked at technology as an invasive species in a new ecosystem

      – What will really set it apart from its competitors and hook people? (I think you laid this out fairly well, but was waiting / wishing for something to grab me even more)

      – Related to the last point, I’d be scared to death of the free competitors you alluded to.

      – I’m curious as to what makes Shoebridge a “visionary” – I’ll have to look him up…

      – Just something nitpicky, from an LA teacher – your lack of hyphens for terms like “classroom based” drove me a little nuts!

      Overall, I thought that this was a good idea with great potential. With a little more tweaking after your EVA critiques here, you could be really on to something!

      Cheers!

      Stephen

      https://www.msu.edu/user/k/e/kenfrank/web/papers/Factors%20affecting%20technology%20uses%20in%20schools.pdf

    • khenry 5:24 pm on December 4, 2011 | Log in to Reply

      Hi Doug,
      Very good job on the elevator pitch! You had a good balance of voice and visuals and really got all the essential elements within your time. Nice tone and pace, but at times the pace teetered on being a little fast but you held it just enough. I clearly heard your problem, your solution, the competence of your team and reason for your venture, your market and market focus. I also read through your pitch. My main question would be would I really pay for this when I can access elements for free. Therefore, I think your focus and use of learning analytics and personalised programs along with increased collaboration and choice of user with tools are essential. Good job.

      Kerry-Ann

  • Deb Kim 1:35 pm on November 28, 2011
    3 votes
    |

    Tags: collaboration, , , , pitch, ,   

    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 7:11 pm on November 28, 2011 | Log in to Reply

      Hi Deb,

      I really liked your elevator pitch… I am not sure where you found that video of the guy turning off the laser beams but it was perfect for your “mission, I mean Math impossible” theme. I suppose the main question that I still have as an investor is how is your product distinct from the thousands of free mathematics resources for teachers and students already online? Math resources are probably one of the best covered areas on the Web in terms of free resources. Before I hand you $1 million, I would need to get a sense, right away from your elevator pitch, of how and why your service/product would be unique and worth paying for.

      • Deb Kim 12:26 pm on November 30, 2011 | Log in to Reply

        Hi Jim,

        Thank you for the feedback. I found this cool powerpoint template from http://www.presentermedia.com. I did venture analysis on his company for A1.
        There is a reason I didn’t give a lot of details of Math Impossible in the elevator pitch. It was to grab audience’s attention and to make them more curious about what the venture would be. I thought it’d be too much information releasing if I gave too many details in the elevator pitch.

        As a math teacher, I’ve been trying to use math resources available online, but I haven’t found really good one that provides a question bank. My venture will focus more on to a question bank and a question generator so that teachers can have free access to it whenever they need questions for exams/tests/quizzes/handouts. Exam banks that are currently available out there cost too much money and it’s a little shame to tell you that most of the secondary schools that I’ve been working don’t have enough resources. Eventually teachers just had to share each other’s resources and it’s very limited. So, I don’t agree with you that “math resources are probably one of the best covered areas on the Web in terms of free resources”.

        Deb

    • Everton Walker 7:47 pm on November 28, 2011 | Log in to Reply

      Deb,

      First, I must say good job since we are not experts yet. I like the math concept especially when one considers that many students are not learning the concepts the traditional ways. Obviously, you are going to have competition from other sources, but as time goes by you will be able fix whatever problems surfaced.

      Everton

      • Deb Kim 12:30 pm on November 30, 2011 | Log in to Reply

        Hi Everton,

        Thank you for the feedback. New venture always has competition from other ventures, so we always have to come up with better ideas.
        My venture has a unique point system so that teachers and students can use accumulated points to purchase questions and school materials. I didn’t give many details in the elevator pitch to increase curiosity from people and make them want to watch the actual venture pitch.

        Deb

    • Julie S 8:12 pm on November 28, 2011 | Log in to Reply

      Great elevator pitch Deb! I think having a really upbeat and engaging elevator pitch is critical for your venture – especially if what Jim says is true. You really need to grab the attention and hold it with the longer venture pitch to get those dollars.

      • Deb Kim 12:36 pm on November 30, 2011 | Log in to Reply

        Hi Julie,

        Thank you for the feedback. My purpose for not giving a lot of details in the elevator pitch was to grab people’s attention so that they would get more curious and want to watch the venture pitch to discover what Math Impossible is all about. I guess it had a reverse effect instead. I’ll add more information that can grab the audience’s attention next time.

        Thank you!

        Deb

    • schiong 12:31 pm on November 29, 2011 | Log in to Reply

      Hi Deb,

      Lovely presentation.
      I was very interested with your project because I know many students are struggling with MATH. I have seen several MATH tutorials online. I believe Khan Academy started with Math tutorials as well.

      I agree that learning Math is possible. Falling in-love might require some work.
      I tried to view your venture pitch. But, I could not access it.
      I am curious how you are going to go about your project and which Math topics would you be covering like Calculus, Trigonometry, etc …

      I am also curious how your product would improve the learner’s internal mental process.
      Another thing is, is it easy to navigate and does it suggests the next suitable tutorial ?
      Most of the math tutorials out there would require the learner to know exactly what he is looking for. Not all learners know exactly where to begin and how to move forward.

      cheers,
      Stephen

      • Deb Kim 12:49 pm on November 30, 2011 | Log in to Reply

        Hi Stephen,

        Can you still not access my venture pitch?
        Let me know. If you still can’t, I’ll send you another link. You have to view it with Window Media Player.

        I’ll briefly answer your questions. Math Impossible is an online resource program focusing specifically on building a question bank for teachers and students. It’ll cover all the math topics from K-12. As a math teacher, I found out that most of the math resources available online were not of big help, especially when it comes to creating a quiz/test/handout. Resources that are available at school (either in DVD or paper) are not enough for many teachers so we end up making our own and share. My venture idea came from there. If we could share resources that we have not just within school but also in cyberspace, we would be able to create a gigantic question bank.
        For students, there are not many extra question workbook that students can work on other than textbooks. So, students can use Math Impossible to do extra exercise questions and collect points to purchase school items online.

        I haven’t thought about giving an online tutorial session in Math Impossible, but it’s a great idea if we can provide a tutorial session. That way, the learner can determinie where to begin.

        It’s my venture idea and your feedback is always appreciated as it’s in the imaginative stage at the moment.
        Thank you, Stephen!

        Deb

    • bcourey 5:13 pm on November 29, 2011 | Log in to Reply

      Great pitches Deb..I too really enjoyed the animation – it really did fit well with your topic. Your elevator pitch didn’t give me many details about your venture, but your longer pitch gave me all the information I needed! This is a great idea to have the collaborative nature of the application – for teachers and students. I was really intriqued by your points system and wonder how that will be tracked and monitored – could it get very complicated? I would love to know the “decent price” point that you mentioned to know if school boards or parents, students, and teachers would find it affordable. Great work!
      Brenda

      • Deb Kim 12:58 pm on November 30, 2011 | Log in to Reply

        Hi Brenda,

        Thank you for the feedback.
        As for the point system, I haven’t really thought in details. However, since teachers would be evaluating others’ questions and give peer review on them (including the level of difficulty, the topic covered, etc.), it wouldn’t be so complicated. So simply said, each question would be worth a point or two. There would also be employed analysts who would work on the point system.

        As for the “decent price”, I heard that 30% of an Apple app goes to Apple and 70% goes to the creator. So, I believe if it’s $0.99 (or make it free) for the Math Impossible app, it’d be decent for them.
        Thanks!

        Deb

    • Allie 5:18 pm on November 29, 2011 | Log in to Reply

      Hi Deb,
      Good job! I echo a lot of what previous people have said… your pitch is fun and genuinely engaging, which is at least half the battle. And like Jim and Stephen, I’m wondering about how it competes with ample competition, and exactly how it works. What platform will it use? and is it a question bank – or does it do something more. I think Stephen makes a great point when he suggests that existing math instruction strategies and products might not really be doing the job as well as they could. How does Math Possible build on their weaknesses – to indeed make math possible?
      I don’t know if you checked out School of One which we featured in social analytics week. It’s a cool program used in NY schools to teach math – it uses learner analytics to design highly individualized routes through the math curriculum to build on learners’ existing strengths.
      Allie
      p.s. disclaimer 1: this is all from your elev pitch; i haven’t yet read your venture pitch
      disclaimer 2: i haven’t touched math since grade 11 when I might have squeezed out a B in the subject. Not my forte.

      • Deb Kim 3:44 pm on November 30, 2011 | Log in to Reply

        Hi Allie,

        Thank you for the feedback. Yes, Math Impossible will take place in online space where math teachers can collaborate to build a question bank. For students, it will be an exercise bank. So, it has two different question banks, one to support teachers creating questions for quizzes/tests/exams, and the other one to support student learning and improving their mathematical problem solving skills.

        I grew up in Korea and you probably know that most Korean students are strong at Math. I remember purchasing a lot of extra workbooks, at least 3 or 4 each year I took Math. There are lots of resources available from various publishing companies in Korea that I not only relied on the textbook but also relied on those workbooks that I purchased to work on my weak areas in Math. Here in Vancouver, there are a few educational book stores that sell math workbooks and some schools use them instead of textbooks. However, they are very expensive (usually $30 or more), and the number of questions in the workbook is limited. Once students understand the concepts of a certain topic, it’s important for him/her to try as many similar questions as possible until he/she gets familiar with it. This means that the student needs some free resources to access. My venture idea came from there.
        It’ll be available both online, like Moodle (LMS), and the app.
        Thank you for your questions, Allie. I hope I answered them all. 🙂

        Deb

    • Juliana 9:06 pm on November 29, 2011 | Log in to Reply

      Hi Deb,

      Here is my detailed analysis of your venture.

      I really enjoyed your elevator and your venture pitch. I thought your elevator pitch was especially catchy, innovative and it made me want to learn more. In addition, your venture was deceptively simple and as this is an open source idea, I think there is a good potential to have a following.

      Pain Point and Solution: I think you did a great job outlining the pain point and how your venture would provide the appropriate solution. I thought it was very innovative in how you would take advantage of social media to not only increase interaction but work to create your question back.

      Differentiation: You did a great job outlining the differentiation of your product in that it does have a points system and that it does take advantage of social media. In addition, using the points system to encourage the building of your database was a very good idea. I was thinking that instead of using their points to buy rulers and erasers, if you had it set up so that students could use their accumulated points to buy other apps or iTune downloads, you would probably increase usage and interaction.

      Marketing: I was wondering why you were targeting the Lower Mainland area only. I thought this would be a good program to take nationally and internationally. In addition, as you are dealing with numbers, language won’t be a huge issue unless you are dealing with word problems. I do agree that students from different countries may have difficulties when doing discussions, but numbers have a universal language to them and it can be easy for people to follow how a solution is derived.

      Championship: Nothing was mentioned on this. I would have liked to know more about who would be creating the system and who was carrying out this venture.

      Competition: You did cover this and you mentioned that there were not a lot of resources for Maths.

      The Ask and the Return: Nothing was really mentioned

      Excellent job!

      Juliana.

      • Deb Kim 10:32 pm on December 1, 2011 | Log in to Reply

        Hi Juliana,

        It’s always good to “see” you in cyberspace. 🙂
        Thank you for your through feedback.

        As for marketing, I wanted to start with the Lower Mainland to see how my customers would respond to my venture and then expand the area. However, you pointed out well that it wouldn’t be a problem taking Math Impossible internationally as it’s dealing mostly with numbers. I didn’t put in my venture pitch, but I was thinking of taking this globally as teachers all over the world could have access to Math Impossible to build a question bank in different languages. As Math Impossible will be a management system that consists of a question bank, creating a question bank according to a specific language wouldn’t be a problem. Once again, I have to emphasize that this is only my venture “idea”. I didn’t pitch an existing venture, so you and other coursemates’ opinions/feedback are always appreciated.

        For the Championship part, if you are asking who would be “maintaining” the system, it’d be math teachers who join Math Impossible. As for creating the system, it’ll be starting with a group of Math teachers (probably my friends and colleagues) who like my venture idea and wish to support.

        Thanks!
        Have a wonderful Christmas. It’s been nice working with you, especially for A2. 🙂

        Deb

    • carmen 10:52 am on December 2, 2011 | Log in to Reply

      Great job on the pitches, Deb. As others have mentioned, your pitches are very engaging and the 3D guy certainly grabbed my attention! To be honest, I was a bit disappointed to see the price tag of these templates. ..

      Great concept of creating question bank that we can all share. With the idea of “social eBooks” maybe teachers can collaborate to improve on the teaching materials to make math “possible”. 🙂

      I do believe there is a market for your venture idea as I feel the same problem we have in Vancouver. Though there are lots of free worksheets online, they are not tailored to the BC curriculum, and it could take a long time before a teacher can find something at the right level and topic. You might want to look at Koofers.com.. This venture is also about sharing and rating questions and lecture notes.

      Thanks for the interesting pitches!

      • Deb Kim 5:44 pm on December 4, 2011 | Log in to Reply

        Hi Carmen,

        Thank you for your feedback.
        I hope there is a market for my venture idea in Vancouver. As you said, a lot of free math resources online are not based on the BC curriculum. Therefore, it’s an exigent matter that BC teachers collaborate to share resources which are tailored to the BC curriculum.

        Thanks for the link to the website. I haven’t heard of Koofers.com yet, so it’ll help me come up with more ideas.

        Deb

    • David Berljawsky 8:08 am on December 3, 2011 | Log in to Reply

      Hi Deb,

      Great hook and great presentation. I though that it was well researched and entertaining at the same time which is a very difficult thing to do. The animations were excellent and straight to the point. The added to the presentation, instead of just acting as eye candy. Fantastic.

      The elevator pitch was great, made me want to hear more about the project right away. To me this is a great indicator that you had a great presentation. As a math and technology teacher I can see that you are passionate about the porject and the potential that it has. This was obvious in your project.

      David.

      • Deb Kim 6:02 pm on December 4, 2011 | Log in to Reply

        Hi David,

        Thank you for your feedback.
        It’s my venture idea so far, but I hope to see it happen in the near future. It’ll be a great resource and the opportunity for many math teachers, not just in BC but also in other areas.

        Deb

    • themusicwoman 8:08 pm on December 3, 2011 | Log in to Reply

      Dear Deb,
      Love the mission impossible, er, math impossible theme for elevator pitch. It was catchy and made me want to know more which was then laid out very nicely in your venture pitch. Will agree with some of the comments made previously (cost of templates, yikes, lol) and I think you found a product that is certainly worth looking into. Thanks!
      Michelle

      • Deb Kim 6:10 pm on December 4, 2011 | Log in to Reply

        Hi Michelle,

        I know! PresenterMedia has great templates (both animated and regular) but it costs a lot. So what I’m doing is that, since I’ve paid for a year already, I’ve been saving almost every single clipart, template, and image to my external hard drive. I’m planning to do that for the next couple of months until my 1 year contract with them is over. Then, I can use them whenever I want.

        Deb

  • Doug Smith 5:24 am on September 21, 2011
    0 votes
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    Tags: , , , EVA, pitch   

      The WeBook elevator pitch features a composed president of the company giving a 60 second overview of her company.  We are told that WeBook would like to upend the publishing business by bringing writers together and using a community voting system to bring new books to the market.  It is their hope to do […]

    Continue reading WeBook: is it realistic? Posted in: Week 03: Analyst Bootcamp
     
    • jenaca 7:12 am on September 21, 2011 | Log in to Reply

      I agree with you, the pitch was very good and I too would like to learn more about WeBooks company. I also watched this pitch and found that they identified their goals and within the first 10 seconds stated her pain pitch.
      I also believe she included lots of examples of why one would want to join her. However I felt she lacked stating why WeBook will become more successful than the current competitors out there. She did state good facts, but nothing really to make me want to jump on board with her!
      Great find!

    • andrea 4:47 pm on September 21, 2011 | Log in to Reply

      Hi Doug, you make a great point with “there is a large divide between publishing a book and selling a book.” I wasn’t clear also if WEBook is publishing print copies or mostly e-books. And how are they marketing and distributing their books? I’d be interested to know more about the company.

    • Everton Walker 5:31 pm on September 21, 2011 | Log in to Reply

      Doug,

      I like your take on the pitch. It is clear that they know what they are about and aiming to get there. However, in typical advertising mode, I think the presenter exaggerated to some extent about 50bn dollar target. I can’t blame her anyways as one needs to sell their product with optimism and bit of sensationalism.

    • ifeoma 6:18 pm on September 21, 2011 | Log in to Reply

      Hi Doug,
      Nice one! On your opinion about the president, I agree. I also think she sounds quite confident and I can also relate to your mixed feelings. You have worded it well by saying, “I believe they greatly overstate the impact they could make” I also had questions about the marketing of WEpublished books and am not sure how long it took to build the capacity of 1,500 book projects and their growth rate is not mentioned. The President simply says, they are growing quickly- well how quickly?
      However, the pitch inspired enough curiosity in me with their idea of “open publishing” to want to know more.

    • Doug Smith 8:31 pm on September 24, 2011 | Log in to Reply

      In terms of market size, I really liked David Hansson’s presentation. He effectively deconstructs the stigma of not wanting to be an instant billionaire. Why does WeBook want to upend a $50B market? Frankly speaking, those terms are rediculous. At one of my past jobs we were quite happy with trying to get a 5% share of a $5B market. Even that scale is usually risky for a VC. These days it is even harder to get capital. Wallstreet is tight and it takes fire to fight fire. If you want to topple a $50B market, you had better be prepared to spend $100’s of millions. Or be lucky.

  • Kristopher 8:42 pm on September 20, 2011
    0 votes
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    Tags: , pitch, SmugMug   

    SmugMug Elevator Pitch The SmugMug elevator pitch by Doug Macaskill (CEO) focuses on SmugMug’s competitive advantage and somewhat tackles a pain point from an eGiant: the CEO highlights SmugMug’s premium, part-of-the-club nature with no advertising which contrasts it with Google’s everyone’s welcome and targeted advertising. The CEO’s delivery is a different approach: he is calm, […]

    Continue reading SmugMug Elevator Pitch Posted in: Week 03: Analyst Bootcamp
     
    • hall 3:16 am on September 21, 2011 | Log in to Reply

      I viewed SmugMug elevator pitch which I think is a very good product. I concur with you on the description of the CEO. I think that the background noise to near of the presentation was distracting which could turn off viewers.

      • kstooshnov 10:16 am on September 21, 2011 | Log in to Reply

        HI Conroy,

        If you click on a few other clips of elevator pitches from techcrunch, they all have the brownish solarized effect, and the background noise is consistent. At one point, I heard the timer start, sounding like a chime you would hear in an elevator. Despite efforts to make it seem like these pitches take place in an elevator, it is evident that they are happening in a noisy conference hall, so even more trying for the pitcher to catch the listener’s attention.

        Kyle

    • jenaca 7:06 am on September 21, 2011 | Log in to Reply

      I also viewed SmugMug elevator pitch. I agree that it is a very good product however, I think he could have focused more on what the future plans are for his product.

    • David William Price 9:24 am on September 21, 2011 | Log in to Reply

      This never explains what the problem is… why would I use the product? Why is it better? Why not describe the difference in interface design or philosophy? Lumping BMW and Toyota together is pretty bizarre. Why are the photos “bigger”? Why is this important? Why do they look “better than anywhere else on the web”? Having paying customers sounds good… but what are they paying? What are revenues? More importantly, what are profits?

  • jarvise 7:01 am on September 19, 2011
    0 votes
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    Tags: , pitch   

    In a classic Simpson’s episode, the town is convinced to buy a monorail by a slick salesman. What distinguishes a good salesperson from a good pitch is a message that is not only persuasive, but is competitive and marketable. This company – Evernote – smartly offers a free basic service (that can be upgraded), employing […]

    Continue reading evernote in under 200 words… Posted in: Week 03: Analyst Bootcamp
     
    • bcourey 4:41 pm on September 19, 2011 | Log in to Reply

      I have been using Evernote for some time now, and I am a huge fan of the tool, but if I had watched this pitch first, I may never have tried it. For a quick pitch, there should have been a greater effort to catch my attention – having the CEO standing still in front of the camera, speaking a bit too quickly in my view (at times it was not easy to distinguish his words). I would expect this type of pitch to come from a high-school student who has just created his first free-ware assignment in class. Maybe I am being too harsh, but I would not buy his product, let alone invest in it….and like I said, I love his product after all!! How did I learn about it? Word-of-mouth by trusted friends who are also big fans of the product. The idea is great…but I find the pitch far too amateur-ish.

    • Karen Jones 6:03 pm on September 19, 2011 | Log in to Reply

      I also find that both the appearance of the presenter and the lack of “visuals” leave me unclear and uninterested about most of the products promoted by these elevator pitches, including this one. I guess the CEO’s Everclear logo t-shirt and clean, non-distracting background are improvements over some of the pitches on Youtube, but I guess I need the motivation of an assignment to listen to any of them twice! Maybe I have “caught” ADHD from my students. Perhaps, if my money was on the line …?

      • jarvise 6:51 am on September 20, 2011 | Log in to Reply

        Hi Karen,
        I have been noticing the lack of visuals in these pitches as well. It doesn’t seem as though the presenters are taking advantage of what new media has to offer. I keep wondering if this is something that is a key characteristic of elevator pitches (that we are supposed to be focusing on the person face to face). I did a little digging and found the following article that debates the current status of the elevator pitch: http://www.theworkbuzz.com/career-advice/is-the-elevator-pitch-outdated/

        • Karen Jones 5:52 pm on September 20, 2011 | Log in to Reply

          Hey! Great link, Emily. It did make me reflect about this whole process, and how sometimes when I’m being a talking head up at the front of the class, the best approach would be an elevator pitch, especially given the short attention spans of my victims, I mean, students.

    • David William Price 12:37 pm on September 20, 2011 | Log in to Reply

      I’m not a fan of feature lists as pitches. I prefer to hear a story about a problem and how their venture will solve that problem and take advantage of a huge market and competitive barriers to entry to build on their solution. I realize EverNote is a successful app, but I nearly fell asleep during this pitch. No passion about how EverNote can change my life…

      • Karen Jones 5:54 pm on September 20, 2011 | Log in to Reply

        I like the clarity that your summary brings, David. I think those key points are at the heart of assignment 3, as well.

    • mcquaid 3:52 pm on September 21, 2011 | Log in to Reply

      You had me at Simpsons. Classic pitch in that episode by Lanley – not sent by the devil (since he was on the level), as he reassured us.

      I also thought that the foot-in-the-door marketing strategy was smart. Giving something good away for free that can only get better with a small amount of money is a great form of, well, manipulation. I would have mentioned it as you did, but you did so first and actually knew what to call it (well, I assume that’s what it’s called).

      I think, to encourage a bit more interest (if the pitch were a longer venture pitch, perhaps), I would either further develop or promote the compatibility and tagging/organization/searching. I’d like to see some more in the lines of automatic tagging, labeling, and organization. Not everyone is ready for the semantic web yet. If or when we’re all on that train, something like Evernote won’t be as useful. Their time to strike is now!

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