The Pitches Patason’s_Elevator_Pitch.wm…
The Pitches
Patason’s_Elevator_Pitch.wmv http://youtu.be/y0h7UmugwjM
Patason’sVenture_pitch.mp4 http://youtu.be/xbwpeNLPC5E
Reflection
My idea for the product designed for this course began some years ago with the release of the ipad. It started when my colleague and good friend that sits next to me- a Macappresiendo complained about the new device that Steve Jobs was making and his dissatisfaction with it. That product was of course the ipad -and I told him I loved the concept even if he has issues with the product I think it would be a hit and the rest is history as the sayings goes. Over the years I have been voicing my opinion to them and as far as am concerned, a tablet should work just as a traditional tablet of what a tablet PC should be and from time to time I would pitch ideas to him but every time I do so he would argue with the idea, and I will him, you cannot argue with an idea, maybe the product that derived from that idea may not be as good as it is supposed to be but an idea is something that must be discussed in a vacuum. So the first time I saw assignment three for this course I leapt at the opportunity to bring all my ideas to life. I was so convinced of my designed ideas that I remember bragging at one of the earlier discussion for this course that I could design a better tablet than anyone out there.
When I began in search for the assignment however; I had my first real wake up call. Upon browsing the net, I found that virtually all the features and additions that I thought about, someone else had done them. The morning after discovering this, I had a good laugh with my friend by telling him that they have thought of all of my ideas before me. Despite this however; I pressed forward because none of the ideas were implemented exactly how I thought about them. Nonetheless, the lesson learnt here was that if you design a new product most likely someone else had that idea in mind. The first thing about my tablet is that it must look and feel like a notebook. The second thing about it is that you must be able to draw, write, doodle, create and do everything that you possibly can with a notebook but with the extended power that the computer brings.
Because I believe that when the ipad was designed it was not designed for students, however, it sets the standards for what a tablet should be. Battery life was the final thing that I had to take care of; for if you do any CPU intense activity with a mobile device battery life goes down significantly. With the design finalised and visualised my next step was what this assignment was about- selling it, and to be honest with you it was the most difficult part of the project. I came away from this with the belief that it is much easier to design and build a product than to sell it on a large scale. I basically followed the guidelines outlined for a venture pitch that was given with the course material; yet even with this clear outline it was still a very difficult task to put together a package that would convince someone to plough a million dollars into my project. In the end, between my full time and part-time job I was able to create something that I consider good under the circumstances, but nonetheless not professional. However, success for me here is not measured by my final project but from the experience that I had in making it and I am now in a much better position to bring a product to life and market it successfully.
Research
Company Cognisys
Productline
1. Creative Creative Case
2. Creative Portal
Venture
The Content
Venture Pitches should display all of the following facets, while Elevator Pitches will likely showcase the flashiest ones:
Hi I am Patason Brooks CEO of Cognisys. I am here to introduce our product line that will revolutionise mobile learning.
Pain Point
1. Morgan Stanleyresearch
Respondents use tablets much less for content creation. This may be partly due to the ease and speed of using the keyboard and mouse (Huberty et al.2012)
2. Businessinsider
3. The tablet is a media consumption and communications device. (Cocotas, 2012).
4. Gap Intelligence
Quoting HP’s Executive Vice President, Todd Bradley “Tablets are phenomenal for content consumption, while PCs are great for content creation.” (Kaur.2011).
5. Unesco
Mobile phones represent the antithesis of learning. Their small screens and often intellectually shallow content have led people to associate mobile phones more with entertainment than education. West.2012).
To add to this the tablet and smart phones have short battery life which limits their usefulness in the field for extended periods away from a source of electricity.
Solution and Differentiation
• Our creative product line solves these problems with a combination of patented hardware and software which allow these devices to be used in a natural way with unlimited battery life. The following illustrations show how we were able to accomplish this.
Annotated images
1. Our creative case
2. Our creative portal
• Competitive Edge: do they have any innovative advantages, and can they keep them?
• Patented low cost high output photon wafer bank power supply
• Patented universal wireless recharger
• Patented smart hinge lock technology.
• Ultra-thin full featured keyboard
• Creative Stylus
• Ultra-thin super strong tablet cover
• Creative software suite
• Patented OS switching technology.
• Patented changeable smartphone adapter (smartphone portal)
Market Readiness:
Educause
• mobile revolution finally arrived in 2005 (Cornell & Valdes-Corbell.2007).
NMC Horizon Report 2012 for Higher Education Edition
• “we seemed to hit a tipping point of readiness for mobile content this year.
• When mobile learning hits critical mass, people of all ages and occupations will reap the benefits”. (Johnson, Adams and Cummins.2012).
Unesco
• by 2015, 80% of people accessing the Internet will be doing so from mobile device
• internet capable mobile devices will outnumber computers within the next year. (Fritschi & Wolf.2012).
Morgan Stanley Research
• Mobile Users Come of Age
• Tablet demand is still underappreciated: (Huberty, et al. 2011).
• The market is even bigger and growing faster than we initially forecast.
• our new survey indicates shipments of 133 million (Huberty et al.2012)
Infinite Research
• The Tablet market has spawned a robust industry and ecosystem with an aggressive growth outlook.
• The market is young and numerous large-revenue opportunities exist for those companies offering differentiated products and/or services.
• Early movers are building competitive advantages and reaping the benefits in the form of profits. (Infinite Research.2010)
Opportunity Space
• The next question is how much money is there to be made?
• Once again let’s look at what the experts have to say.
BI Intelligence
• Smartphones will be a $320 billion market by 2016. (Gobry2012).
Business insider
• Tablets will be a $100 billion market by 2015. (Cocotas, 2012).
WinterGreen Research
• Worldwide tablet market revenues at $32 billion in 2011 are anticipated to reach $40.4 billion in 2012 and $181.5 billion by 2018. Tablet markets are forecast to grow at 29% year-over-year.( Yahoo Finance. 2012).
Market Growth
Smartphones
BI Intelligence
• Smartphone Sales Will reach a staggering 1.5 Billion Per Year By 2016 (Gobry2012).
Gartner
• More than 427 million phones were sold in total during the third quarter (or 142.3 million phones /month) (Whittaker,2012).
IDC
• Smartphones are the biggest and fastest growing “smart connected devices,”
• Smartphones are expected to go from 494 million units last year to 660 million in 2012 (or 55 million units /month)
• 1.16 billion smartphones shipped annually by 2016 (Blagdon,2012)
• Smartphone Sales Projected to Grow Almost 40% This Year (Punzalan,2012)
Gartner
• Worldwide media tablet sales to end users are forecast to total 118.9 million units in 2012 ( Gartner,2012). (or 9.91 million/month.)
Business insider
• Tablet unit sales will reach nearly 500 million units by 2015.
• Sales will grow at an 50 percent compound annual growth rate from 2011 to 2015.
• Among the drivers of long-term growth for the tablet market they listed were Enterprise sales, Education, and Emerging Markets. (Cocotas, 2012).
Tablets
Infinite Research
• In the next 5 years, total shipments of Tablet computers are expected to increase at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 56%, with shipments rising from 16.1 million units in 2010 to 147.2 million units in 2015.
• Tablets computers are now a main component of the mobile computing market, and their impact will continue to expand in the coming years. (Infinite Research.2011)
International Data Corporation
• its forecast for the worldwide tablet market to 117.1 million units fo 2012,
• It will grow to165.9 million units for 2013
• By 2016 worldwide shipments should reach 261.4 million units. (IDC.2012).
Smart phone projection
Company Year Projection/year Projection/month
International Data Corporation 2012 660 million
International Data Corporation 2016 1.16 billion
BI Intelligence 2016 1.5 Billion
Tablet projection
Company Year Projection (million units /year) Projection/month
International Data Corporation 2012 117.1
Gartner 2012 118.9
International Data Corporation 2013 165.9
Infinite Research 2015 147.2
Business insider 2015. 500
International Data Corporation 2016 261.4
Principal Customers
Business insider
Among the drivers of long-term growth for the tablet market they listed were Enterprise sales, Education, and Emerging Markets. (Cocotas, 2012).
NMC Horizon Report
• virtually 100% of university students worldwide come equipped with mobiles. (Johnson et al.2011)
• Mobile devices have become one of the primary ways that youth interact with and learn from each other.
• In the U.S. alone, 61% of Americans age 12 and up own a mobile device, and 44% specifically own a smartphone.
• 52% of children even under eight years-old have access to mobile media
• (Johnson.2012)
EDUCAUSE
• Ownership of tablet among college students and college-bound high school seniors has gone up more than three times from a year ago (Ingerman & Yang. 2011).
Cisco
• Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) is a powerful wave that hasn’t yet crested.
• Students want to use mobile devices inside and outside the classroom.
• Teachers, administrators, and staff are working smarter and more efficiently because of their tablets and smartphones. (Cisco. 2012)
UNESCO.
• Over 70% of mobile subscriptions worldwide come from the developing world
• 80% of the population living in rural areas are blanketed by a mobile network.
learners who might not have access to high-quality education or schools often do have working mobile phones.(West.2012).
how buyers/users will be reached;
• Social media
• Our online storefront
• Traditional stores and bookstores
• Online book stores and bookstores
• Competition: an overview of competitors and partners;
• Phablets these are a cross between a tablet and a phone in that they can be held in one hand to send or receive phone calls but with 5 inches displays and a stylus they can function as a tablet.
The screen size is just too small for one to work with in the manner traditional note pad would
• The pad phone a direct competition to our smartphone portal but lacks suffer from the same shortcomings as outlined before in terms creativity and battery life and the phone can only be used with the manufactures portal.
Championship:
Patason Brooks
Educational technologist with 25 years’ experience. 15 of which were spent as a science teacher.
For the remainder I was the director of the educational technology unit of the ministry of education of Trinidad and Tobago.
The management team Cognisys consist of :
Mr Howard St Louis
Director of marketing
The founder and owner of Caribbean office supplies limited which are the largest supplier textbooks and stationaries throughout the Caribbean.
Jean Pepperrell
Account with 10 years’ experience Price waterhouse.
Larry Brown
Director of product development
A software engineer
10 years experience at Motorola.
Design Team
Dorine Proctor
Computer Engineer with 15 years experience at apple computers.
Devon Mc Commie
Artist that is famous making household appliance look beautiful but retain their functionality.
Gwen Turner
Manager Customer services
A psychology major with who served for five years as the human resource Manager for BPTT
avninder 1:34 pm on November 26, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Patason,
I choose to view your entire pitch because I was intrigued by the tablet notebook folding motion in your elevator pitch. I think you totally hit the mark in terms of using the media to portray your message in the pitches and the images you used were interesting and relevant. I also liked that you used reviews from various sources to increase your credibility.
You mentioned that there are who competitors have the ability to use the portal ability but only for certain types of phones. Is your competition also able to use the notepad/keyboard function? Even though it is patented, does something similar exist?
I am currently not an avid tablet user, although I use my smartphone all the time. To be able seamlessly move all of your information to a bigger screen with more flexibility is a huge advantage.
There was also a lot of information in your pitch regarding the growth of cell phone use. But since your venture is the tablet and its patented features, you may want to consider keeping the focus on how a tablet could be marketed to current smart phone users in the education field.
The only other suggestion I would have is giving more information about yourself and the development team. Your pitch was convincing and knowledgeable but if there were more details regarding your educational background and relevant work experience, you would gain credibility.
If I had a million dollars lying around, I would consider investing. Good job!
Pat A Son 11:06 pm on November 26, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Thank you avninder.
Your Comments are valid and would certainly help my venture
Patason
Ranvir 4:23 pm on November 26, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
An excellent venture concept considering the mLearning market is booming. I also like the ability of smartphone plugging into a tablet device – very novel ideal indeed.
As an investor, I would like to know more about you, your experience in this market and proposed marketing plan to recoup the investment of $1million.
Pat A Son 11:13 pm on November 26, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Thanks Ranvir,
I was going to do some financial projection but left them out when I discovered we did not have to do any ‘money’ since my video was getting big and unwieldy.
Patason
Mike Rae 4:48 am on November 27, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Patason,
I love the idea of being able to turn a smart phone into a tablet. This device could be especially useful for schools wanting to employ a BYOD program, considering that a lot more students have smart phones on them than tablets, the school could purchase something like your product in bulk and have the kids use their smart phones in them.
part of my problem with doing work on my tablet is that I miss my keyboard, and this product would be a solution for me.
I would have liked to hear more about your marketing plan and where you would sell your product, and of course a little more about you and your background.
I felt a little hypnotized by the repetition of the animation of the product, but in a good way. It may have brain washed me into thinking that people would use it! good work,
MIKE
Pat A Son 6:34 am on November 28, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Thank you Mike,
Your point are all valid but rendering took longer than I planned and I had issues that I do not care to mention here that got in the way so I did not do as good a job as I had planned.
My target is education, business and emerging markets that will be serviced by our distributors as I imagined the company to be an O.E.M. Customers can still purchase directly via our website however. We will pay special attention to schools as we want our customers to be ‘hooked for life. So to this end we will have special deals with volume discounts for academic institutions.’
Within the next five years we expect that 40% of tablet owners and 30% of smart phone users will be using our product.
ME:- An educator with 25 years experience, For the last ten I was director of the educational technology unit of the ministry of education.
Tooooo Late 🙁
frank 10:06 pm on November 28, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Pat,
You have a great Idea here!
I think you have good know-how related to the business elements of this venture: the pain point: marketing, the Ask, the Return etc.
If you want to people to invest real money into this idea of yours, I suggest you do 2-things:
1) I would go and study successful spin-off products from popular technologies and study how they worked with OEM’s to develop their Spin-offs. If you can get the even 1 of the Tablet providers on board, this will go a long way for you in getting their support: they will share their design specs with you and you can potentially get exclusive rights to being their supplier if you can earn their trust – if they compete with you like Microsoft did with Netscape, you’ll be dead in the water before you start.
I would not spread myself too thin here; you’re better off creating a solid product for 1-technology platform, then something mediocre that suits several different ones. Even if you work with India’s $20 project, I think this venture will eventually pay off.
The key thing is to build a relationship with the OEM you want to support.
2) If you want to be the next Steve Jobs with this product, you’re going to have to find a couple of Wozniak’s who can design and deliver a solid product for you. I would search high and low for those guys and get them rolling ASAP. If you have a solid product, everything else will follow. To do that, you’ll need some Angel money from family and friends, line of credit etc ($100k) to fund the prototype in the first year. If you have the right guys, I think it’s a risk worth taking.
Great idea and Good Luck!
Pat A Son 4:39 pm on November 30, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Thanks for your suggestions Frank.
You make me feel as if am ready for the big times.
Patason
kstackhouse 10:51 pm on November 29, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Great presentation and very thorough. I loved the animation with your presentation. There is a children’s toy that let’s you connect a smart phone (I think iPhone) to it to access more information. I thought of it when I saw your presentation. It is similar to your idea, where the resources of the phone are being drawn-upon to make the original device more powerful and provide more features. You can take a look here: http://itikes.com/. It would make sense that this is something that would be useful for adults too. Nice work.
Pat A Son 4:39 pm on November 30, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Thank you Ken
C. Ranson 9:05 am on November 30, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Pat,
I agree, great idea! I think your product would be very marketable and you have identified the student target group that would be a very interested in this product. Your elevator pitch and presentation are very impressive. I would invest in your product! BRAVO.
Catherine 🙂
Pat A Son 4:40 pm on November 30, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Thank you Catherine
jenniferschubertubc 9:13 am on November 30, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
You had me at adapter, Patason! I do think that mobile computing is certainly the wave of the future, especially having gone through my own hardware woes during my travels. I have had to learn about many different ways to communicate, collaborate and work, through necessity over interest. You product has me extremely excited about the future of this technolgy.
Your elevator pitch was very thorough, containing lots of valuable information, including research backup, flaws in currently available devices, and description of your new product. (I think the biggest thing for me was unlimited power supply! Well done there!!) Your venture pitch naturally brought in more specific information, including relevant facts and figures outlining the market share, which I found helpful in evaluating the importance of such a product.
My only question relates to the adapters. Will they indeed be able to accommodate every type of mobile phone, or those that are touch screen technology only. (Only touch screens are shown in the animation, but “all phones” is mentioned several times in the pitch.) Will even the old flip phone work here? I suspect that most mobile owners will have the latest, but undoubtedly there will still be students who cannot afford that level of technology. That is not a primary concern for your product however, but may be a question asked by an administration who is determining whether or not to integrate it into the educational system.
Overall, I was very impressed with the product! It reminds me of the Microsoft Surface they keep advertising here in the UK, but your adapter technology (and unlimited power supply) are what make it unique and pioneering. If I had the money, I would back you tomorrow!
Pat A Son 5:03 pm on November 30, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Thank you Jennifer,
The technology is for smartphone because they share the same technology with tablets so it easy to make a portal to convert a smartphone to a tablet. To do this with a feature phone would be a more expensive and less profitable affair.
Cheers
Patason
Scott 2:01 pm on November 30, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Indeed, at its core this is an original idea which shows potential.
As a CEO Patason, you seem very knowledgeable and passionate about your product, which is a critical strength. I am also quite impressed by your team as presented in your written reflection – thank you by the way, for sharing a well written summary of your venture.
Where I begin to have reservations about the idea is with its concept and marketability. The concept of a folding ‘dock’ is novel and addresses many of the pain points of mobile technology as you note, however at least two concerns immediately come to my mind:
Firstly, your case, takes away to a certain degree, from the ultra portability and desecrate size of tablets and smartphones. I love my phone because I can take it anywhere and use it with one hand. I love my tablet because I can cozy up with it in my lap to read and type. After Jon Ive struggles with the form factor for a device for years and sources durable materials to construct it with, I’m just not inclined to add an extra case to it.
Secondly, how does the hardware you add, particularly the stylus integrate with existing apps? Can I still use Evernote, GoodReader and the other apps I enjoy, as I always have?
In terms of marketability, you have some solid references to support your products need, however some of the charts in your venture pitch were a bit dated – one from 2010 which notes that RIM’s market share is near what Apple’s is, which of course is no longer the case.
Finally, I am left feeling somewhat uncertain of what I am getting for my 1 million dollar investment – how will the money be used (though numbers were not an explicit component of our projects).
I hope I am not being overly critical here, but in my mind, the concept and plan need some clarification and review before I could consider investing.
Pat A Son 5:22 pm on November 30, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Scott,
I love your thoroughness because this approach will bring the best out of any product you look at. As for the case it is valid concern but the main idea here is that you have to weigh the protection factor, creative affordances and unlimited battery life against form factor. Students will overlook the latter because the others will make the difference in their education. Considering that this is all you would need for school it is not an unreasonable assumption. The stylus is compatible with the current crop of drawing software.
Cheers
Patason
Patrick Pichette 7:20 pm on November 30, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Patason,
I appreciated the enthusiasm you showed in your venture and although you attack a pain point regarding the limitations of a smartphone by adding additional affordances, I just felt as though you were adding bulk to a perfectly working device for its function. If I want a tablet, I’ll buy a tablet while as if I want a smartphone, I’ll buy a smartphone. I don’t see much reason for buying a smartphone and then having to carry around the additional bulk that will likely not see much use. I’d rather carry around a VGA adapter, HDMI adapter or make use of an Apple TV along with a bluetooth keyboard when the need for projecting my screen’s content to a larger screen arises. The built-in Airplay functionality of an iPhone tackles much of what you propose and with a charger cable, there is unlimited battery power for using your device in this way. Still, your passion and motivation were evident and although it is an interesting proposition, I would likely look to invest elsewhere as I’m not convinced that it’s a feasible product.
Pat A Son 10:27 am on December 1, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Patrick,
Thank you for your suggestions. It is clear that the creative product line is not for you. However you must remember that students are one of the main target groups of my products and they will have to weigh the tradeoff between added bulk and creative tools with unlimited battery life. From your scenario we have to remember that there will be times in the field when a plug is not available and the creative package is less bulky than an apple TV plus a keyboard. Finally not everyone lives by the all things apple mantra.
Cheers
Patason